Image: Amazon
The 25th anniversary of popular classic The Princess Bride inspired lead Cary Elwes to write a book about the making of the movie. The book features interviews from almost all of the cast and crew, with the exception of André the Giant, who had passed on by then. Elwes' book, As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, is the source for this collection of facts about the film. Here are two anecdotes about André:
"5. ANDRE THE GIANT COULD REALLY, REALLY DRINK.
Three bottles of cognac and 12 bottles of wine reportedly made him just a little tipsy. When the cast would go out for dinner, Andre—who, according to Robin Wright, ordered four appetizers and five entrees—would drink out of a 40-ounce beer pitcher filled with a mix of liquors, a concoction he called "The American."
6. AND HE HAD AN UNCONVENTIONAL METHOD FOR LEARNING HIS LINES.
Reiner and Goldman met Andre, then a famous wrestler, at a bar in Paris. "I brought him up to the hotel room to audition him. He read this three-page scene, and I couldn’t understand one word he said," Reiner recalls. "I go, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do? He’s perfect physically for the part, but I can’t understand him!’ So I recorded his entire part on tape, exactly how I wanted him to do it, and he studied the tape. He got pretty good!"
Read 13 other facts about The Princess Bride at Mental Floss.