As You Wish

August 25, 2014
The movie The Princess Bride achieved a certain cinematic magic, which Elwes (Westley) captures in his warm and revealing behind-the-scenes account. At 23, he was one of the youngest actors in the movie and was largely unknown. He proved himself early on during filming when he suggested to director Rob Reiner that instead of going in feet first to rescue Buttercup in the Fire Swamp quicksand scene, as written by William Goldman, it would be more heroic to dive in headfirst. The stunt hadn’t been designed for that move and Elwes could have been seriously injured, but his idea winds up in the film. Elwes also describes breaking his toe while riding costar André the Giant’s ATV, and relates other juicy anecdotes. The author was in virtually every scene of the film, including the sword-fighting sequence, which required intensive training. The book also includes reminiscences about the production from Reiner, Goldman, and other members of the cast.

September 15, 2014

Through personal anecdotes and interviews with fellow cast and crew members, actor Elwes tracks the journey of 1987's The Princess Bride from director Rob Reiner's initial bid through its production and up to the film's 25th anniversary. Elwes's attempt at a conversational narrative feels clunky at times, often getting bogged down in figures, actor resumes, and even a plot summary of the film--the last of which is certainly unnecessary for the dedicated fan base that will be reading this memoir. However, the complete and unabashed adoration that the author and the cast have for the cult classic shines in stories about the famous sword fight between Elwes as Westley and Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya, the many takes ruined by uncontrollable laughter during Billy Crystal's time on the set performing as Miracle Max, and the fond reminiscences of the late Andre the Giant. VERDICT While the writing is occasionally uneven and amateur, those eager to get their hands on anything Princess Bride can still find delight in this behind-the-scenes look and will be running to break out their DVDs for another movie viewing. [See "Books for the Masses," Editors' BEA Picks, LJ 7/14, p. 29.]--Kate DiGirolomo, Library Journal

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 22, 2014
Elwes shares his experience as one of the lead actors in The Princess Bride—from his initial meetings with director Rob Reiner to the 25th-anniversary screening of the film. He includes trivia about the production, and the various challenges he faced personally and professionally throughout. Elwes peppers the memoir with interviews of various people involved with the production of The Princess Bride, including Reiner, Robin Wright, Christopher Guest, and Wallace Shawn. Some of them, such as Reiner and Wright, even narrate their contributions in the audio edition, effectively conveying their excitement about the film. The absence of the voices of some of those interviewed leads to an imbalance, however, with Elwes narrating their sections. Even so, his voice is light and energetic, and it’s clear that he is smiling throughout the production. An S&S/Touchstone hardcover.

October 1, 2014
With the assistance of Layden (The Ghost Horse: A True Story of Love, Death, and Redemption, 2013, etc.), Elwes shares tales of the making of the 1987 film The Princess Bride, in which he starred in the role of Westley. By the time Rob Reiner and his producing partner Andy Scheinman decided to make a film version of William Goldman's book, Goldman's screenplay adaptation had become legendary in Hollywood as an unproduced script. Robert Redford, Norman Jewison and even Francois Truffaut had all tried and failed to get the movie past development stages. Elwes gives a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie and theorizes on how an infamously unproducible script became a cult classic. The book is driven by the author's thoughts and memories but is complemented by rich quotes featured in pop-out text boxes from Reiner, Scheinman, Goldman and other stars of the film, including Christopher Guest, Robin Wright and Billy Crystal. Elwes' description of how Reiner's simple stage directions helped achieve his tongue-in-check vision, or Scheinman's thoughts on how today's special effects may have overwhelmed and ruined the gently satirical tone of the movie, are interesting from a broad cinematic perspective. But the book is intended less for film aficionados than simply for lovers of this specific movie. As a rookie star in his first big production, Elwes often felt "like a kid at theater camp who has been suddenly plucked from the ranks of the ordinary and tossed onto a Broadway stage," and while his observations ooze with positivity, they come across as genuine. The book, unlike the movie it describes, struggles at times to balance a tone of charming over cheesy. But Elwes' case-that the film has endured because it was made with a lot of heart-is made persuasively enough that readers will entertain the sentiment even if they aren't totally convinced by it.

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