'The Princess Bride' Reunion ft. Billy Crystal, Robin Wright & More (2011) | PEOPLE

foreign [Music] it's one of the most enduring and quotable romances ever made inconceivable prepare to die have fun storming the castle in 1987 The Princess Bride gave audiences a Timeless swashbuckling fairy tale full of fantastic characters and never go in against the Sicilian when Jeff is on the line witty one-liners I hate to die and most importantly true love as you wish beautiful that's great nearly 25 years later ew brought the cast of The Princess Bride back together for an unforgettable reunion doesn't seem like it was that long ago oh no 1987 right or 86. what's your name 86. we see each other in the supermarket he bonded me uh your bail bonds bail bonds right Bail Bonds yeah Bail Bonds it was that was messy that was messy but he was there you know there we go back shot [Music] [Applause] the prince's bride by S Morgenstern chapter one the story of The Princess Bride began back in 1973 with a best-selling novel by oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman both the novel upon which the film is based and the screenplay are written by William Goldman who's kind of a heavyweight in Hollywood I'm sure you've probably seen one of his films he won an Oscar for writing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid all right I'll jump first nope then you jump first oh I said what's the matter with you I can't swim and then a few years later he actually won another Oscar for adapting the book All the President's meant just follow the money so a real iconic Hollywood figure he had a bit of writer's block at one point and asked his two really young daughters what he should write about and one of them said a princess and the other one said a bride and there you have it The Princess Bride foreign is sort of your prototypical star-crossed lovers story This Love Story blooms between the commoner and the farmhand and he goes out to make his way in the world and bring back a fortune so they can live happily ever after and there's Giants and bad guys and torture and it's all couched in this wonderful kind of meta commentary in this post-modern take on storytelling we can stop now if you want no you could read a little bit more if you want it's a little bit of a comedy a little bit of a fairy tale a little bit of an action movie and a little bit of a romance kind of all wrapped into one it's not that bad I'm not saying I'd like to go to summer home here but the trees are actually quite lovely 20th Century Fox immediately bought the movie rights and hired Goldman to write the screenplay but it took more than 10 years and several false starts to find the right director 38 year old Rob Reiner Rob Reiner is the director of The Princess Bride but he actually got to start as an actor we probably know him best as Meathead in the 1970s sitcom All in the Family he plays the liberal hippie foil to Archie Bunker where's your tie uh well I tried Glory but it doesn't look good with an empty neck Reiner broke into directing in 1984 with his hilarious mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap good drama great look good drama yeah good job he died he died in a bizarre gardening accident s back it's really one of those things it was you know the authorities said you know best leave it that's unsolved really his next two films the sure thing and Stand By Me proved the actor turned director was no fluke you know these are three very different types of movies they weren't all the same genre he was really showing that as a director he could tackle almost any type of movie after Rob Reiner had had kind of a string of hits he could kind of pick and choose his next project and so he landed on a book that he had always loved which was The Princess Bride with Ryder at the helm the film could finally begin casting want to see my face Shining shining it by morning then unknown Robin Wright the 19 year old former model was coming off a three-year run on the daytime soap Santa Barbara will you listen to me I love Channing as much as anyone in this family did but punishing Joe is not going to bring Channing back I know he didn't kill him The Princess Bride was actually a breakout performance for Robin Wright if you watch the title card it actually says introducing Robin Wright this was really her first big role then later on in the 90s we would see her in Forrest Gump hey stupid quit it run Force run hey she played Jenny very memorably and then of course now she's on House of Cards and kills it literally look more relaxed and more beautiful it's incredible I have a really good makeup and he looks the same everybody looks the same there's just more white hair yeah and the boy come on boy fill these with water please the role of Wesley buttercup's Farm Boy lover was played by 24 year old Carrie always as you wish Carrie always was also a bit of an unknown quantity when he starred in Princess Bride he was an English actor probably at that point best known for a movie he'd done with Helena Bonham Carter in the UK called Lady Jane I would prefer that we lived well Shelley says cousins rather than his man and wife that's what you wish when we first meet Wesley he's working as the farm boy on buttercup's farm and he's just very patient and devoted and everything that she throws at him he agrees to do with a smile and he just says As You Wish As You Wish As You Wish As You Wish as you wish [Music] eventually Buttercup realizes that when he says As You Wish what he means is I love you and so with time the two Begin to Fall in Love and it's this really sweet wonderful Romance some girl came up to me and lifted up her hair to show me the nape of her neck and she had as you wish tattooed on her neck see I don't get that and I just didn't know what to say other than wow no I get lean it was it nice and lean true love is the greatest thing in the world except for a nice MLT about the lettuce and tomato sandwich when the mutton is nice and lean no pretty young girls ever to look at the name of my neck inconceivable well it's one of your lines yes [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] I hate to die by the mid 80s after relinquishing for more than a decade The Princess Bride was finally in production with Rob Reiner at the helm I feel I'll never see you again of course you will the 38 year old director was gambling on a pair of unknowns in the lead roles but he was also banking on a sensational script by two-time Oscar winner William Goldman apology people forget but this is a movie that's kind of couched in modern times the movie starts with uh the grandfather breeding to his grandson I was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick and I used to read a Dior father and today I'm going to read it to you and it really kind of gives the whole movie a kind of meta context where it's commenting on stories and why we love them and why you know something as cliched as a fairy tale ends up drawing Us in sports in it fencing fighting torture Revenge Giants monsters true love Miracles doesn't sound too bad I'll try and stay awake the grandfather of course is none other than the late and great Peter Falk he is well known for being Colombo and just being beloved figuring out all of those different Mysteries the eyewitness is not Mr Morse the eyewitness is you and the Sun is adorable Fred Savage who would later go on to be Fred Savage of The Wonder Years my life is not so boring that My Only Thrill is math so it's a really great way to kind of introduce this um this crazy fairy tale with the running commentary from the grandfather and the grandson in a way that's really fun what is this what is this Sports is this a kissing book The Heart of this movie is the romance the Deep forever fairy tale love between Wesley and Buttercup it's true love I think this happens every day so what kind of sets the entire story into motion is that Buttercup and Wesley want to get married basically and he has no money so he sets out to kind of make his fortune and so he can return and they can start their life together hear this now I will always come for you he never comes back she hears rumors that he faced off with Dread pirate Roberts and Dread pirate robbers never leaves anybody alive so she makes that logical leap that Wesley her love is actually dead I will never love again five years passes and the prince of the Kingdom Prince humperdink decides that he's going to get married and because he is the prince can choose to marry anyone he wants in the entire Kingdom and lo and behold he chooses Buttercup I shall marry a lady who was once a commoner like yourself my people princess buttercup the villainous Prince humperdink was played by Chris Sarandon the 45 year old actor had recently starred as the vampire Jerry Dandridge in the cult classic Fright Night hello Charlie Prince Humperdinck takes a real shining to princess Buttercup but his motivations don't seem completely pure and we get the sense that he's kind of a bad dude Tyrone you know how much I love watching it work but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan my wedding tour range my wife to murder and guild at a frame for it I'm swamped it was kind of a magical location uh being up in the Midlands of England in that Countryside that gorgeous Countryside you see in the movie The Rob shot so beautifully in Adrian Biddle the DP shot and uh and to be in England and and to be together on location there's something about that that years don't wipe away a word my lady we are but poor lost circus performers early in the film princess Buttercup is kidnapped by the evil Vizzini and his two henchmen is there a village nearby there is nothing nearby not for miles then there will be no one to hear you scream [Music] y sort of the ringleader Mastermind behind this this Trio of crooks and he was basically hired by Prince humperdink to kidnap princess Buttercup and eventually murder her with the hope of she was so beloved that he would be able to blame it on a neighboring Kingdom and kind of go for you never said anything about killing anyone hired you to help me start a war I think this line of work with a long and glorious tradition while as Sean was cast as the scene-steeling Vizzini the 44 year old actor had a minor but memorable part in Woody Allen's Manhattan oh my God Jeremiah well all right but Sean was probably best known for his starring role and director Louis Mall's My Dinner with Andre why do we require a trip to Mount Everest in order to be able to perceive one moment of reality I mean I mean is Mount Everest more real than New York I mean is New York real people say that they know all my lines and this is about you that it's so romantic well it's one of your lines I don't remember I don't know I I you know this was um I it's inconceivable that you can't yeah they've I mean you know that one coming back to you now it's all coming back inconceivable inconceivable and conceivable inconceivable inconceivable you keep using the heart I don't think it means what you think it means you got to say that great speech all the time you killed my father prepare to die [Applause] [Applause] hear this now I will always come for you The Princess Bride was filmed in 1986 25 years later ew brought the cast back together to celebrate this Unforgettable fairy tale romance who had the best part in your opinion Mandy I think he had to say that great speech all the time my name is and he I mean I thought the sword fights were those were amazing very amazing 33 year old Mandy Patinkin played the iconic Spanish swordsman Inigo Montoya hello there supposed to spit things up Mandy Patinkin of course is known for literally Decades of working on the stage and today he's probably best known for his role as Saul on homeland it doesn't look that great Saul how does it feel you don't know a goddamn thing you're the smartest and the dumbest person I've ever known anigo Montoya is one of the guys who's helping out messini but he's also on a Revenge mission of his own when he was a kid his father was slaughtered by this guy with six fingers I don't mean to cry but you don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand so for 20 years he's been trying to find this man to exact revenge and he has sort of this Mantra that he's been repeating to himself hello my name is Inigo Montoya you killed my father prepare to die hello my name is gonna kill my father [Music] he's been practicing that for a couple decades now really has it down to a science so he's both a henchman but also is on his own mission as well in this movie when it came to Casting fezik the kind-hearted giant there was only one man for the job I just don't think he's right getting into some girl am I going mad or did the word think Escape your lips you were not hired for your brains you hippopotamic landmass of course fezik is played by Andre the Giant who was previously best known as a wrestler and he was hired for this because they needed someone to you know be this this kind of gentle giant of physic and he had never really acted before and so that was kind of a new challenge for him probably he means no harm it's very very short on charm you have a great gift for Ryan yes yes so shortly after Buttercup is kidnapped fesic Vizzini and Enigma Montoya quickly realized that there is a man in Black who is following them whoever he is he's obviously seen us with the princess and let's therefore died you carry her we'll head straight for the Gilder Frontier catch up when he's dead the first encounter we have with the man in Black is one of the best scenes in the entire film I think stays behind while the rest go ahead with buttercup and you get this epic sword fight between Enigma Montoya and Man in Black I admitted you are better than I am smiling because I know something you don't know and what is that I am not left-handed [Music] and it's just this fantastic quippy old school swashbuckling kind of feel to it there's something I want to tell you tell me I'm not left-handed either eventually the man in Black does manage to Enigma Montoya believe it or not quickly I would assume destroy a stained glass window as an artist like yourself however since I can't have you following me either he sets on to his next quest which he runs straight into fezik I did that on purpose I don't have to miss I believe you so what happens now physic is a guy who he actually has some morals so he um he decides to actually be a gentleman and go in hand-to-hand combat with the man in Black we face each other as God intended Sportsman life you'll put Daniel Rock now for time I saw it and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people and it doesn't look like there's going to be any chance for this guy but he is able to get around him and we see that the masked pirate wins with a sleeper hold essentially and this is something that of course Andre the Giant would use in real life and his job as a wrestler so it's kind of like a from the director I do not envy with a headache you will have when you're awake but in the meantime rest well dream of large women and in the final trial is the man in Black comes face to face the vizini so it is down to you and it is down to me so if Inigo montoya's strength is the sword physics is his strength Vizzini's will always be his brain yeah that's smart let me put it this way have you ever heard of Plato Aristotle Socrates yes morons Vizzini basically sets up this kind of like picnic of death and it just begins this incredible game of logic of just them trying to outsmart each other all right where is the poison the battle of wits has begun the Men in Black poisons one cup and tells it uh Vizzini that his choice which cup he wants to drink from all I have to do is divine from what I know of you are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy and what you get is a very funny double reverse logic puzzle now a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given I'm not a great fool so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you the cup could be this but this is what you would want me to think but I think you'd know that I would want you to think that you're trying to trick me into giving away something it won't work it has worked you've given everything away I know where the poison is then make your choice I will and I choose what in the world can that be what what as smart as Vizzini is he still resorts to uh pointing over uh Wesley's shoulder to get him to look around and uh switches the cups One Last Time what's so funny I'll tell you in a minute [Music] straight which in all the times I've seen this movie I still don't understand what that gains him but sure he guessed wrong you only think I guess wrong that's what's so funny I switched glasses when your back was turned haha you fool it's very funny never go in against the Sicilian when death is on the line [Music] in the end uh you learned that the man in Black poisoned both cups to think I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder every role is so distinctive in my mind yeah you're the miracle Max who work for the king all those years the king's thinking Sun fired me and thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] and there are the princess's footprints she is alive or was an hour ago she is otherwise when I find her I should be very put out the princess bride was one of the most beloved romantic comedies ever made thanks to The Talented cast hot director and hilarious script by two-time Academy Award winner William Goldman so many great parts of him Wally's part is such a fabulous part indigo is such a wonderful role if I were bigger physic you know there's every role is so distinctive in my mind yeah I know who you are you're cruelty reveals everything you're the dread pirate Roberts admit it with pride the man in Black AKA dread pirate Roberts he's defeated Vizzini and his two henchmen and finally rescues Buttercup and they finally talk you killed my love it's possible I kill a lot of people and initially I mean she's obviously very distressful of him and she's not sure kind of who he is or what he wants I remember this Farm Boy of yours I think he spoke of a girl of surpassing beauty and faithfulness I can only assume he meant you you should bless me for destroying him before you found out what you really are he kind of treats her with a little bit of disdain he kind of makes fun of her um being engaged to Prince humperdink um he kind of makes some jokes about her not being faithful things like that faithfulness he talked of Madam you're enduring faithfulness now tell me truly when you found out he was gone do you get engaged your prince at same out or did you wait a whole week out of respect for the dead I died that day they really face off for a while but before long um she gets so mad and she pushes him down a hill you can die too for all like as she's tumbling down the hill you hear him say the man in Black is Wesley done oh the man she loves and who's she thought to be dead for such a long time can you move at home Wesley finally has Buttercup and they're still on the run because Prince humperdick is right behind them they go through the fire swamp to try to escape they fight some giant rats in there but finally Humperdinck does catch up to them surrender you mean wish to surrender to me very well accept they're finally captured and Humperdinck you know wants to kill Wesley and Buttercup kind of makes this deal with him if we surrender and I'd return with you will you lose man may I live with fears and never hunt again and of course Humperdinck is against his word and leaves Wesley in the hands of the evil count rugin once we're out of sight taking back to Florida and throw him in the pit of despair I swear it will be done the torture happy six-fingered man count rugin was played by Christopher Guest what is it you have six fingers on your right hand someone was looking for you the 39 year old actor had already worked with Rob Reiner in This Is Spinal Tap you know what we do put it up to him exactly why don't you just make ten louder and make 10 be the top number and make that a little louder these go to 11 count rugin in addition to being um you know murdering people and just being a generally terrible guy he also has this crazy basement where basically he tortures people for fun he does it in supposedly in the study of uh pain I'm sure you've discovered my deep and abiding interest in pain present I'm writing the definitive work on the subject so I want you to be totally honest with me on how the machine makes you feel Cal rugin puts Wesley on quote on Shin which is basically sucks the life force out of you one year at a time once uh humberding realizes kind of the magnitude of Buttercup and Wesley's love he kind of flies into a rage and he immediately goes to where Wesley has been held captured and basically turns the machine up all the way 50. and basically completely just sucks all of the life out of Wesley and kills our kind of kind of rudderless at this point they decide to go on a hunt for Wesley they can hear him screaming from this torture device it's reverberating throughout the entire Kingdom essentially his screams you're here but by the time they get to him it's too late he's dead Inigo and fezik did not give up they take Wesley's limp dead body to Miracle Max this guy who slings Miracles and in the country land and what are you the miracle Max who work for the king all those years the king's thinking son fired me and thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject while you're at it once you give me a nice paper cut then pour lemon juice on it we're closed this is Max's hat which I have kept for 25 years it's the only thing I got through customs from the move [Applause] [Music] [Applause] come along fizzy bring the money the body so have you any money I have a little I just hope it's enough to buy a miracle that's all The Princess Bride was actor turned director Rob Reiner's fourth film to play the life-saving miracle Max Reiner turned to an old friend and future comedy Legend Billy Crystal you got money 65. I never worked for so little except once and that was a very noble cause I I keep little things from certain movies because we get too close to you this is one of my cherished possessions I'll take that this is Max's hat which I have kept for 25 years it's the only thing I got through customs from the movie it's a noble card give me the 65. I'm on the job it's yours for ten thousand dollars um I keep it alongside a picture of Max um and whether I have the two things he wore around his neck but did a little too fragile and it's really from any of the movies I've done this is like it's great yeah I love having it the 39 year old comedian was just two years removed from his stent as an SNL cast member and Margaret to what a low-cut thing and I got to tell you they look marvelous it's interesting this is not the first time Billy Crystal was in a Rob Reiner film he was Morty than mine if you remember in Reiner's first film spinal tap do the dead bird changes get the dwarf cannolis the little ones okay I did the bird come on don't talk back huh mine is money let's go come on move it and what a lot of people might not know is 10 years earlier Billy Crystal was on All in the Family playing meathead's childhood best friend foreign Rob Colton said read this I somebody said water why why don't you just get Mel Brooks he says because I want you and I was like the greatest and then when you can go into makeup and say I want to look like my grandmother and Casey stangle that's a job kit pack which I'm not a witch I'm your wife but after what you just said I'm not even sure I want to be that anymore the role of Max's wife Valerie went to Carol Kane the 39 year old actress was probably best known for playing Andy Kaufman's wife on the hit sitcom taxi wait let me just see if you have a fever all right let me see I had really hoped for the opportunity to be a rodent of unusual size but Rob just didn't go for it rodents of unusual size I don't think they exist at this point Wesley is technically dead but Inigo and fezik are not going to give up so they say they need a miracle they're going to go to Miracle Max who is possibly the only person to bring him back from the dead just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead there's a big difference between mostly dead and all that please open this mouth he gave us all hernias during the shoot because he didn't do any take the same way twice look who knows so much huh Rob just said just go just go Billy do your thing and each take was so insane I'm supposed to be playing dead I'm not even allowed to breathe hey hello there hey what's so important what you got here that's worth living for but unfortunately there's so many spoiled brilliantly hilarious takes that we all spoil Ted oh we're all dead there's usually only one thing that you can do what's that I'm gonna do his clothes and look for loose change punch and that's what movie Magic was all about for me was walking down the street and Shepherd and going to the commissary with the leading man the Giant yeah okay looking like an apple sculpture and me and sitting there going so uh what do you think you're gonna have and it was just like so perfect it was just like so perfect bye guys have fun storming the castle it would take a miracle goodbye so fezik Amigo and a slightly reanimated Wesley go to storm the castle to take care of business where's Buttercup let me explain no there is too much let me sum up buttercup is very Humper drink a little less a half an hour so all we have to do is get in break up the wedding steal the princess by carscape after I kill cam Rogen it doesn't need much time for Dilly Danny Wesley is not really quite himself yet so the laundry giant physic has to carry him around but they do Infiltrate The Castle eventually you killed my father prepare to die so montoyo finally gets to avenge his father's death by killing the six-fingered man [Music] Wesley saves Buttercup just in the nick of time there's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world to be a Pity to damage yours [Music] so it really is a fairy tale happy ending I mean the villain gets his comeuppance Indigo gets his revenge Wesley and Buttercup get together fezik finds a group of friends who love and adore him and it's really it's this this kind of like wonderful kind of way to kind of wrap it all up so they ride off into the sunset and Wesley and Buttercup get to live happily ever after since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate the most pure this one left them all behind [Music] the end after the ending of our in the story story there's a sweet moment where they can tell that the grandson is completely won over Grandpa [Music] maybe you could come over and read it again to me tomorrow [Music] as you wish [Music] The Princess Bride premiered in September 1987 and performed well at the box office bringing in two times what it costs to make but it was the film's second life on video and cable that transformed this fairy tale romance into an all-time classic people are just so just just in Rapture about the movie and how much it meant to them growing up it's strange people do have a almost hysterical feeling about the movie they do all ages it lives in people's minds yes you know people are always quoting yeah and stopping you well the real the ones you really appreciate will catch on to a smaller line not just have fun storming the castle which I still get all the time but I'll I'll be eating a sandwich just actually happened like two days ago I was having a sandwich and a guy comes up to me and says is it nice and lean is it lean and then you know you gotta he's like a little special then you spend more time with him yeah there we go great mm-hmm 30 years later people are still talking about The Princess Bride and the film remains as popular as ever yes I think Princess Bride lives on because it's such a Timeless tale there's nothing about it that when you watch it now feels dated I have a lot of people who say I watched it with my parents when I was little and now I can't wait to show it to my kids yeah which is an extraordinary Testament I think to the lasting charm of the movie and the fact that it operates on so many different levels the children love it for one reason the adults and as you get older you start getting the sophisticated humor a little bit more and you start understanding that there is a sort of satiric side to it as well it's a movie that that evolves as you grow which is really interesting to me it was for me the most perfect job ever great material amazing director phenomenal cast genius Studio three days no one ever saw my face there we go great fun storming the castle [Applause]

Channel: People

Views: 746,323

Keywords: People, people magazine, news, celebrities, interview, magazine, celebrity news, celebrity, famous, Hollywood, celebrity (media genre), entertainment news, entertainment, Cary Elwes, princess bride, princess bride reunion, princess bride cast, princess bride cast reunion, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, André René Roussimoff, andre the giant, Fred Savage

Id: k84akz4r3eA

Length: 36min 32sec (2192 seconds)

Published: Wed May 17 2023