Unlike most of my peers, I didn’t grow up watching The Princess Bride as a kid. I vaguely remember my 4th grade best friend, Katy, raving about it and arranging for me to watch it at her house. I have no idea why that never happened but it didn’t. Instead, I watched it for the first time as a freshman in college, and I LOVED it! I am glad I came to it later than a lot of my friends because some of the subtle humor is really best observed by older teens or adults.
This book, by Cary Elwes, who played Wesley goes through the chronological history of The Princess Bride as a concept, to a screenplay, to a movie, and the effect it has had on generations of filmgoers. Elwes also gets personal and shares what being in The Princess Bride meant for his career and identity. William Goldman, the author of Princess Bride, was a respected writer of screenplays in Hollywood and started his story of Wesley and Buttercup as a story for his kids. As a result, the book meant quite a lot for him and was actually something of a passion project. After selling the rights, it took a while to get the movie off the ground before Rob Reiner finally got things going and casting began. Elwes was fresh of the period piece, Lady Jane (which I also LOVE, PS!), and a relative unknown, but Reiner really believed in him and he was cast along with an assortment of veteran actors and relative unknowns. The combinations worked fairly well, though I was surprised to learn that Wallace Shawn, the actor who played Vizzini, was unpleased with his performance and unsure if it would work. It was also interesting to learn about all the rehearsal for the fighting sequences and the slight competition between Elwes and Mandy Patinkin as they were learning their swordplay. They both had to learn how to fence equally well right and left handed in order make the sequences work. One of the areas where this particular book is a great resource are Elwes’ behind the scenes observations about the other actors and their experiences while filming in addition to what was going on in their careers at the time. This is information I never would have known as I was a kid during the filming, and I don’t follow a lot of actors and their careers. Some of the most interesting stories were about Andre the Giant and his relationship to his fans. Elwes was impressed with how much time he spent and how he would bend over backwards to accommodate anyone who wanted to meet him, especially children.
Another selling point of the audiobook version (the version that I listened to) is that at certain points the actual actors narrate information about themselves. The book as a whole was narrated by Carey Elwes, but Billy Crystal, Rob Reiner, Robin Wright, and Carol Kane also narrate certain portions. I have no idea what these sections look like in the written portion of the book, but in the audiobook it adds a certain charm to the experience. Also, Elwes being a business insider could share insights that a regular researcher might not have been able to gather.
Overall, this was a fun book, and a great audiobook. It shared insights, was light hearted, and was about a movie that I like enough to read a book about it. I’d recommend this to Elwes fans who are interested in his early career, and film buffs. There is plenty of information to keep a reader occupied.
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