‘Truly inconceivable’: Cary Elwes shares behind-the-scenes details with ‘Princess Bride’ fans in Salt Lake

Cary Elwes, best known for his performance as Westley in “The Princess Bride,” was at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City on Saturday to chat with fans about the film.

After joining the audience for a screening of the film, he shared stories from the set of “The Princess Bride” and discussed how the film became a cult classic over the span of almost four decades.

“The Princess Bride” wasn’t an instant hit. On its opening weekend in 1987, it had to compete against “Three Men and a Baby” and “Fatal Attraction” at the box office.

A year later, when the film was sold on VHS, it began selling “like hotcakes,” Elwes said.

“This wonderful thing happened where everyone got to experience the film together, at home,” he said. “Everyone could appreciate it — grandparents, parents, grandkids, kids.”

He continued, “So, for lack of a better phrase, this film that had been mostly dead for a year, suddenly had a life again. ... I am so in awe being here with all of you some 30-plus years later. ... If you told me this back in 1986 when we made this film, I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s truly inconceivable.”

Here are some of the behind-the-scenes details Elwes shared about filming “The Princess Bride” during the Saturday afternoon show.

There were ‘many’ injuries on set

“I’m supposed to be playing a swashbuckling hero in this film, and ironically I had quite a few accidents while we were making it, which made the producers very nervous,” Elwes told the audience.

While riding on an ATV that Andre the Giant used to get around, Elwes caught his left big toe between the clutch and a rock he was passing over. “My toes were touching the underneath of my foot on my heal, which is a very strange sensation,” he said.

It was immediately clear to Elwes that he had broken his toe. Nervous the injury would cost him his role, Elwes tried to hide the injury — to no avail.

Director Rob Reiner knew exactly what was going on. When he confronted Elwes about it, Elwes explained he was worried about getting fired. Then Reiner told Elwes something he “will take to (his) grave.” He said, “How could I fire you? You’re the only guy that could play Westley.”

Another mishap happened during a scene between Elwes and Christopher Guest, who plays Count Rugen.

Before filming began, the prop guys informed Elwes they had forgotten the prop swords, and would have to film the scene with a real, steel sword.

In the scene, Guest’s character is supposed to be shown hitting Westley over the head with a sword to knock him out. Without lightweight prop swords, the scene was more difficult to film.

Stunt coordinators attempted to mimic the blow while protecting Elwes. Take after take, Guest was instructed to move closer to Elwes for a more realistic looking shot.

He eventually got a hair too close.

“In the script it says, ‘Rugen knocks out the Dread Pirate Roberts with his sword, screen goes to black.’ Well, my screen went to black. For real. And he knocked me out. And that’s the take in the film.”

Reiner justified using that take because “it was the only one that looked so real,” Elwes said.

Andre the Giant’s film trailer was a Mack Truck

Andre the Giant, who plays Fezzik in the film, was lovingly described by Elwes as “7-foot-4 and over 500 pounds of pure love.”

Despite his sweet disposition and the constant smile on his face, Andre the Giant had “a very hard life,” Elwes said. This was because his massive frame prevented him from occupying the same spaces as average-sized people.

“He told me, ‘The world isn’t built for big people and little people,’” Elwes said. Andre couldn’t fit in a standard bed or shower, and he needed an entire row on airplanes. He couldn’t fit in any car or van.

“In fact, he couldn’t fit in a regular trailer,” Elwes told the audience. “The trailer we gave him while we were making this film was a Mack Truck.”

“I know. It’s terrible!” Elwes said through roars of laughter. “But it was the only thing he could fit in. ... We put some sofas in there and a TV and he was quite happy.”

Billy Crystal made everyone laugh

While getting dressed in eight-hours worth of hair and makeup, Billy Crystal got into his character, Miracle Max, and stuck with it all day — “He started hacking, you know, he was becoming Miracle Max,” Elwes said.

“He kept doing this (Miracle Max) schtick with everybody. The lady at the counter, the valet ... and he’s hacking all the time.”

When it finally came time to shoot the scene in Miracle Max’s hovel, Reiner gave Crystal free reign.

“Just go for it,” Reiner told Crystal before the first take. “Billy launched into two hours of medieval Yiddish stand-up. None of it scripted ... obviously very funny,” Elwes said.

It was so funny that disruptive laughter from Reiner and Elwes got them taken off set — Elwes was replaced with a rubber dummy and Reiner directed the scene from the hallway.

“Mandy (Patinkin) said he injured himself by bruising a rib, cause he had to hold in his laugh. Which I didn’t know you could do, but apparently he bruised a rib holding in his laugh. Which is the only accident he had on the movie,” Elwes said. “So that was our first day with Billy (Crystal). Crazy. Hilarious.”

Wallace Shawn is ‘over’ inconceivable

The entire “Princess Bride” cast has iconic lines from the movie that follow them.

According to Elwes, Crystal can’t go into a deli without hearing, “You want it lean?” Mandy Patinkin is regularly asked to recite his famous monologue, “You killed my father. Prepare to die,” for enthusiastic teenagers.

Elwes most often hears, “As you wish.”

But, “The worst of all, believe it or not, is Wally Shawn,” Elwes explained, “because he gets just one word.”

“He says, ‘Cary, you have it easy. You’ve got three words that mean I love you. Do you know how many times a day someone even yells that word at me, from across the room, on the street, or the subway, or comes and whispers it in my ear? ... There’s no end to it.’”

According to Elwes, Shawn says the worst part is that, “Everyone thinks I’m hearing it for the first time.”

“He’s a lovely guy. Really lovely,” Elwes said. “But if you see him, and you feel the urge to yell that word or go and say it to him, my advice to you is: Eh, maybe not the right word. He refuses to even sign it on posters, he’s over it. Lovely man, but that’s his one weakness.”

‘As you wish’ was a code for the screenwriter’s daughters

William Goldman wrote the book and later the screenplay for “The Princess Bride.” He wrote the story for his two daughters.

During a cross-country trip with his daughters, Goldman asked them what his next book should be about, Elwes explained.

“One daughter said princesses and the other one said brides,” he told the audience. That was when Goldman decided his next project would be “The Princess Bride.”

“(Goldman) said to me, ‘I wrote Westley’s line — as you wish — as a code for my girls, that whenever they see it or hear it, that’s dad saying I love you,’” Elwes recalled.