If you grew up watching The Princess Bride then you probably had a pretty great childhood. I mean maybe it was terrible, but those two hours you spent watching that movie were pretty good. And that's what Quibi is banking on because they're remaking snippets of The Princess Bride with totally different actors playing all the characters.
And all because Jason Reitman told them to.
Yes, you read that right, there's a Princess Bride by committee experience coming to your phone (and TV screen if you want).
And... they're doing it for charity.
The idea came to Reitman in March, seeing it as a way to stay busy during the lockdown while raising funds for the World Central Kitchen charity. That organization is helping thousands of restaurants stay afloat during the quarantine by paying them to provide millions of meals to the needy.
“The week that the stay-at-home order came through in California, I just woke up one of the first mornings, I think like most people did, feeling as though, All right, I need to be able to do something of value,” Reitman told Vanity Fair. “I just thought, Can we remake an entire movie at home? And I had seen that a fan-made Star Wars had been done. I just started reaching out to actors I knew, saying, ‘Is this something you’d want to do?’ And the response was kind of immediate and fast. It was like, ‘Oh—that sounds like fun.’”
Quibi made a $1 million donation to World Central Kitchen and Jeffrey Katzenberg greenlit the series.
The star-studded cast includes couples Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, Common and Tiffany Haddish, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, Chris Pine and Annabelle Wallis, as well as Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Garner, Elijah Wood, Jon Hamm, Beanie Feldstein, Lucas Hedges, Jenna Ortega, Jack Black, David Oyelowo, Keegan-Michael Key, Patton Oswalt, Josh Gad, Andy Serkis, Diego Luna, Taika Waititi, Zazie Beetz, and more.
Even Reiner, loves the idea, saying “What’s nice about it is that I made a film that’s lasted so long. Now it’s over 33 years. And the biggest kick I get out of it is that kids who saw it when they were eight or nine years old have kids that age now, and they’re seeing it and liking it. It seems to have stood the test of time. I wouldn’t think this is the best way to introduce someone to the film,” Reiner joked. “If you already know the movie, that’s what makes it fun. The audience already knows every line. I had no reservations. I was like, ‘Nah, let’s do it!’”
Reiner had reason to support this idea. He will play “The Grandfather” and Fred Savage will reprise his role of “The Grandson,” 33 years later.
Amazing.
So how did Reitman prove this was a good idea? He shot a proof of concept by performing the grandfather scene with his own daughter.
According to Vanity Fair, "He also had to get the blessing of three other stakeholders: producer Norman Lear, who controls the rights to The Princess Bride; the estate of William Goldman, who wrote the novel that inspired it along with the screenplay; and musician and composer Mark Knopfler, whose score is recreated in the new footage by other artists."
I cannot wait to see how it turns out!
