Cary Elwes’s new memoir As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride hits on October 14 and is filled with fun tidbits from the cast about making a movie that became an unlikely classic. The other night he threw a bash at Pearl’s in Hollywood that drew an eclectic crowd who had one thing in common—they all loved the movie for the last 25 years. Best dressed of the night? Why, it was Mel Brooks in a chic blazer that featured a ghostly cityscape on the back. He arrived with the film’s director, Rob Reiner.
The action was up on the restaurant/bar’s roof, where Jim Carrey sat amongst the throng watching the film (which was playing on every level of the joint). Priscilla Presley also stopped by to say congrats. I caught up with Shepard Fairey, David Arquette and the man of the hour, Elwes himself (who, along with everyone else, had to keep dabbing at the sweat on his face. A good problem to have–so many people at your party, it raises the temperature).
Fairey contributed artwork to the inside of the book jacket (and brought along a framed copy of the piece for Elwes). As he walked the smallest red carpet I’d ever seen outside Pearl on Sunset Blvd., he uttered his favorite line from the film: “I’m sure everyone says it, but ‘It’s inconceivable!’ There’s so much that’s implicit in that line, that sometimes effort surmounts the odds, and what shouldn’t be possible is possible. And I love that concept.” Arquette agreed with the Fairey. “The ‘inconceivable’ line is one of the greats of all time.”
Elwes has a soft spot for, “Anybody want a peanut?” a line that Andre the Giant utters in response to Wallace Shawn’s “Stop rhyming, I mean it!”
Why write a book 25-plus years after the film was made? “Well, myself and the rest of the cast always get asked, ‘Was making it as much fun as it looked?’ And I always tell them—it was more fun,” Elwes answered. “So I thought now was a good time because I wanted to get it all down on paper before my memory started to fade.”
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