You literally won’t believe how many times Cary Elwes has seen “The Princess Bride”
When it comes to repeat viewings, The Princess Bride is just one of those movies you can watch over and over again. You watch it when it pops up on TV, you watch it when Netflix suggests that you watch it (when it’s streaming, that is), and you watch it on DVD just because you feel like watching it. There’s a reason Princess Bride is labeled a classic.
The 1987 movie turns the big 3-0 this year and, to celebrate, you’ll be able to actually see it in an movie theater (!). Fathom Events is bringing the movie back to the big screen on October 15th and 18th (with screenings at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.) but maybe don’t expect to see Cary Elwes there. While you might be about to add another notch to your Princess Bride tally of the dozens (or maybe hundreds) of times you’ve seen it, Elwes is not.
If you can believe it, the Dread Pirate Roberts himself only needs one hand to count how many times he’s seen the movie (and no, he doesn’t need a six-fingered hand). Talking to HelloGiggles over the phone, Elwes explains, “I’ve only seen it three times.” Inconceivable? You bet. But Elwes has his reasons:
“I don’t need to [re-watch it], I’m in it.”
As for those three viewings over 30 years, our Westley knows them by heart:
“I watched it once at the premiere, once at the 25th anniversary. And then once when I showed to my 8-year-old daughter. That was the final viewing, I just wanted to see her reaction. She liked everything but the R.O.U.S.s and the screaming eels, she wasn’t a big fan of those. Other than that, she was fine with it.”
If you’re looking for a movie Elwes has seen dozens of times — his own Princess Bride, per say — there are two.
“The films I probably saw the most of growing up…one was Errol Flynn’s The Adventures of Robin Hood. I’ve seen that, probably, 20 or 30 times. And then the other one was, believe it or not, From Russia With Love, the Sean Connery Bond film. Those were the two films I think I saw probably more than anything [else].”
So go ahead and grab tickets for Princess Bride back in theaters, and know that you have Elwes beat by like, roughly 400+ viewings.
