Can we all agree that The Princess Bride is a perfect movie? And that it never, ever needs to be remade? That being said, if they were to remake The Princess Bride, here’s a candidate to play Westley: Paul Rudd.
In the 1987 film, Cary Elwes gave an unforgettable performance as the farmboy turned pirate. Especially at the end, when Westley gives a speech that intimidates the villainous Prince Humperdinck into surrendering, all without even needing to get up from bed. Last week, Rachel Paige (assistant editor at Marvel.com) posted a video to her Twitter of Paul Rudd lying in bed, in a blonde wig and open-chest black tunic styled like Elwes’s look in The Princess Bride, reciting the “to the pain” monologue.
Rudd’s delivery is a near-perfect imitation of Elwes, staring into his phone camera all the while, making the viewer feel as though they’re actually being threatened by the Dread Pirate Roberts himself. If one didn’t know any better, one would think they were actually watching a delivery given by Elwes. Perhaps the funniest part of the video, however, is the manual zoom Rudd does in the middle of his speech, breaking some of the tension built up by his spot-on performance. It just goes to show that we don’t need to go to the movies for actors to give us great performances.
But even though Rudd makes a good Westley, no one could ever replace the original cast of The Princess Bride – that would be inconceivable.
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