Home Movie: The Princess Bride | |
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Genre | Fantasy adventure comedy |
Directed by | Jason Reitman |
Starring | Various actors |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 10 |
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Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Editor | Nathan Orloff |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | Quibi |
Release | June 29 – July 8, 2020 |
Home Movie: The Princess Bride is an American comedy television miniseries directed by Jason Reitman, a "fan made" recreation of the 1987 film The Princess Bride . Produced while the participating actors were isolating themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, it is filmed in a deliberately DIY fashion, with an ensemble cast recording their scenes on their own smartphones, and multiple actors playing the most prominent roles. It features the final screen performance of Carl Reiner, the father of the original film's director Rob Reiner. It premiered in short installments in June and July 2020, on Quibi.
The Home Movie version of the film follows the same fundamental plot. In contemporary times, a grandfather reads the story of The Princess Bride to his dismissive sick grandson. In the story, set in medieval times in the fictional country of Florin, Buttercup and her farmhand Westley fall in love. Westley goes off to seek his fortune to marry Buttercup but she soon learns of his death at the hands of the Dread Pirate Roberts, and comes to accept the marriage proposal of Prince Humperdinck. Near her wedding day, three scoundrels, Vizzini, Inigo Montoya, and Fezzik, abduct Buttercup at the request of Humperdinck to make it appear as an act from a neighboring kingdom and pretense to start a war. They are chased by the Man in Black, later revealed to be the Dread Pirate Roberts. Roberts beats and spares Inigo and Fezzik, and survives a poison challenge from Vizzini to free Buttercup. He reveals that he is actually Westley, that the "Dread Pirate Roberts" is a title passed along from one holder to the next, and that he had come after hearing that Buttercup's life is in danger. The two are soon caught by Humperdinck and Count Tyrone Rugen.
Humperdinck returns Buttercup to the castle to prepare for the wedding, claiming that Westley returned to the sea, when in reality, Rugen has taken Westley to be tortured in a secret chamber. When Buttercup refused to show any love for Humperdinck, Humperdinck uses Rugen's torture device to apparently kill Westley. Inigo and Fezzik, having reunited near the castle, hear Westley's final screams, discover his body, and take him to Miracle Max. Max finds Westley clings to life due to his true love for Buttercup and helps resuscitate him. Westley, still half-prone from being nearly dead, devises a plan with Inigo and Fezzik to interrupt the wedding to rescue Buttercup. Inigo, learning that Rugen is his father's killer, gets revenge by killing Rugen after a long fight. Fezzik helps Westley to Buttercup's room. Westley wounds Humperdinck to shame him before he, Buttercup, and Fezzik flee with Inigo. The grandson, who had told the grandfather to skip all the kissing parts in the book before, allows him to read the final kissing scene in the book.
Reitman came up with the idea in March 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, of remaking the 1987 film The Princess Bride with actors performing in their own homes. He saw it as a way to raise money for World Central Kitchen to support restaurants that were also struggling under the pandemic, allowing them to operate and provide meals to poor families. [1] Reitman talked to Jeffrey Katzenberg about it, who made a million-dollar donation to the charity, and arranged to stream the final product on the upcoming Quibi streaming service. [1] Reitman created a proof of concept scene with himself and his daughter recreating the initial scene with the grandfather and the boy that leads off the film, and used that to gain approval from Norman Lear, who owned the rights to the film, and the estate of William Goldman, which controlled the rights to the original story. Reitman was also able to get the rights to the film's score from Mark Knopfler. [1]
The series was filmed by the actors at their homes during quarantine. [1] Actors provided their own props and costumes, and swapped roles between scenes. Each actor filmed their own side of a scene in isolation, due to social distancing guidelines, with the exception of roommates such as Nicholas Braun and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as well as cohabitating couples such as Chris Pine and Annabelle Wallis, Common and Tiffany Haddish, Sam Rockwell and Leslie Bibb, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, Brandon Routh and Courtney Ford, and Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas, who filmed their scenes together. Special effects were created in a humorously homemade manner; sets were recreated in miniature form with LEGO and an R.O.U.S. ("rodent of unusual size") is represented by Sophie Turner's corgi. [1] Reitman provided minimal direction to the actors outside of answering a few questions. [1]
Fred Savage plays the grandson in the opening scene, making him the only actor from the original film to reprise his original role. Cary Elwes, who starred as Westley in the original film, appears in the final confrontation between Westley and Humperdinck, but instead plays Humperdinck (opposite Paul Rudd). Rob Reiner, director of the original film, appears in the production in two roles. He is one of the actors playing the grandfather in the opening bookend scene, reading the film's fairy-tale story to his grandson (played in this segment by Josh Gad). He also appears in the closing bookend scene as the grandson, with his father Carl Reiner now playing the loving grandfather and speaking the film's catchphrase "as you wish" (which means "I love you"). Carl Reiner died three days after recording his scene, and the work as a whole is dedicated to him. [2]
Mark Knopfler's score is performed by Ethan Gruska, Blake Mills, Bad Suns, Mateo Messina, Phoebe Bridgers, Bahamas, Sylvan Esso, Alex Ebert, Beulahbelle, and Perfume Genius.
The series was announced on June 26, 2020. [3] [4] The film was released in short segments – the Quibi service's usual format – with the first installment appearing on June 29.
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [5] |
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1 | "Chapter One: As You Wish" | Jason Reitman | William Goldman | June 29, 2020 |
2 | "Chapter Two: The Shrieking Eels" | Jason Reitman | William Goldman | June 30, 2020 |
3 | "Chapter Three: The Cliffs of Insanity" | Jason Reitman | William Goldman | July 1, 2020 |
4 | "Chapter Four: Battle of the Wits" | Jason Reitman | William Goldman | July 2, 2020 |
5 | "Chapter Five: Life Is Pain" | Jason Reitman | William Goldman | July 3, 2020 |
6 | "Chapter Six: The Fire Swamp" | Jason Reitman | William Goldman | July 4, 2020 |
7 | "Chapter Seven: The Pit of Despair" | Jason Reitman | William Goldman | July 5, 2020 |
8 | "Chapter Eight: Ultimate Suffering" | Jason Reitman | William Goldman | July 6, 2020 |
9 | "Chapter Nine: Have Fun Storming the Castle!" | Jason Reitman | William Goldman | July 7, 2020 |
10 | "Chapter Ten: To the Pain!" | Jason Reitman | William Goldman | July 8, 2020 |
Ivan Simon Cary Elwes is an English actor. He starred as Westley in The Princess Bride (1987), and also had lead roles in films such as Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) and the Saw series. The accolades he has received include nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Satellite Awards. Elwes' other performances in films include Glory (1989), Days of Thunder (1990), Hot Shots! (1991), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Twister (1996), Kiss the Girls (1997), Liar Liar (1997), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), The Cat's Meow (2001), Ella Enchanted (2004), Pope John Paul II (2005), No Strings Attached (2011), BlackBerry, and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023).
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest, known professionally as Christopher Guest, is a British-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. Guest has written, directed, and starred in his series of comedy films shot in mockumentary style. He wrote and acted in the rock satire This Is Spinal Tap (1984), and later directed a string of satirical mockumentary films such as Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016).
Frederick Aaron Savage is an American actor and director. He is best known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series The Wonder Years (1988–1993). He has earned several awards and nominations, such as People's Choice Awards and Young Artist Awards. He is also known for playing the Grandson in The Princess Bride, and voiced the title protagonist in Oswald. Savage has worked as a director, and in 2005 later starred in the television sitcom Crumbs. Savage returned to acting in the television series The Grinder, as well as the Netflix series Friends from College.
Robert Reiner is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.
The Princess Bride is a 1987 American fantasy adventure comedy film directed and co-produced by Rob Reiner and starring Robin Wright, Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, and André the Giant. Adapted by William Goldman from his 1973 novel, it tells the story of a swashbuckling farmhand named Westley, accompanied by companions befriended along the way, who must rescue his true love Princess Buttercup from the odious Prince Humperdinck. The film preserves the novel's metafictional narrative style by presenting the story as a book being read by a grandfather to his sick grandson.
William Goldman was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. Among other accolades, Goldman won two Academy Awards in both writing categories: first for Best Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and then for Best Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men (1976).
Carl Reiner was an American actor, author, comedian, director and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.
Ivan Reitman was a Canadian film director and producer. He was known for his comedy films, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. Reitman was the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 1998.
The Dread Pirate Roberts is the identity assumed by several characters in the novel The Princess Bride (1973) and its 1987 film adaptation. Various pirates take on the role of Roberts and use his reputation to intimidate their opponents, before retiring and secretly passing on the name to someone else.
Inigo Montoya is a fictional character in William Goldman's 1973 novel The Princess Bride. In Rob Reiner's 1987 film adaptation, he was portrayed by Mandy Patinkin. In both the book and the movie, he was originally from Spain and resided in the fictional country of Florin.
Camillo Agrippa was a noted fencer, architect, engineer and mathematician of the Renaissance. He is considered to be one of the greatest fencing theorists of all time.
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, The "Good Parts" Version is a 1973 fantasy romance novel by American writer William Goldman. The book combines elements of comedy, adventure, fantasy, drama, romance, and fairy tale. It is metafictionally presented as an abridgment of a longer work by the fictional S. Morgenstern, and Goldman's commentary asides are constant throughout. It was originally published in the United States by Harcourt Brace, then later by Random House, while in the United Kingdom it was later published by Bloomsbury.
Jason R. Reitman is a Canadian–American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the films Thank You for Smoking (2005), Juno (2007), Up in the Air (2009), Young Adult (2011), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), and Saturday Night (2024). He has received one Grammy Award, one Golden Globe and four Academy Award nominations, two of which are for Best Director. Reitman is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States. He is the son of director Ivan Reitman, and known for frequently collaborating with screenwriter Diablo Cody.
Brian Baumgartner is an American actor. From 2005 to 2013, he played Kevin Malone in the NBC sitcom The Office.
The Princess Bride is the fourth soundtrack album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on 12 November 1987 by Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album contains music composed for the 1987 film The Princess Bride, directed by Rob Reiner. The album features the song "Storybook Love", written and performed by Willy DeVille and arranged by Mark Knopfler. In 1988, the song received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
Joshua Ilan Gad is an American actor. He is known for voicing Olaf in the Frozen franchise and playing Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. For his role as Olaf, Gad won two Annie Awards, and for his work in The Book of Mormon, he co-won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical, both shared with Andrew Rannells as one of the two leading artists.
Kaitlyn Rochelle Dever is an American actress. She started her career as a child actress, filming the 2009 television movie An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong when she was 11-years-old, which first aired just days after she turned 12. She became known for her roles in series such as Justified (2011–2015), Last Man Standing (2011–2021), Unbelievable (2019), and Dopesick (2021). She earned Golden Globe Award nominations for Unbelievable and Dopesick, in addition to a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Dopesick.
Live Read is a monthly live staged reading of a film script and a part of the Film Independent at LACMA film series at the Bing Theater directed by Jason Reitman and hosted by Elvis Mitchell from 2011 to 2016. In 2019, Film Independent brought the series back as part of Film Independent Presents... at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, produced by director of programming and events, Rachel Bleemer. A guest director reads the stage directions in the scripts while images from the film would be projected behind the cast. The script is typically announced days before the event and while some actors were announced beforehand, full cast lists and the role each actor would play were kept secret until the event itself. The actors do not rehearse ahead of time.
Finn Wolfhard is a Canadian actor and musician. He is known for playing Mike Wheeler on the Netflix series Stranger Things (2016–present). He also played Richie Tozier in the horror film It (2017) and its sequel It Chapter Two (2019), and starred in the supernatural comedy Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and its sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024).
On September 13, 2020, most of the original cast members of the 1987 film The Princess Bride took part in a virtual live dramatic reading of the film script to support Wisconsin Democrats. The returning cast included Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, and Carol Kane, with additional performances by Rob Reiner as the Grandfather, Josh Gad as Fezzik, Eric Idle as the Impressive Clergyman, Whoopi Goldberg as the Ancient Booer and the Mother, and Jason Reitman as the narrator, among others. Norman Lear joined the Q&A session at the end, which was hosted by Patton Oswalt. Cast members promoted the event beforehand using the hashtags "#PrincessBrideReunion" and "#DumpTrumperdinck." More than 110,000 viewers donated a dollar or more to Wisconsin Democrats to view the livestream, which raised $4.25 million and received widely positive reviews, with special praise for Patinkin's performance.