The Princess Bride – which starred Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant and Christopher Guest – was released in September 1987 ago to critical acclaim. Since it’s the film’s 30th anniversary, we’re looking all of the things that happened behind the scenes that most people don’t know about. Check out 10 things you didn’t know About The Princess Bride:
10. Bringing the Book to the Big Screen
Rob Reiner’s favorite book was The Princess Bride. When he became a filmmaker after the success of 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap, he really wanted to make to turn the book into a movie, but no one was interested. “It was an impossible sell,” Reiner told Variety. “The funny thing about it was that before I made ‘Stand by Me’ — I had made ‘Spinal Tap’ and ‘The Sure Thing’ — I had a meeting with this executive at Paramount. She said, ‘We love your films. What do you want to do next? I said, ‘Well, you don’t want to do what I want to do.’ She said, ‘No, that’s not true. I want to do what you want to do. I said, ‘No, no. You want me to do what you want to do.’ She said, ‘No, no. I want to do what you want to do. What is it?’ I said ‘The Princess Bride.’ She said, ‘Well, anything but that.’” He soon discovered that other filmmakers had tried and failed to make the book into a movie. Eventually, however, producer Norman Lear – whom he had worked for on All in the Family and who had funded the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap – gave Reiner the money to make The Princess Bride.
Everett Collection
