Cary Elwes, whom you may know as Pierre Despereaux from Psyche, has written a book on his experiences making the film The Princess Bride. The book, As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, is a delightful book for fans and possibly movie buffs, and we have some of the revelations in this article in L.A. Weekly. Here are some of them.

Fox bought the movie rights to the book as soon as it was published in 1973, but it was 1987 when it finally played in theaters. In the meantime, many directors wanted to do it, including Robert Redford. Can you imagine Redford as The Dread Pirate Roberts (if he cast himself in his own film)?

Author William Goldman had seen many of his screenplays produced before The Princess Bride, but he was unprepared for the filming of this one. He freaked out on the first day when they were filming the scene in the fire swamp. “As soon as the gas geyser lit up her dress, Goldman burst out screaming, ‘OH, MY GOD! HER DRESS IS ON FIRE! SHE’S ON FIRE!!!’ Later, he scolded Reiner: ‘You’re setting fire to Robin on the first day?! What are you, nuts? It’s not like we can replace her!'”

There’s a word for that reaction, if I could only think of it.