As You Wish
Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride
by Cary Elwes
Reading Profile
Should I read this?
As You Wish is a conversational, actor-led recollection that trades formal history for first-person color: on-set memories, wardrobe and casting anecdotes, and plenty of photographs that feel like a private scrapbook. Its useful part is the warmth and immediacy of Cary Elwes’s voice, which makes familiar scenes feel personal again. The main limitation is uneven pacing and repetition—long runs of small production notes and similar anecdotes can fragment the flow, frustrating readers who want analysis or a focused through-line.
Read this if...
- •an aspiring actor preparing to audition for screen roles and about to take a first paid or student-film set; useful now because you can study the book’s on-set anecdotes about etiquette, rehearsal habits, and costume/crew interactions before you step onto set
- •a film-night organizer scheduling a themed screening or actor-retrospective in the next few weeks; useful now because the book supplies quick behind-the-scenes stories, photo captions, and anecdotal material you can lift into program notes, intros, and social posts
- •a memoirist or magazine writer drafting a showbiz chapter today who wants a living example of chatty, image-rich first-person voice; useful now as a template for weaving photographs and short recollections into a conversational narrative
Skip this if...
- •you’ll likely put it down when the anecdote pile-up makes the narrative feel like a list of set memories rather than a linked story; long runs of similar recollections are the common drop-off point
- •annoying if you prefer critical analysis, industry-wide context, or a reverse-engineered explanation of filmmaking choices instead of warm, subjective memories
- •frustrating if you expect multiple viewpoints—this is centered on the author’s perspective and lacks sustained outside critique
From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes a firstperson account and behindthescenes look at the making of the cult classic film filled with neverbeforetold stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- an aspiring actor preparing to audition for screen roles and about to take a first paid or student-film set; useful now because you can study the book’s on-set anecdotes about etiquette, rehearsal habits, and costume/crew interactions before you step onto set
- a film-night organizer scheduling a themed screening or actor-retrospective in the next few weeks; useful now because the book supplies quick behind-the-scenes stories, photo captions, and anecdotal material you can lift into program notes, intros, and social posts
- a memoirist or magazine writer drafting a showbiz chapter today who wants a living example of chatty, image-rich first-person voice; useful now as a template for weaving photographs and short recollections into a conversational narrative
- you’ll likely put it down when the anecdote pile-up makes the narrative feel like a list of set memories rather than a linked story; long runs of similar recollections are the common drop-off point
- annoying if you prefer critical analysis, industry-wide context, or a reverse-engineered explanation of filmmaking choices instead of warm, subjective memories
- frustrating if you expect multiple viewpoints—this is centered on the author’s perspective and lacks sustained outside critique
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Why recommended
Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Fiction, and Nonfiction.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider Accidental Presidents by Jared Cohen. Recommended by 10 sources.
“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
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How recommendation signals are reviewed
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.