31 Princess Bride Facts: A Must Read Article For You!

'The Princess Bride' is one of the movies that everyone has watched and loved.

Based on the 1973 book written by William Goldman, the movie is the epitome of classic romances. It features everything from a financially unmatched couple and an evil prince.

Directed by Rob Reiner, who is known for 'Harry Met Sally' and 'This is Spinal Tap', this movie is shot and cast almost seamlessly. The music producer for the movie was Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits.

To get you started with facts, did you know that Cary Elwes and Robin Wright were actually crushing over each other during the shooting of the movie! Keep reading to learn more fun facts!

Plot Of 'Princess Bride' Movie

The plot of the movie 'The Princess Bride' is whimsical and romantic, both of which were intended by the writer of the book on which it is based.

In an interview, William Goldman, the author of the book 'The Princess Bride' says that the title of a book was decided by his little daughters. He says that he once asked them what he should write about, and while one said 'princess', the other said 'bride'.

William Goldman promised that is what the book would be called and spent time coming up with a plot that would feature a Princess Bride.

The plot revolves around Princess Buttercup and her farmhand Wesley. Throughout the first part of the movie, the audience is shown how the princess keeps ordering her farmhand around.

The viewers witness a budding romance, as the two try to understand their feelings for each other. Each time Princess Buttercup would order Wesley, he would reply with 'as you wish'.

The dialogue, over the years, not only became synonymous with the book and the movie but also gained immense popularity later when the actor who played Wesley wrote a book titled 'As You Wish'.

The book was about the making of the movie and the casting procedures, as well as shooting. When Princess Buttercup finally realizes her feelings for Wesley, she also understands that 'as you wish' was Wesley's way of telling her that he loved her.

As with all great love stories, there was a twist. The fact that Buttercup was a princess and Wesley was just a farmhand, made the couple financially unfit for each other.

The fairy tale romance hits a rough patch when Wesley promises to come back and leaves with a ship in order to settle his financial situation before deciding to marry the princess. Buttercup does agree to the arrangement but is devastated when the news of Wesley's ship being attacked comes through.

Wesley's ship is attacked by a pirate group that went by the name of Dread Pirate Roberts.

She is assured that Wesley was dead because the Dread Pirate Roberts was famous for always killing the captains of the ships that they attacked. Desolated and heartbroken, Princess Buttercup, played by Robin Wright, decides to never love anyone again.

Hereon, the plot quickens as the princess is betrothed to Prince Humperdinck, although not in love in the least. This was five years after Wesley happened to have vanished.

As a way of coping with the fact that the man she loved was gone, Buttercup took up the habit of going for daily horse rides. On one of these occasions, the princess is kidnapped by a group of three men.

These man were Vizzini, Fezzik and Inigo Montoya. The audience is later told that the trio was hired by Prince Humperdinck.

He hired the men to kill the princess so that he could instigate war against another province. However, the princess' savior wasn't far behind and the audience was soon to be treated with a great fight scene or two!

As the men took her away, they were followed by a man who was dressed in black.

When they were making their by sea, the masked man would closely be watching the kidnappers, and followed them through their journey up the Cliffs of Insanity. On their way up, the master of the gang, Vizzini, orders Inigo Montoya first to break off from the group and kill the masked man.

Wesley, played by Cary Elwes, and Inigo Montoya, played by Mandy Patinkin, engage in a swordfight.

The actors who had been practicing sword fighting for months before the actual day of shooting gave the audience just what they wanted. Director Rob Reiner was also particularly keen on making sure that the scene was perfected almost to the degree that William Goldman intended in the actual book.

At the end of the fight, Inigo Montoya was rendered unconscious and the masked man followed the troop.

Fezzik, the giant was ordered to kill the masked man next, and he ended up choked by him. The last one to defeat in order to save the Princess was Vizzini.

Played by Wallace Shawn, Vizzini's character was just as witty as the actor himself and hence, the masked man had to defeat him in a game of wit.

When he finally did defeat him, the princess thought the masked crusader to be Dread Pirate Roberts and pushed him off the cliff. However, as he was falling down, he said 'as you wish', letting Buttercup know that it was none other than Wesley himself.

This sent even the princess tumbling down the cliff and into a fire swamp, where Prince Humperdinck and his troops were already waiting to kill the couple.

The princess ended up striking a deal wherein Wesley would be allowed to go away if she agreed to marry the prince. Humperdinck agreed but did not keep his promise as he imprisoned Wesley and almost had him killed.

The plot developed further before Wesley was finally saved by Vizzini, Fezzik, and Inigo Montoya, and all of them ended up escaping the price through Wesley's wit.

The Casting Of Princess Bride Movie

The cast of the movie was pretty well-thought-through and featured people who were either established stars already or went on to achieve great things in their lives later. Robin Wright, the actress who famously appeared in 'Forrest Gump' and 'Wonder Woman', played Princess Buttercup in the movie.

It was Cary Elwes who played Wesley and later also wrote about the shooting and casting of William Goldman's book.

One of the fun facts is that many people like Courtney Cox, Uma Thurman, Whoopi Goldberg, and Meg Ryan auditioned for the role of Princess Buttercup.

Reiner recalled in an interview how he had auditioned over 500 women for the role before Robin Wright was chosen.

He even thought of Carrie Fisher from Star Wars as his pick before Robin Wright snagged the role. On the other hand, Cary Elwes and Reiner were people that were already fans of the Princess Bride book and hence made a great team for the casting.

Chris Sarandon, who is a famous American actor and played roles in many movies before and after his appearance in the Princess Bride was cast as Prince Humperdinck.

Mandy Patinkin came up as a perfect match for the role of Inigo Montoya. He even recalls how he found the role befitting since it helped him in dealing with the death of his own father.

Inigo Montoya's storyline was such that he sought to kill his father's murderer who was a six-fingered man, making the shooting of the movie a personal journey for him.

Andre the Giant, who was a wrestler when director Rob Reiner first met him, was cast in the role of Fezzik. However, Reiner famously recalls how the casting was rather tough since the first time that Andre read for him, he could not understand a single word.

Elwes wrote in his book how Fezziks' lines were taught and remembered in a rather peculiar fashion. Reiner would record the lines how he wanted Andre to say them and the actor would imitate almost exactly.

Wallace Shawn played the role of Vizzini. An intellectual himself, the role was a perfect fit for him. However, he was anxious throughout the shooting of the movie, since he came to know that the initial pick for the role was Danny DeVito. He thought that a single mistake from his side would mean recasting.

Christopher Guest played the role of Count Rugen. Casting Christopher Guest made the movie star-studded since he was already famous for having acted in many movies. He was the six-fingered man that Inigo Montoya wanted to kill, and was Prince Humperdinck's, right-hand man.

Billy Crystal is famously known as Mike Wazowski from 'Monsters Inc.' now after he endowed his voice to the role. The role of Miracle Max in the movie was played beautifully by Billy Crystal.

Miracle Max and his wife Valerie were the ones who brought Wesley back from the dead. The role of the wife was played by Carol Kane.

In the movie, the story is being told to a child by his grandfather. The role of the grandfather is played by Peter Falk and a very young Fred Savage plays the role of the grandson.

One of the fun facts about the movie is that the sword-fight scene was choreographed by Bob Anderson, who was also the stunt double for the Darth Vader in 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi'. He played as a stunt double in the lightsaber battles.

The famous fire swamp scene was so important and central to the plot that one of the actors had to be bailed from the jail by the crew so that it could be filmed.

One of the little-known facts is that Liam Neeson and Richard Kiel were considered for the role of Fezzik but the idea was dropped since the dates did not fit.

Robin Wright was working in a soap opera named Santa Barbara when she was cast for the role.

Summary Of Princess Bride Movie

'The Princess Bride' movie is an all-time classic romance that features love, loss, sword fights, and the display of honor and wit.

Rob Reiner was an admirer of the book that the movie is based on and wanted to direct it. However, it was only after William Goldman watched 'Harry Met Sally' and 'This is Spinal Tap' directed by Reiner that he allowed him to take up the project.

Goldman wanted to make sure that Rob Reiner did not fall in line with the failed attempts made by Robert Redford, Norman Jewison, Richard Lester, and François Truffaut.

The movie is a typical fairy tale romance between a real-life princess and her stable boy-here, farmhand. In the movie, Cary Elwes plays the role of the quintessential prince who saves the princess from the evil prince and proves his strength and wit. One of the fun facts about Wesley's role is that Christopher Reeve was interested in it.

The selling point of the plot was that it was magical and realistic at the same time.

The cast was well selected and the actors fit their roles perfectly, making the movie a success. Actors such as Mandy Patinkin who actually could relate to the roles and added their own touch to it added to the authenticity of the portrayal of characters.

Even though actor Wallace Shawn was insecure on account of Danny DeVito being a clear choice, Rob Reiner famously said that there was no way that anyone could have played the role of Vizzini in a better way.

Even for the smallest details such as the makeup for Miracle Max, the actor brought pictures of this grandmother and Casey Stengel - which shows the involvement of the cast and crew.

Box Office Response To The Princess Bride

The movie that is now watched over and over as a classic was not initially well-received by the Box Office.

It was not as huge a success as Rob Reiner's 'Spinal Tap' and 'When Harry Met Sally'. However, the movie gained popularity once it was released in the home video market. People in America started to love and appreciate the movie and it became a cult classic that remains to be the favorite of many people.

Did You Know...

According to Mandy Patinkin, the only injury on the set took place when he presumably bruised his ribs while laughing at the Bill Crystal scenes.

In the role of Miracle Max, no same joke was cracked twice.

The dialogues of Miracle Max were written by Carl Reiner, who was a comedian.

Samuel Beckett and Andre the Giant were from the same village!

The kissing scene at the end of the movie took six takes to get right.

The movie, which runs for one hour and 38 minutes, was filmed at locations in Derbyshire, England, Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England, and County Clare, Ireland.