Casting Call Issue 2: The Princess Bride

Posted by Jason Chamberlain on 04.11.2007

It's the second issue of Casting Call, and Jason Chamberlain sheds light on the memorable characters that populate 1987's 'The Princess Bride', from Inigo Montoya to Miracle Max!

Hey all. Welcome to the second issue of Casting Call, the column that's all about the characters. This week I'm going to take a bit of a different approach. Instead of focusing on one character, I'm going to discuss a number of characters from a favourite film of mine.

Some movies are memorable more for their action and set pieces than for the characters. Some stick in your mind because of incredibly good (or in some cases bad) special effects. Sometimes there's one character that sticks in your mind, one whose journey captivates you as a viewer. But there are a few movies that somehow manage to include a number of memorable characters all at once. Whether the magic is in the script writing, casting or performance, when it happens the results are always incredible to watch.
So this week I'm going to talk about one of those movies and the characters that inhabit it. This week it's all about 1987's The Princess Bride.

The Princess Bride is one of those movies that, from my standpoint, is impossible not to like. There's something in it for everyone, and the movie even has the guts to make that claim right off the top.

You see, The Princess Bride is told in the format of a grandfather (Peter Falk) visiting his sick grandson (Fred Savage) and reading him a storybook. Naturally the grandson, caught up in the original Nintendo age (in fact the only thing that really dates the movie is the archaic by today's standards video game he plays as the movie begins) isn't too fond of books in general, and a book read by his grandfather is even worse. But he agrees to give it a shot, as long as there are sports in it. "Are you kidding?" his grandfather replies. "Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles!"

Any book or movie would have a hard time delivering all of that, but deliver it this movie does, and it does so naturally, never feeling crammed or pressed for time. That's probably because it spreads it out between different and equally interesting characters. So let's start looking at them!

The Kid and the Grandfather- These characters are the audience's bridge into the universe of the movie. Both are about as typical as you can imagine a movie kid and movie grandpa being. The kid is the audience, and we experience the story through his eyes. Just as we may at first be unsure of what to make of the movie, the kid is initially disinterested by his grandfather's visit, but predictably gets more and more drawn in to the story, as do we. What the grandfather promises, the movie soon delivers, and we, and the kid, come along for the ride.

Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright)- the events of the movie revolve around Buttercup. Her beauty is immediately apparent, as a young farm boy named Westley falls in love with her. Tragedy rips them apart and she becomes the unwilling wife to be of the lord of the land, Prince Humperdinck. Kidnappings and murder plots follow, throughout which it is made clear that Buttercup, though she is technically the ‘damsel in distress' of the story, is a competent and courageous woman in her own right. She matches wits with her kidnappers, hatches daring escape plans, confronts Humperdinck for his lies and in the end fulfills the dream of riding off on a horse with her love to live happily ever after.

Westley (Cary Elwes)- a truly fascinating character, Westley begins as an unassuming farm boy who wins the heart of Buttercup, and leaves to seek fortune across the sea so he can offer her a good life. Word soon reaches Buttercup that Westley's ship has been attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who famously takes no prisoners. He's assumed dead, and we the audience are given no indication otherwise until he reappears as a mysterious black clad figure chasing after Buttercup and her kidnappers. He overtakes each of them and reveals himself to Buttercup, and the lovers are reunited. It turns out Westley actually entered into an apprenticeship with the Dread Pirate, soon taking over the mantle for himself. In the ensuing years he has become a spectacular sword fighter and a brave warrior, but it is the strength and endurance of his love that are most remarkable. Years and distance have not dulled his feelings for Buttercup, and when he loses her once more and is forced to endure unspeakable tortures at the hands of a vengeful Humperdinck, it's ‘true love' that keeps him alive. By the films penultimate moment he can barely stand, but still finds the ability to overcome Humperdinck and ride off with Buttercup.

Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin)- there may be no character in this film that is more memorable than the revenge fuelled and honour bound Spaniard Inigo Montoya. He initially appears as one of a trio of villains who kidnap Buttercup, but we soon find that he is not motivated by evil or greed. He has a strong friendship with the gentle giant Fezzik as they endure the barbs of their wicked boss Vizzini, and when he is ordered to stay behind and kill Westley as he clambers up the Cliffs of Insanity, he expresses his compassionate side by dropping a rope to him and speeding his progress, and allowing him a rest before their inevitable duel. Both Westley and the audience get to know Inigo during the ensuing conversation, where he reveals to Westley that he witnessed his father's murder at the hands of a six fingered man when he was a child. After failing in a revenge duel at the time, he dedicated his life to the study of swordplay so that the next encounter would be different. No one who has seen this movie will ever forget the carefully chosen words he endlessly rehearses, longing for the day he will meet the murderer again.

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Inigo, you see, is another character motivated by love; his love for his dead father and the desire to avenge him. He is also an honourable and trusting individual. Moments after he meets Westley, he hands the veritable stranger his sword to show off his father's masterful work. It's a testament to Westley's own honour that he does not take advantage of the situation. Instead, he simply admires the sword and hands it back. A small moment, but the perfect way to illuminate the character of these two individuals.
Of course, in the end Inigo gets to meet his father's killer again, and this time successfully avenges him. He rides off with Fezzik and his new friends Buttercup and Westley, for the first time able to live his life free from the past.

Fezzik (Andre the Giant)- no one but Andre the Giant could have brought this part to life, and he does just that. Though not a trained actor, Andre still brought a lot of genuineness and warmth to the role of the lovable giant Fezzik. When ordered by Vizzini to smash Westley's head with a boulder, Fezzik's first reaction is to declare the tactic unsportsmanlike. And sure enough, when Westley arrives for their inevitable battle, Fezzik insists on making it hand to hand so he'll have a chance. Whether he's nursing Inigo back to health or playing rhyming games, Fezzik is always motivated by his heart, which is as big as his body.

Vizzini (Wallace Shawn)- the mastermind of the Buttercup kidnapping plot, Vizzini enlists Inigo and Fezzik to help him start a war between sworn enemies Gilder and Florin by using Prince Humperdinck's new bride as a catalyst. Vizzini is a blowhard who fancies himself a genius, believing he can think his way out of every problem. As each plan goes wrong, he can be heard to mutter "Inconceivable", unable to believe his thinking could be wrong. In fact, he says it so much that Inigo begins to think he's using the wrong word. In the end Vizzini thinks himself to death, as in a game of wits Westley outsmarts him. Presenting two goblets of wine, one of which is seemingly poisoned, Vizzini fails to see through the ruse; Westley is immune to the poison and has thus added it to both drinks. Fittingly, Vizzini doesn't realize he's been duped until he dies, still believing in the infallibility of his own intelligence.

Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon)- the true villain of the story, Humperdinck is contemptible not only because he forces Buttercup to marry him against her will. He is heartless and power hungry, anxiously awaiting his father's death so he can become King, and plotting the death of his wife to be in order to spark a war between Florin and Gilder (he himself hired Vizzini to do the dirty work). When he realizes the true strength of the love between Westley and Buttercup, his reaction is to make Westley suffer as much as possible. In the end his cowardice is his downfall, as he is duped by a drained but threatening Westley to drop his sword and submit.

Count Rugen (Christopher Guest)- the six fingered man and murderer of Inigo's father, Count Rugen is an expert on pain and has crafted a torture device that drains years off a man's life. He gleefully mocks Inigo's revenge plot when the two finally meet again, and his dry humour and eerie demeanour make him a chilling adversary.

Miracle Max (Billy Crystal)- no discussion of The Princess Bride would be complete without recognizing Billy Crystal's brilliant (and makeup heavy) performance as Miracle Max, the bitter and world weary miracle man that was fired by Humperdinck and has given up on himself. When Inigo and Fezzik bring a ‘mostly dead' Westley to him for a miracle, he initially refuses to help until they tell him Westley can make Humperdinck suffer. That puts him on the job quickly and he goes to work on reviving him, explaining to Fezzik and Inigo that there is a difference between all dead and mostly dead. He sends the trio off with everything they need (a wheelbarrow, holocaust cloak and a barely alive Westley) to storm the castle and save Buttercup.

This movie rolls out more interesting and memorable characters than some franchises have, and it's a shame we never saw more of them. Nonetheless, what's here is a movie that celebrates storytelling, and does so with charm, humour, adventure and heart. And it does so in the best possible way; with characters!

That's all for this week. I welcome any feedback at [e-mail]