‘The Princess Bride’: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Iconic Movie, 35 Years Later

One of the most iconic movies is the 1987 film The Princess Bride, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary. Here are five surprising facts about the widely beloved film. 

1. The chemistry between Westley and Buttercup was real

Fans of Westley and Buttercup’s romance can rejoice because apparently, the chemistry between The Princess Bride stars Cary Elwes and Robin Wright was real!

In his 2014 book, As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, Elwes revealed that he was infatuated with his co-star. “It was as if I were looking at a young Grace Kelly, she was that beautiful,” he wrote (via Marie Clarie). “To be honest, I couldn’t concentrate on much of anything after that first encounter with Robin. She was the perfect Buttercup in my mind’s eye.”

And Elwes’ feelings for the House of Cards actor weren’t one-sided! Wright opened up about her crush on Elwes in 2014. “Cary was so good looking,” the Forrest Gump actor told Town & Country. “I was convinced we were going to be married.”

2. Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to play Fezzik in ‘The Princess Bride’

Although it’s hard to imagine anyone other than André the Giant playing Fezzik, the professional wrestler wasn’t the first choice for the role. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally cast to play the part. But the movie took years to make, and by the time production started, the Terminator star was quickly becoming a household name. Director Rob Reiner could no longer afford to hire the rising star. 

3. Cary Elwes wasn’t the first choice to play Westley

Fezzik wasn’t the only character in The Princess Bride who was nearly played by a different actor. Colin Firth was originally considered for the role of Westley.

Interestingly, Cary Elwes (who, of course, ended up playing the iconic character) starred in a movie with Firth just a few years before The Princess Bride was released. 

“That’s right,” Elwes told The Daily Beast. “I finished a picture a few years earlier with Colin called Another Country, and he’s an old friend of mine whom I love dearly. Apparently, he was in the running. I didn’t even know that myself!”

4. Cary Elwes filmed several scenes with a limp from a broken toe

The Princess Bride star Cary Elwes revealed that he had to film several scenes for the movie with a broken toe. He opened up about the injury in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything.” 

“Yes, Andre the Giant could only get around on the Derbyshire Moors set on an all-terrain vehicle. One day, he convinced me that I should try it out,” Elwes wrote. “Foolishly, I did, and within minutes I drove over a rock and broke my left toe. It was three weeks before we were due to film the sword fight scene. And so I hadn’t fully healed by the time they shot that.”

At first, Elwes tried to hide the injury from director Rob Reiner. But the actor had a very evident limp, which had to be covered up with trick photography in several scenes.

5. The final scene of ‘The Princess Bride’ was cut from the movie

In the final scene of The Princess Bride, the four heroes – Westley, Buttercup, Fezzik, and Inigo Montoya – ride off on four white horses. Then the grandson (played by Fred Savage), who is hearing the story from his grandfather, asks the grandfather to come back and read to him again the next day. 

But Rob Reiner filmed an entirely different ending, which didn’t make the final cut. In the original version, the grandson walked over to his window after the grandfather left, where he saw the four heroes riding on their white horses. 

“We had this sequence that we did shoot,” the director said. “We didn’t use it. It was after the grandfather leaves the boy and he starts leafing through the book as the grandfather leaves. And, he looks out the window and he sees the four heroes on the four white horses and they’re waving at him.”