Review: As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride
by Cary Elwes
Memoir
Amazon  /  Goodreads

Plot Summary:

From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes a first-person account and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner.

The Princess Bride has been a family favorite for close to three decades. Ranked by the American Film Institute as one of the top 100 Greatest Love Stories and by the Writers Guild of America as one of the top 100 screenplays of all time, The Princess Bride will continue to resonate with audiences for years to come.

Cary Elwes was inspired to share his memories and give fans an unprecedented look into the creation of the film while participating in the twenty-fifth anniversary cast reunion. In As You Wish he has created an enchanting experience; in addition to never-before seen photos and interviews with his fellow cast mates, there are plenty of set secrets, backstage stories, and answers to lingering questions about off-screen romances that have plagued fans for years!

With a foreword by Rob Reiner and a limited edition original poster by acclaimed artist Shepard Fairey, As You Wish is a must-have for all fans of this beloved film.

Review:

The Princess Bride is a magical film.  I loved it when I first saw it and continue to find so much to delight in with every rewatch.  But even though I love the film, I never really delved into how it got made or what the costars thought of the film.  Thankfully though, this book supplies all that knowledge and more.

I listened to this on audiobook which I highly recommend.  Actually I think it's best to get this book in both formats - because the audiobook is read by Cary Elwes and for all the interviews the individual people involved with the production read it, so it's a great experience listening to everyone recount their own stories.  But the physical book has photos which I missed out on! (Although I now own a copy of the book too.)  The audiobook is very entertaining to listen to on-the-go because Cary has a way of making you feel like he is conversationally sharing this great history of the movie with you.  His personable reading and writing make for a fantastic listening experience.  And bonus that in the audiobook Cary does the voices of the different people he's talking about.

What I loved the most about this book was how detailed it was about the whole process of making a film.  It's a long and involved undertaking that I think must apply to the inception of most films (except for the part where the script is excellently written and conceived) and it's interesting to understand how much work went into the production.  And the book details the process in a way that showed how each piece of the puzzle fit together.  From securing the script, to finding the right actors, to learning difficult skills to portray on the screen - it all was set out as this great journey with the end result being this wonderful film.  I especially loved how Cary teased out the experience of learning to sword fight in preparation to filming the greatest sword fight sequence on film.

This is a marvelous read, and truly touching in some parts as stories are shared about Andre the Giant, who seemed like a truly remarkable and warm-hearted person, and as the people involved with the film share how much it has meant to them over the years.  If you love the film, you will definitely love this book!