33 inconceivable facts about ‘The Princess Bride’ | eBaum's World

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33 inconceivable facts about ‘The Princess Bride’

interesting facts about this iconic movie

By Nathan Johnson

Published 10 years ago

interesting facts about this iconic movie

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1
Some of the parapets and turrets on Humperdinck’s castle are fake. The movie didn’t have a large budget but Reiner wanted the castle to look “more majestic.”

2
It is implied that Count Rugen was an adult when he killed Inigo’s father and left him with facial scars, yet Christopher Guest is only four years older than Mandy Patinkin.

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3
Prince Humperdinck’s Castle was actually Haddon Hall of Derbyshire, England. Fittingly it was built to house a bastard, the illegitimate son of William the Conqueror. But to give it some added appeal, the production added spires to its exterior.

4
The first scene Wright filmed was her dress catching fire in the Fire Swamp. The fire is real, but the skirt was made of flame retardant cloth.

5
The scene when Buttercup pushes Westley down the steep hill and throws herself after him was performed by two stuntmen (one in a long blonde wig).

6
Elwes had to have a mold of his head made so his famous black mask would fit perfectly on his face – but they still had to fill in a bit around the eye holes with black makeup.

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7
Knopfler only agreed to take the job when Reiner agreed to put a reference to Spinal Tap in the film.

8
You can see the hat Reiner wore during filming for Spinal Tap hanging in The Grandson’s room.

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9
Shawn was terrified of heights, and in the scene when Fezzik climbs the Cliffs of Insanity, André the Giant comforted Shawn by softly patting him and saying “I’ll take care of you.”

10
Reiner’s first choice to play Vizzini was Danny DeVito, but the role ultimately went to Wallace Shawn.

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11
Bursts of oxygen were shot out before flames in the fire swamp so that the actors knew where the fire was coming from.

12
Let’s just say André liked to drink – a LOT. He’d drink a beer pitcher full of a mix of alcohol… and he didn’t always make it to his bed when he passed out.

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13
To keep from injuring the horse, André the Giant had to be lowered onto his horse with a pulley system for the final scene.

14
Billy Crystal wanted Miracle Max to look like a cross between his own grandmother and former Yankees manager Casey Stengel.

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15
The Princess Bride was almost made into a movie in the ’70s, and a then-unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger was seriously considered to play Fezzik. By the time the movie was actually made, Schwarzenegger was too expensive to hire.

16
Reiner recorded all of Fezzik’s dialogue so André the Giant could learn his lines phonetically.

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17
There may be a sequel, someday. Goldman has long teased a follow-up to be titled Buttercup’s Baby. The furthest he’s gotten is a first chapter, which has been included in some printings of the Princess Bride.

18
Elwes and Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya) underwent intense training for their famous sword-fighting scene. Patinkin first learned to fight with his left hand – and actually did become better with it than his right!

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19
In a scene where Westley gets hit on the head by Count Rugen, Carey Elwes told Christopher Guest to actually hit him. He did, and it sent Cary to the hospital and stopped production for a day.

20
The Rodents Of Unusual Size were men in rat suits.

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21
The final scene of the movie was originally going to be The Grandson looking out his window and seeing the four heroes, sitting on white horses, waving from below. Reiner decided against it and reshot the final scene.

22
During cold filming days, André the Giant would put his hand on Robin Wright’s head — which reached past her eyes and covered the back of her neck — to keep her warm.

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23
A body double was used for the scene when Westley jumps on Fezzik’s back because André the Giant had severe back issues.

24
During fight rehearsal for Inigo’s big showdown with Count Rugen, Mandy Patinkin accidentally stabbed Christopher Guest in the thigh. Before they filmed the scene, Guest told the fencing master, “I think he’s going try to kill me. So all that stuff that I learned, I’m basically throwing out. I’m basically now going to defend myself.”

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25
Neither Cary Elwes or Mandy Patinkin had any sword fighting experience before filming. Both trained rigorously and every frame of Inigo and Westley’s sword fight on The Cliffs of Insanity is actually the two actors.

26
André the Giant disliked the food provided on set so much, he took his week off to drive to France and bring back his favorite French foods. He shared with the rest of the cast.

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27
Mandy Patinkin’s favorite line in the movie is when Inigo says, “I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it’s over, I don’t know what to do with the rest of my life.”

28
Director Rob Reiner auditioned over 500 women for the role of Buttercup, including Courtney Cox, Meg Ryan, Uma Thurman and Whoopie Goldberg.

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29
Before Goldman wrote The Princess Bride, he asked his two daughters what he should write about. One said “a princess” and the other said “a bride,” and the title was born.

30
Six weeks before filming, Cary Elwes broke his toe riding André the Giant’s ATV. His careful walking is especially noticeable in the scene when he confronts Buttercup about her fiancé as the Dread Pirate Roberts.

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31
The Princess Bride only grossed $30.8 million domestically, and didn’t become wildly popular until the VCR came out.

32
Patinkin said that when he stabbed Count Rugen as Inigo, it felt like he was killing the cancer that killed his father, and “for a moment, he was alive. And my fairy tale came true.”

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33
Patinkin chose Inigo partly because his own father died a few years before filming, and for motivation he would tell himself that if he caught the six-fingered man, his own father would come back.

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