Wisconsin Democrats needed a fundraising boost. And the message from the original cast of “The Princess Bride” and their guests?
“As you wish.”
More than 110,000 people donated at least $1 each to tune into “A Virtual Princess Bride Reunion” on Sunday night, making the online event an inconceivable fundraising win for Democrats here.
“Tonight’s once-in-a-lifetime Princess Bride reunion changes the odds on who wins Wisconsin,” said Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. “This is by a mile the biggest grassroots fundraiser that we have ever had.”
Wikler added that “chipping in to register for tonight, and post signing up to volunteer tonight, can make the difference between the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration, and another four years of the Trump nightmare.”
Most of the original cast — at least those who, as director Rob Reiner put it, are “not dead” — reunited for a script reading of the 1987 classic.
“None of the dead people will be here but all the live ones will be here, so that’s exciting,” Reiner said. “But if we have glitches, and things, you know, go haywire, just bear with us. We’re here to have some fun. And as Ben pointed out, we’re here basically to get Donald Trump out of the White House so that’s the main goal.”
Those who joined the script reading included Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Carol Kane, Chris Sarandon, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest reprising their original characters, as well as Reiner playing the grandfather reading a story to his sick grandson. Additional guests, including Whoopi Goldberg, filled in for others.
The three-hour-long event included, of course, the most famous lines from the film, from “Inconceivable,” to “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.”
Even with a delayed start time and some technical difficulties, the cast did a remarkable job of re-creating the magic of the beloved film.
After the reading, comedian and actor Patton Oswalt moderated a question and answer session with Reiner, the actors, and others who worked on the movie.
During the discussion, Patinkin was asked about who was “the most interesting or unexpected person to ever deliver back to your line, ‘My name is Inigo Montoya You killed my father Prepare to die.'”
“I would have to say Senator Ted Cruz,” Patinkin said.
Patinkin, who still has the original sword from the movie, said the film is about “true love,” letting go of revenge and hatred, describing those as the lessons that author William Goldman left as his legacy.
“In a world filled with hatred and bigotry, where black lives need matter, women’s lives, our planet. Our care and decency for each other as human beings all over the globe,” Patinkin said. “We have to stop being hateful and revengeful, and we have to embrace what William Goldman’s final words were in this script that we’re all so blessed to be a part of, which is, ‘As you wish.'”
Reiner also talked about the significance of those words, and how his father, Carl Reiner, originally played the grandfather — and then reprised it this year, his final film role, in a fan-made version of the movie starring various celebrities.
“The last biggest wish that he had was that he could stay alive to be able to vote Donald Trump out of office, and we did a little reading of Princess Bride. And the last thing he ever did on camera. He played the grandfather. I played the son in the bed,” he said. “And the last thing he ever said was, ‘As you wish.”
He added, “It means a lot to me. And I love the fact that 35, 37 years later … it can be used for something as good as saving democracy.”
Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS.