113 Fun Facts About The Princess Bride

Who directed The Princess Bride (1987)?

Rob Reiner directed The Princess Bride; his father Carl Reiner had given him Goldman's novel as a teenager, and he made it right after Stand by Me (1986).

Who wrote the 1973 novel and adapted it for the screen?

William Goldman wrote the 1973 novel and the screenplay; he had already won screenwriting Oscars for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men.

What does Westley say every time Buttercup gives him an order on the farm?

Buttercup eventually works out that the phrase is his way of saying 'I love you'.

What is the name of the kingdom where Buttercup lives?

Buttercup lives in Florin, the kingdom whose prince, Humperdinck, chooses her as his bride; the story opens on a farm 'in the country of Florin'.

Prince Humperdinck plans to start a war with which neighbouring country?

Humperdinck wants war with Guilder, the rival country across the sea; he hires Vizzini to kill Buttercup near the Guilder frontier so the crime can be blamed on Guilder.

Which sea raider is said to leave no survivors?

The Dread Pirate Roberts is said never to leave captives alive; Westley later explains the name is a title handed from one pirate to the next when the holder retires.

Vizzini describes himself as coming from where?

Vizzini comes from Sicily; his last words warn that one should 'never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line'.

In Goldman's novel, which country is Fezzik the giant from?

In the novel Fezzik is from Turkey, where his parents pushed him into fighting as a boy; the film changes this, with Vizzini threatening to send him back to Greenland.

Where does the man in black duel Inigo Montoya?

They duel atop the Cliffs of Insanity, where Inigo sportingly waits for the man in black to finish his climb before they cross swords.

What poison does the man in black use in the battle of wits?

The poison is iocane powder, which the man in black describes as odorless, tasteless, instantly soluble, and among the deadlier poisons known to man.

According to the man in black, which country does the poison come from?

The man in black says iocane comes from Australia, which Vizzini notes is 'entirely peopled with criminals' who are used to not being trusted.

How does the man in black beat Vizzini in the battle of wits?

Both goblets were poisoned; the man in black had spent years building an immunity to the poison, so he drank safely while Vizzini died mid-laugh.

Complete Vizzini's classic blunder: 'Never get involved in a land war in ...'

The 'only slightly less well known' blunder is never going in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

What one-word exclamation is Vizzini's catchphrase?

Wallace Shawn's 'Inconceivable!' is Vizzini's signature, shouted at each failed attempt to shake off the man in black on the way to the cliffs.

Complete Inigo's response to Vizzini's overused word: 'You keep using that word. I do not ...'

The line has become shorthand online for correcting anyone misusing a word.

How does Fezzik ask if anyone would like a snack, in rhyme?

When Inigo asks 'Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?', Fezzik rhymes 'If there are, we'll all be dead'; after Vizzini's 'No more rhymes now, I mean it!' he adds 'Anybody want a peanut?'

How does the man in black defeat Fezzik?

Unable to out-muscle the giant, the man in black clings to Fezzik's back and chokes him unconscious, winning the 'sportsmanlike' hand-to-hand bout Fezzik himself proposed.

What does Buttercup call Westley when ordering him about in the opening scenes?

Buttercup addresses Westley only as 'Farm boy' while ordering him to polish her saddle and fetch water pitchers; he works her family's farm, and she comes to realise she loves him.

What are the outsized creatures that attack Westley in the Fire Swamp called?

They are the Rodents of Unusual Size, or R.O.U.S.; Westley has just said he does not think they exist when one leaps on him in the Fire Swamp.

In the film, what is the torture chamber where Westley is taken called?

In the film Westley is held in the Pit of Despair, where the Albino tends his wounds before Count Rugen tests the Machine on him.

In the novel, what is Count Rugen's underground torture complex called?

In the novel Rugen's lair is the Zoo of Death, a five-level underground menagerie of deadly creatures; on its lowest level he drains Westley's life with the Machine.

What physical feature identifies the man Inigo has hunted for years?

Count Rugen has six fingers on one hand, his right; Westley notices the extra finger just as Rugen knocks him out at the edge of the Fire Swamp.

What was Inigo's father Domingo Montoya's trade?

Domingo Montoya was a swordsmith; he slaved a year over a blade for the six-fingered man, then refused to hand it over for a tenth of the promised price and was killed.

How old was Inigo when he watched Rugen kill his father?

Inigo tells the man in black he was 11 years old when he challenged Rugen; the six-fingered man spared his life but scarred both his cheeks.

Which hand do Inigo and the man in black both start their duel with?

Both begin left-handed; Inigo then admits 'I am not left-handed' and switches, and the man in black answers that he is not left-handed either.

What is the fictional fencing rank Inigo achieves in the novel, above 'master'?

In the novel Inigo trains for years after his father's death until he becomes a 'wizard', Goldman's invented fencing rank above 'master'.

Complete Inigo's line: 'Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. ...'

IGN ranked the moment number 86 on its list of the top 100 movie moments.

When the dying Rugen offers Inigo anything he wants, what does Inigo say he wants?

Inigo says he wants his father back ('I want my father back') and runs Rugen through; Mandy Patinkin has said he drew on losing his own father to cancer for the scene.

What does Miracle Max declare about Westley's condition?

Max explains that mostly dead is slightly alive, and all dead means going through his pockets for loose change.

Why did Miracle Max lose his job at the castle?

Prince Humperdinck fired him: Max calls the prince 'the King's stinking son' and agrees to help once Inigo promises a revived Westley will bring him 'humiliations galore'.

What does Miracle Max call out as the trio leaves his hut?

Max shouts 'Have fun storming the castle!'; when Valerie quietly asks whether he thinks it will work, he replies 'It would take a miracle.'

Which sandwich does Miracle Max rank above true love as the greatest thing in the world?

Max says true love is the greatest thing in the world 'except for a nice M.L.T., a mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean'.

How does Westley answer when Humperdinck proposes they fight 'to the death'?

Westley replies 'To the pain', then describes leaving Humperdinck his ears so he can hear every shriek of horror at his ruined face.

Why does Westley tell Buttercup her marriage to Humperdinck is not valid?

Westley asks 'Did you say I do?'; she never said 'I do', because Humperdinck told the clergyman to skip to the end when the castle came under attack, so she is not married.

What does Westley offer Inigo at the end of the film?

Westley asks if Inigo has ever considered piracy and offers him the title of Dread Pirate Roberts, since Inigo's revenge is done and he has no idea what to do next.

Who plays the grandfather reading the story aloud?

Peter Falk, best known as TV's Columbo, plays the grandfather who reads the book to his sick grandson, played by Fred Savage.

Which actor plays Prince Humperdinck?

Chris Sarandon plays Prince Humperdinck; he later provided Jack Skellington's speaking voice in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), with Danny Elfman doing the singing.

Which actor plays the six-fingered Count Rugen?

Christopher Guest plays Count Rugen; three years earlier he had been guitarist Nigel Tufnel in the director's mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.

Which real name did the film's Fezzik go by?

André the Giant was born André René Roussimoff in France in 1946; Fezzik in The Princess Bride was his best-known film role.

Which future action star was the author's second choice for Fezzik back in the 1970s?

Goldman wanted André the Giant but kept Arnold Schwarzenegger as his 1970s backup for Fezzik; by the time the film was made in 1986, Schwarzenegger was too expensive to cast.

Why could André the Giant not actually carry his co-stars during filming?

André could not lift anyone because he had recently had major back surgery, so Elwes walked on hidden ramps for the wrestling scene and Wright hung on cables when Fezzik 'carried' her.

The fencing coach who trained Elwes and Patinkin had also trained actors on which film series?

Bob Anderson had trained actors on the original Star Wars films, doubling Darth Vader in the lightsaber duels of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, before drilling Elwes and Patinkin for months.

Which real Irish landmark stood in for the sheer rock face the kidnappers climb with Buttercup?

The Cliffs of Insanity were played by the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, Ireland; much of the rest of the film was shot around Derbyshire's Peak District and Haddon Hall.

Which musician composed the film's score?

Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler wrote the score; he jokingly demanded that the cap Reiner wore in This Is Spinal Tap appear on screen, and it sits in the grandson's bedroom.

What was the film's only Academy Award nomination?

Its sole nomination was Best Original Song for 'Storybook Love' at the 60th Academy Awards, where it lost to '(I've Had) The Time of My Life' from Dirty Dancing.

Roughly how much did the film gross in the US and Canada on its first release?

It grossed about $31 million in the US and Canada on its initial release against a $16 million budget, a modest return for a film that became a classic on home video.

In what year was the film added to the US National Film Registry?

The Library of Congress named The Princess Bride to the National Film Registry in December 2016, 29 years after its release.

Who is the fictional 'original' author whose work Goldman claims to be abridging?

The publisher's letters about the missing 'reunion scene' even blame the Morgenstern estate's lawyer, Kermit Shog.

What are the two rival countries in the story named after?

One was a gold coin minted in Florence, the other a Dutch gold coin.

Where did Goldman get the idea for the story?

The story grew from tales he told his two daughters: one asked for a princess and the other for a bride, which gave Goldman the title and the plot.

What is the name of the unfinished sequel Goldman teased in later editions?

The sequel is Buttercup's Baby; its sample chapter ends with Fezzik leaping from a cliff to save Westley and Buttercup's daughter, Waverly.

In the novel's footnotes, which famous author was allowed to abridge the sequel instead of Goldman?

Goldman's 25th-anniversary footnotes claim the Morgenstern estate picked Stephen King to abridge Buttercup's Baby instead of him; Goldman died in 2018 without finishing it.

Which studio paid Goldman $500,000 for the film rights back in 1973?

20th Century Fox bought the rights in 1973; when the studio's production chief was fired the project stalled, and Goldman later bought the rights back himself.

Which producer, famous for All in the Family, financed the film?

Norman Lear, creator of All in the Family, financed the film through his company Act III Communications after the major studios passed on it.

In the 2020 quarantine 'Home Movie' remake, who gave a final performance as the grandfather?

Carl Reiner played the grandfather opposite his son Rob as the grandson in the final segment; it was his last performance, and he died in June 2020.

Fred Savage reprised his grandson role in a 2018 PG-13 recut of which film?

Once Upon a Deadpool, the PG-13 recut of Deadpool 2, has Deadpool reading the story to a kidnapped Fred Savage in a recreation of the grandson's bedroom.

Which comedian played Fezzik in the 2020 virtual cast reunion?

Josh Gad read Fezzik in the September 2020 reunion for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, alongside Patton Oswalt as Vizzini and Eric Idle as the Impressive Clergyman.

Complete Westley's line to Buttercup: 'Life is pain, ...'

He adds that anyone who says differently is selling something.

What does Westley wish the unconscious Fezzik before leaving him on the trail?

Westley tells the choked-out Fezzik 'rest well, and dream of large women', adding that he does not envy the headache the giant will have on waking.

Which director was signed and nearly made the film before the Fox production head was fired?

Richard Lester, director of A Hard Day's Night, was signed by Fox in the 1970s; the deal collapsed when the studio's production chief was fired, and Goldman bought back the rights.

Which future Schindler's List star auditioned for Fezzik but was turned down over his height?

Liam Neeson, at 6 ft 4 in, auditioned for Fezzik but Reiner judged him not tall enough for a giant; André the Giant was billed at 7 ft 4 in.

At which festival did The Princess Bride premiere and win the People's Choice Award in 1987?

It premiered at the 1987 Toronto Festival of Festivals (now TIFF), where it won the People's Choice Award; it also won the 1988 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

Who played Buttercup in Jason Reitman's 2011 live script reading at LACMA?

Mindy Kaling read Buttercup at Jason Reitman's 2011 LACMA live read, with Paul Rudd as Westley, Patton Oswalt as Vizzini and Cary Elwes reading Humperdinck.

Which Irish playwright drove the young André the Giant, Fezzik of The Princess Bride, to school?

Samuel Beckett, the author of Waiting for Godot, lived close to the family's home outside Paris and was one of several adults who gave the local children lifts.

Ross Ulbricht ran which darknet market under an alias borrowed from the pirate in The Princess Bride?

Silk Road was seized by US law enforcement, and a month later somebody else reopened the site and claimed the very same alias.

Which star of the sitcom Taxi was considered for the role of Vizzini in The Princess Bride?

Danny DeVito was considered, but the part went to another small actor, picked so that his size would contrast with the giant Fezzik.

Miracle Max in The Princess Bride was pitched to his actor as a chance to play which comedy director?

Mel Brooks was the bait, and the ad-libbing that followed was so funny that the film's own director had to walk off the set because he could not stop laughing.

Which comedian auditioned to play Buttercup in The Princess Bride and joined its cast reunion in 2020?

Whoopi Goldberg lost the princess to Robin Wright, then came back 33 years later to read both the Ancient Booer and the grandson's mother.

What did Mandy Patinkin possibly crack holding in laughter at Miracle Max in The Princess Bride?

A rib is what he suspects he cracked, though he came through the film's long sword duel itself without being hurt.

In the year The Princess Bride opened, which wrestler faced André the Giant at WrestleMania III?

Hulk Hogan body-slammed and then pinned him before a crowd billed as a record, a result André had agreed to beforehand, mostly for the sake of his health.

After playing the grandson in The Princess Bride, Fred Savage found fame in which nostalgic TV series?

The Wonder Years cast him as Kevin Arnold from 1988 to 1993 and brought him two Emmy nominations for lead actor in a comedy series.

In The Princess Bride, the secret door to Count Rugen's hidden torture chamber is set into what?

A tree in the forest hides the way down, and the count opens it for the prince just after the two have gone over their plan to murder the bride.

The director and writer of The Princess Bride reunited for which thriller about a captive novelist?

Misery won Kathy Bates the Oscar for Best Actress as Annie Wilkes, the obsessive fan who holds her favourite writer prisoner.

Which comedian and future Oscars host plays the folk healer Miracle Max in The Princess Bride?

Billy Crystal spent only three days on the set, hidden under old-age make-up, and was allowed to improvise some of his lines.

Which actor and playwright, later the voice of Rex in Toy Story, plays Vizzini in The Princess Bride?

Wallace Shawn has guessed that the Toy Story director cast him as the nervous dinosaur after seeing how excitable he was as the kidnappers' scheming leader.

Which mock documentary about a heavy metal band did the director of The Princess Bride make in 1984?

This Is Spinal Tap was paid for by the same producer, and its success convinced the director that he could take on a fairy tale Hollywood had failed to film for more than a decade.

Cary Elwes sent up his Westley image from The Princess Bride as the hero of which 1993 spoof?

Robin Hood: Men in Tights gave him a second famous lead six years after the fairy tale, long before he found a new audience in the Saw horror films.

Bonetti, Capo Ferro, Thibault and Agrippa, all name-dropped in The Princess Bride, were real what?

Swordplay teachers and theorists of the 16th and 17th centuries, they ran schools or wrote rapier manuals, so the two duellists are comparing genuine styles.

Inigo Montoya, the swordsman hired by Vizzini in The Princess Bride, comes from which country?

Spain is his homeland in both the book and the film, and he was a drifting drunk when the kidnappers' leader first found and hired him.

In The Princess Bride, which gang does Fezzik join to clear the Thieves' Forest before the wedding?

The Brute Squad is raised on the prince's orders, supposedly to flush out foreign assassins, and serving in it is how Fezzik stumbles on a drunken Inigo.

What does Fezzik find in the prince's stables for the final escape in The Princess Bride?

Four white horses, one for each of them, carry Fezzik, Inigo and the reunited lovers away from the castle as dawn breaks.

The author of The Princess Bride won an Oscar for scripting which 1976 film about Watergate?

All the President's Men won him a second Academy Award, yet he later said it was the one screenplay he wished he had never gone near.

In The Princess Bride, what is the grandson told when he demands to know who kills the prince?

Nobody does, his grandfather admits, because the hero chooses to leave the prince alive to live out a long, lonely life as a coward.

Which future star of the horror film Scream auditioned for the role of Buttercup in The Princess Bride?

Courteney Cox was one of at least seven actresses who read for the princess, a list that also took in Uma Thurman, Meg Ryan and Sean Young.

Which actor turned Oscar-winning director once tried and failed to film The Princess Bride?

Robert Redford joined a line of defeated suitors that included Norman Jewison, and the man who finally made the film called the book an impossible sell.

Which leading director of the French New Wave once tried to adapt The Princess Bride for the screen?

François Truffaut, who made The 400 Blows, tried and gave up, and he died in 1984, three years before the story finally reached cinemas.

Cary Elwes was chosen as Westley in The Princess Bride on the strength of which Tudor costume drama?

Lady Jane cast him as the doomed husband of England's nine-day queen, and the director then flew to Germany to meet him rather than wait for an audition.

Robin Wright took leave from which daytime soap opera to play Buttercup in The Princess Bride?

Santa Barbara had cast her at 18 as Kelly Capwell, a part that earned her several Daytime Emmy nominations and that she kept until 1988.

Which growth disorder was already wearing down André the Giant when he filmed The Princess Bride?

Acromegaly, an excess of growth hormone, was first spotted by doctors while he was wrestling in Japan in 1970, and he never had it treated.

The Princess Bride won which science fiction and fantasy prize for Best Dramatic Presentation?

The Hugo Award is voted on by science fiction fans, who in 1988 preferred the gentle fairy tale to both RoboCop and Predator.

The Princess Bride sits at number 88 on which of the American Film Institute's 100 Years countdowns?

Passions was the 2002 list of the greatest love stories in American cinema, with Casablanca first and the fairy tale twelve places from the bottom.

Which short-lived mobile streaming service premiered the homemade 2020 remake of The Princess Bride?

Quibi released it in short chapters to raise money for a food charity, with famous actors filming themselves at home on their own phones.

The Princess Bride changed hands when its backer Embassy Pictures was sold to which drinks maker?

Coca-Cola bought the studio, so the film followed its producer to his new company, Act III, as only its second feature after Stand by Me.

How does the full title of the novel The Princess Bride describe its retelling of a supposed classic?

The Good Parts Version is the joke behind the whole book, in which the author claims to be trimming a long-winded classic by a writer who never existed.

In the novel The Princess Bride, what is the profession of the narrator's fictional wife, Helen?

A psychiatrist named Helen is pure invention, since the author's real wife, Ilene Jones, was a photographer.

In the sequel chapter added to The Princess Bride, what is the name of Westley's daughter?

Waverly is snatched by a madman and thrown from a mountainside, and the chapter ends with Fezzik leaping after her to break her fall.

Readers who write off for the missing reunion scene of The Princess Bride novel are sent what instead?

A letter about legal problems arrives, blaming an invented lawyer named Kermit Shog who supposedly guards the estate of the equally invented original author.

Unlike the film, how does the original novel The Princess Bride leave its heroes on the last page?

Still on the run is where the book stops, with old wounds reopening and the escape going wrong, though the narrator hints that they get away.

What did Count Rugen leave the young Inigo Montoya with after sparing his life in The Princess Bride?

A scar on each cheek marked the boy for life, and years later Inigo cuts the same two wounds into the count's face before finishing him.

In The Princess Bride, what powers the life-draining torture machine invented by Count Rugen?

Water drives the device, which the count says takes years off a victim's life, and he begins by draining a single year from Westley.

What is the name of the pirate ship that Westley comes to command in The Princess Bride?

Revenge is the ship that changes captains in secret, each old one sailing on for a while as first mate so the new crew accepts his successor.

In The Princess Bride, the original feared pirate is said to have retired years ago to which region?

Patagonia is where the first holder of the name had been living for fifteen years, while a string of successors kept his reputation alive at sea.

Which member of the Beyond the Fringe quartet plays the clergyman at the wedding in The Princess Bride?

Peter Cook is billed simply as the Impressive Clergyman, and a Monty Python star, Eric Idle, read his part at the cast's 2020 reunion.

Which Oscar-nominated comic actress plays Valerie, the wife of Miracle Max, in The Princess Bride?

Carol Kane and her screen husband met before flying to England to invent the old couple's backstory, then improvised some of their lines on set.

Which Olympic fencer turned film sword master coached the two duellists of The Princess Bride?

Bob Anderson fenced for Britain at the 1952 Olympics and had the two leads learn each other's moves as well as their own, to avoid an accident.

The stars of The Princess Bride studied old sword fights and loved which 1952 swashbuckler's duel best?

Scaramouche, starring Stewart Granger and Mel Ferrer, came out on top after the pair set out to watch every sword fight ever filmed.

Which moves in the great duel of The Princess Bride were the only ones not performed by the two actors?

The somersaults, two of them, went to stunt doubles, and every other move was fought by the actors, who spent most of their free time on set practising.

What really held Robin Wright up when Fezzik appears to catch Buttercup in The Princess Bride?

Unseen cables took her weight, and in the fight with Fezzik Cary Elwes was really walking up ramps below the camera rather than hanging from André's shoulders.

Which medieval manor house in Derbyshire served as a filming location for The Princess Bride?

Haddon Hall had appeared a year earlier in the very costume drama that won Cary Elwes the lead, and the crew spent five weeks on location around the county.

Which 1983 novel did the author of The Princess Bride publish under the same invented pen name?

The Silent Gondoliers claims to explain why the boatmen of Venice no longer sing, and it is the only other book credited to the imaginary author.

What do Miracle Max and his wife concoct to bring Westley round in The Princess Bride?

A pill does the job, bringing Westley round as his friends reach the castle, although at first he is too weak to move.

In The Princess Bride, what does Vizzini cut in a bid to shake off the man in black?

The climbing rope drops away, yet the man in black clings to the bare rock face and simply carries on without it.

How does Buttercup reach Westley in the ravine once she realises who he is in The Princess Bride?

Tumbling down the hill after him, she lands beside the man she had shoved over the edge moments earlier, believing him to be her true love's killer.