Cary Elwes on Princess Bride Flop, Rob Reiner, New Film
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- Cary Elwes, 63, recounts how Al Pacino advised him to "exercise his [acting] muscles" during a year of unemployment after The Princess Bride bombed in 1988, leading him to the Lee Strasberg Institute where he studied with Pacino's mentor Charlie Laughton.
- The Princess Bride opened in 1988 as a box-office "dud" that director Rob Reiner later said was a nightmare to market, but found a second life on VHS and is now regarded as one of the most beloved films ever, per Elwes.
- Elwes appeared on the Oscars stage on Sunday alongside Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, Meg Ryan, Kiefer Sutherland, Demi Moore, Kathy Bates, and John Cusack for a tribute to the late Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, who were found dead in their home last December; the couple's son Nick Reiner has been charged with their murder and is set to stand trial later this year.
- Gus Van Sant's Dead Man's Wire, in cinemas 20 March, dramatizes the real 1977 case of Indianapolis businessman Tony Kiritsis, who attached a sawn-off shotgun to a mortgage executive's neck with wire; Al Pacino plays the mortgage company boss, a casting choice Elwes describes as a nod to Dog Day Afternoon.
- Elwes plays undercover narcotics detective Mike Grable — who died in 2016 — and met the real officer's children to recreate his look, including a terracotta roll-neck sweater.
- Elwes's stepfather, producer Elliott Kastner (Where Eagles Dare, The Long Goodbye), arranged for the 15-year-old to spend a week as Marlon Brando's personal assistant on Superman: The Movie at Shepperton Studios, an experience Elwes calls one of two "godfathers" who shaped his career.
- Elwes says he gravitates toward roles that scare him and has built a deliberately varied résumé spanning Glory, the Saw franchise, Twister, Mission: Impossible, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Stranger Things to avoid being pigeonholed as a romantic lead.
Why it matters: Elwes's career trajectory — from a 1988 flop to a 40-year cult classic — illustrates how home-video distribution can rewrite a film's commercial fate, while his new role in Dead Man's Wire pairs him with Al Pacino, the actor whose hallway advice restarted his career. The interview lands in the same week as the Oscar tribute to Reiner, giving Elwes a platform to honor a late collaborator and promote a project that trades on his versatility rather than his swashbuckler image.
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