My mom alerted me to a sale on this audiobook a few months ago. I opted not to buy it, but did ask my library to purchase it so I could borrow it from them and they did! Now that I’ve listened to it, I wish I had bought it. Like the movie, I suspect the book is one I’ll want to enjoy over and over again.
The book is written by Cary Elwes (with help from Joe Layden) and is narrated by Elwes, with appearances from some of his costars, including Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon, Billy Crystal, and Carol Kane, as well as the director, Rob Reiner.
Elwes starts by talking about all the ways in which the movie has touched their lives. Aside from boosting their careers, they’re all constantly getting stopped on the street by people eager to quote a favorite line. Elwes then proceeds to read off a rather long list of some of the movie’s most memorable lines, which I didn’t think was entirely necessary. Of course we know the dialogue is memorable. That’s why we’re reading/listening to a book titled “As You Wish.”
Elwes talks about how he was still trying to break into acting when they approached him to play Westley. He was young and had just a small body of work on his resumé at that time, but it included a movie he had made with Helena Bonham Carter about Jane Grey and that was the movie that happened to get Reiner’s attention.
Elwes had long been a fan of the book and couldn’t believe the director wanted to meet with him to talk about casting him as the lead. It was his dream job and I loved getting both his and Reiner’s perspectives as they thought back on that meeting. Elwes was, understandably, a nervous wreck, but Reiner knew what he wanted and saw it in Elwes almost right away.
They also covered some of the struggles they had in casting other leads, such as Buttercup and Fezzik, but how it all came together, more by chance than anything else. Elwes then proceeds to talk about the process of filming the movie almost from start to finish. The audiobook is only about seven hours and it is full of funny, charming, and heartwarming stories from the set, from the story of Elwes breaking his toe to the fact that, upon meeting André, every kid had one of two reactions.
I won’t spoil some of my favorite production stories, but I can’t write a review of this book without talking about the fencing. I’ll preface it with saying I took a few fencing classes in college so I know a tiny bit about it and could relate to some of the things Elwes mentioned.
The duel between The Man in Black and Inigo Montoya is, of course, one of the most memorable scenes in the movie. What I had not known was that Reiner was intent on making “the greatest sword fight in movie history” without stunt doubles. As a result, both Elwes and Mandy Patinkin were given master fencing instructors and made to learn and practice almost as soon as they were hired. The duel was one of the last scenes they shot to give them as much time as possible to prepare. Elwes is rightly proud that he and Patinkin were the only ones on camera during the sword fighting. They did use stunt doubles for some of the acrobatics, but every time blade touched blade, Elwes and Patinkin were the only ones with those swords in their hands.
This book gave me a newfound appreciation for a movie I already adored and now I’m eager to rewatch it with all the insider knowledge I gained from this book!
What did you guys read/listen to this week? Anything else that gave you a new appreciation for an integral part of your childhood?