Wuv, twoooo wuv...

Last night, I went to see one of my all-time favorite movies, "The Princess Bride", on the big screen at the ArcLight Sherman Oaks.

This would have been awesome enough, but Cary Elwes, aka Westley, aka THE STAR OF MY PRE-PUBESCENT HEART, did a Q&A after! SWOON.

He was hilarious, and shared some great stories about the making of the movie and his friendship with Andre the Giant.

Things I remember:

• He hadn't seen the moving since the premiere in 1987, but he knew SO many quotes off the top of his head, even lines that weren't his.
• Danny DeVito was originally offered the part of Vizzini, but he turned it down. Wallace Shawn spent the whole movie worried his performance wasn't good and he was going to be fired.
• A guy asked if in the course of normal life, when his wife asks him to do something, if he ever says "As you wish". I wish I had gotten his reaction on film, but suffice it to say it was a version of "Yeeeah...noooo...that has never and will never happen. Of course, she's going to watch this now and demand it. So thaaanks." He did say he will never mind getting "as you wish" from fans, because this movie "gave him his career" and he will always be grateful. Very classy.
• He has one sexy voice.
• Um, there were little people in the R.O.U.S. costumes. WHAT?!?!
• One of them went out one night, had a few to drink, and got pulled over driving home. He tried to get out of it by saying, "I have to go, I'm in a movie, I'm a rat in a movie!"
• Andre the Giant was a big guy, and a biiig drinker. They'd go out and Cary would try to pace himself, and Andre said, "You drink like little boy!" They were out in NYC once and Cary thought they were being followed, and Andre said they were. Apparently one night he'd had a bit too much and had fallen on a fellow bar patron. After that the NYPD always had an off-duty officer follow him around when he went out drinking to protect the littler people around him.
• He came up with the "mostly dead all day" inability to walk. Amazing physical comedy.
• Mandy Patinkin would sing in between takes. Of course.
• Robin Wright is a very very funny woman, and they would goof off together doing accents.
• First day of shooting, she was lit on fire in the Fire Swamp, and totally acted like a pro.
• It was one of his first leading parts and his first role in an American film.
• He said making the film was like "capturing lightning in a bottle", and every element from the cast to the crew to the material was perfect. I agree!

There's nothing more fun than seeing a cult classic like "The Princess Bride" in a theater full of other die-hard fans. Huge laughs, line recitations, and just a feeling of absolute true childlike joy. Definitely an amazing experience!