With celeb-filled corona-distractions finding largely negative audiences, the idea of gathering a group of well-known names together for a project might seem risky. And when that project is a shot-at-home remake of The Princess Bride? Inconceivable! Still, writer/director Jason Reitman appears unafraid, gathering a staggering number of stars to shoot scenes from the classic fantasy film in their backyards and beyond.
Expanding on the idea of the live script reads he's hosted in the past, Reitman cooked up the concept when the Coronavirus lock down kicked in across many US States and, after getting the permission of 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. He even secured the services of Rob Reiner, who directed the original film, and Fred Savage who played the kid whose grandfather reads him the story as the bookending device.
The fantasy, of course, derived from Goldman's book and was adapted by the writer himself into a memorable comedy drama that follows a farm boy (Cary Elwes in the film) who becomes a pirate and a hero to reunite with his lost love (Robin Wright's Princess Buttercup). Along the way, he'll meet giants, villains, rodents of unusual size and sword-wielding warriors.
Reitman sent out basic instructions to the various actors and others, who took on different scenes and played a variety of roles (Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas, for example, gender-swapped hero Westley and the princess, as seen in one of the clips in this Vanity Fair report on the project). The cast list for this one is seemingly endless – Chris Pine, Sam Rockwell, Tiffany Haddish, Hugh Jackman, Common, Jennifer Garner, Neil Patrick Harris and David Oyelowo among them, all using household props and whatever locations they could scrounge up at a safe social distance.
As for the final result, it'll be screened on made-for-mobiles format Quibi, whose co-founder, Jeffrey Katzenberg stumped up a charity donation of $1 million to World Central Kitchen in order to secure the rights.