Released: September 25, 1987

Directed By: Rob Reiner

Screenplay By: William Goldman

Based on: The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, The “Good Parts” Version by William Goldman

Stars: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, Peter Falk, Fred Savage and a bunch of other actors.

Plot: A bedridden boy’s grandfather reads him the story of a farm boy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.

Taglines:  The story of a man and a woman who lived happily ever after. Even though the courtship almost killed them.

How did this movie do?
Budget: $16 Million
Box Office: $31 Million

• Robin Wright was cast late in the process, about a week before filming; Reiner and Jenkins had auditioned a number of English actresses but had not found their ideal Buttercup. William Goldman claimed that Carrie Fisher was the ideal choice for Buttercup.
  
  
• Uma Thurman, Meg Ryan, Sean Young, Suzy Amis, Courteney Cox, Alexandra Paul and Whoopi Goldberg auditioned for the role of Buttercup.
  
  
• Danny DeVito was considered for the role of Vizzini.
  
  
• Robin Wright and Cary Elwes were smitten with each other during filming, naturally helping their chemistry in the movie. Elwes said that he “couldn’t concentrate on much of anything after that first encounter with Robin.” Cary Elwes and Robin Wright were so reluctant to end their time with the film that during their final shared scene (the horseback kiss), one or other kept requesting another take.
  
  
• According to author William Goldman, when he was first trying to get the movie made in the 1970s, a then-unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to play Fezzik, and he was strongly being considered because Goldman could never get his first choice, André René Roussimoff, to read for the role.
  
  
• Cary Elwes was cast because of what Rob Reiner called his Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn quality. Fairbanks and Flynn both played Robin Hood (Fairbanks in Robin Hood (1922) and Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)). Elwes would later spoof their performances in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).

• In the novel, Prince Humperdinck wanted to get married to Princess Noreena of Gilder. Shortly after Noreena’s arrival to Florin, a gust of wind blows the hat she’s wearing off of her head revealing she’s bald. This disgusts Humperdinck who kicks her out of Florin causing both kingdoms to become enemies and are on the verge of warring with each other. In the film, Florin and Gilder are already enemies and Humperdinck wants to go war with them.
  
  
• There were no “shrieking eels” in the original novel. Instead, once Buttercup jumps overboard to escape her captors, Vizzini warns her of sharks in the water, and fills a cup with his own blood and throws it in the water to attract them.
  
  
• Miracle Max asserts that love is the greatest thing in the world apart from a “nice MLT – mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomatoes are ripe.” In the book on which the movie was based Miracle Max states that cough drops are the only thing better than love.
  
  
• The Pit of Despair where Westley is tortured is a new creation. It replaces the Zoo of Death from the book, which would have been too expensive to create.
  
  
• In the book there was more tension between the kid hearing the story and the grandfather. At one point the kid gets so upset with the way the story is going that the grandfather gets up and leaves.
  
  
• Count Rugen’s death in the original novel was more graphic. After telling the “son of a bitch” he wants his father back, Inigo proceeds to cut Rugen’s heart out, even describing what he’s doing to Rugen, claiming that the count had figuratively done the same to him when he murdered his father years before (Inigo even tells Fezzik earlier on, “That is the sound of ultimate suffering. My heart made that sound when Rugen slaughtered my father. The Man in Black makes it now.”) However, before Inigo finishes cutting out the Count’s heart, Rugen dies of fright.
  
  
• Buttercup is continually referred to throughout the film (and in the film’s title itself) as “The Princess,” even though she is not yet married to Humperdinck. However, the grandfather states that Buttercup was born on a small farm, and Humperdinck states in his speech to the people that she was once a commoner. The reason for the discrepancy is that in the novel, the law of the land did indeed allow Humperdinck to choose his bride, but that bride was required to be a princess. Humperdinck overcame the obstacle by making Buttercup princess of a nonexistent country, making her eligible to marry him.

• Rob Reiner first read the book “The Princess Bride” back when he was starring in All in the Family (1971). His dad, Carl Reiner, was friends with William Goldman, and thought Rob would like the book.
  
  
• In 2019 there was talk of doing a remake of The Princess Bride. Elwes paraphrased the film, saying, “There’s a shortage of perfect movies in this world. It would be a pity to damage this one.”
  
  
• When asked to name his favorite thing about making this film, André René Roussimoff replied, without skipping a beat, “Nobody looks at me.” He felt he was treated as an equal, without people staring at him because of his size.
  
  
• Mark Knopfler made Rob Reiner a deal that he would only do the music if Reiner hid the hat that he wore in This Is Spinal Tap somewhere in the film. A duplicate of the hat is hanging in The Grandson’s bedroom.
  
  
• During the filming of some scenes, the weather became markedly cold for Robin Wright. André René Roussimoff helped her by placing one of his hands over her head; his hands were so large that one would entirely cover the top of her head, keeping her warm.
  
  
• Mandy Patinkin has said that the role of Inigo Montoya is his personal favorite over the course of his entire career.
  
  
• When Count Rugen hits Westley over the head, Cary Elwes told Christopher Guest to go ahead and hit him for real. Guest hit Elwes hard enough to knock him unconscious, lacerate the top of his head. Production was shut down for the day while Elwes went to the hospital.
  
  
• Director Rob Reiner left the set during Billy Crystal’s scenes because he would laugh so hard that he would feel nauseated. Mandy Patinkin claims that the only injury he sustained during the entire filming of this movie was a bruised rib due to stifling his laughter in his scenes with Billy Crystal. His attempt at holding back his laughter is obvious from his facial expression during his line, “This is noble, sir.”
  
  
• Writer William Goldman was on set during one of the flame burst scenes in the forest when Robin Wright’s dress caught fire. Although Goldman knew this was intentional, he was so caught up in the moment that he shouted, “Her dress is on fire!”, thus ruining the take.
  
  
• “Dread Pirate Roberts” existed in real life. Bartholomew Roberts, also known as Black Bart, operated in the Caribbean in the early 18th century. Many consider him the most successful pirate of all time.
  
  
• In order to create the Greatest Swordfight in Modern Times, Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin trained for months with Peter Diamond and Bob Anderson, who between them had been in the Olympics; worked on Bond, Lord of the Rings, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and Star Wars films; and coached Errol Flynn and Burt Lancaster.
  
  
• The fights were choreographed by the legendary Bob Anderson (who also choreographed Star Wars). Anderson was taught to fence by the great Akos Moldovanyi, the last man in Europe to preside a sabre duel.
  
  
• The names that Inigo and Westley refer to in the “chatty duel” sequence are all actual fencing terms named after their 14th and 15th century proponents. Bonetti’s defense refers to refraining from attacking on uneven terrain, Capo (sic) Ferra refers to a linear attack, the best for uneven terrain, Thibault refers to angular defenses /attacks and Agrippa refers to natural short sword movements which cancel out angular defenses and attacks.
  
  
• Max and Valerie, played by Billy Crystal and Carol Kane respectively, were named after author William Goldman’s parents.
  
  
• The priest presiding over the marriage was inspired by a famous Chicago Rabbi who gave William Goldman the giggles because he had a speech impediment.
  
  
• When Inigo says, “I’m not budging, keep your ‘ho there’,” to the brute from the Brute Squad, he is actually insulting the man with a cross-language pun. “Joder,” (pronounced similarly to “ho there”) is a Spanish obscenity. Joder = Fuck.
  
  
• The Machine was originally based on a design for a rejected torture machine in the James Bond movie “Never Say Never Again”.
  
  
• Mandy Patinkin revealed that acting out Inigo’s quest to avenge his father’s murder brought back memories of losing his own father to cancer in 1972. He said that when filming the scene when Inigo kills “The Six-Fingered Man,” he felt like he had just “killed” the cancer that killed his father.
  
  
• CAMEO: Rob Reiner: the voice of the R.O.U.S’s.