Wallace Shawn felt like he was living in Danny DeVito's shadow while filming Princess Bride

By /Oct. 16, 2022 11:00 PM EDT

Wallace Shawn has had a long and impressive career, yet he is best known to almost everyone for one word: "Inconceivable!" Almost every character in "The Princess Bride" has at least one line so iconic that even those who haven't seen the movie have heard the words spoken at some point. As far as what is remembered, the actor could do a lot worse than the beloved film, released in 1987 and widely considered a timeless classic.

Directed by Rob Reiner and adapted for the screen by William Goldman, who wrote the novel of the same name, 'The Princess Bride' is a clever twist on fairy tales that really has it all. As a child, he illuminated my dreams, my nightmares and certainly my idea of ​​true love. Westley (Cary Elwes) was one of my first crushes - right up there with the cartoon fox from "Robin Hood" - and his romance with Buttercup (Robin Wright) still makes me swoon. Let's also not forget Fezzik (André the Giant) and Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin).

It wasn't just the film's protagonists who were memorable, but also its antagonists. Shawn played Vizzini, the Sicilian criminal who challenges our hero to a battle of wits and pays the ultimate price. He's not in the movie very long, but the actor certainly makes the most of his screen time, earning audience laughs even as his character drops dead. Interestingly, Shawn wasn't the first choice to play Vizzini and that knowledge haunted him throughout the filming of the film.

Wallace Shawn told Entertainment Weekly that he felt his performance was influenced by the shadow cast by the actor originally considered for the role: Danny DeVito. Shawn explained:

"I wasn't the first person they wanted [for the role]. Unfortunately, my agent at the time thought it would be helpful for me to know who they really wanted, so he told me. said: It was Danny DeVito. Thinking back on it, it didn't help. Danny is inimitable. Every scene we did, I imagined how he would have done it and I knew I could never have do it like he could have done. . I've talked to Danny about it since. I said, 'You know, of everything I've done since I was born, the most well-known thing is a role that I 'got because you weren't available.' He may have laughed nervously when I said that."

It would indeed be intimidating to know that not only were you not the first choice for the role, but also...