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Cary Elwes Talks About Drinking with Andre the Giant, SEINFELD, and More

Actor Cary Elwes has been making appearances at conventions this year and stopping around the web to promote his upcoming book As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride. The first person look behind the scenes of the classic film will be on shelves on October 14th, and Elwes took to Reddit yesterday to help spread the word and to answer fan questions in an AMA. He shared anecdotes from his time working on The Princess Bride (of course) but also about Twister, Saw, Seinfeld, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and more. You can practically hear the charm in his responses. He’s dashing in type, you guys. That’s just not fair.

Being a big fan of Elwes as Westley, my favorite questions and answers from the AMA focused on the 1987 movie – including stories about Andre the Giant. Elwes broke his left toe during filming because Andre convinced him to try out the all-terrain vehicle he used to get around set. That unfortunately happened three weeks before the big sword fight scene with Mandy Patinkin’s Inigo Montoya and he hadn’t fully healed. Oops.

Elwes mentioned Andre could drink them all under the table:

Elwes AMA_Andre the Giant

One hundred and three beers?! I’d hate to see that tab.

Redditors didn’t only focus on The Princess Bride. They asked about his many television appearances, including a Seinfeld episode I’d completely forgotten about. He says “The Wait Out” was his first time appearing in a sitcom:

Elwes AMA_Seinfeld

Then there was the time Elwes had half an hour to practice shooting a bull’s-eye for Robin Hood: Men in Tights because director Mel Brooks had a last minute idea:

Elwes AMA_Mel brooks

And Elwes didn’t shy away from being cheeky:

Elwes AMA_english accent

Elwes AMA_Robin Hood dance

Other highlights:
His favorite book is the one he just wrote.
When asked what character in the Marvel universe he’d choose to play, he answered “maybe Dr. Doom.”
He’d rather go up against a ROUS than a tornado or Jigsaw.
When asked about a funny Billy Crystal story, he said: “Billy Crystal’s medieval Yiddish standup caused Rob Reiner and myself to be banished from the set, and Mandy Patinkin to bruise a rib from laughing.”
He still has trouble getting the “Claw” from Liar Liar right.
He said the best part about Hot Shots was “Sneaking a goat into Charlie Sheen’s trailer and filming his reaction.”

Read the entire AMA over at Reddit, and just for kicks, head to the comments and tell me about your favorite Cary Elwes film.

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