Before you start worrying that some unworthy person is going to try writing a sequel to The Princess Bride, let it be known that the man who wrote the original, screenwriter William Goldman (who also wrote the original novel), has actually been trying to write one himself for years. What's stopping him? He's having trouble coming up with a good story. Last night at the New York Film Festival, Goldman made it sound like this has been floating around in his head for years:
“I’m desperate to make it and write it and I don’t know how… I would love to make it, more than anything else I’ve not written.”
It's reassuring that any story about a sequel to The Princess Bride is a story about Mr. Goldman and not some other writer preparing big-budget fan fiction that everyone will probably protest with fire and rage. Goldman, who also wrote the screenplays for All the President's Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, is the only person who is allowed to talk about writing a Princess Bride sequel as far as I'm concerned. Such a beloved and delicately crafted kingdom of characters should only come from its creator, at least in this case. So if the mood ever strikes Goldman and he does come up with a new adventure for Westley and Buttercup, I'm sure I'm not the only person who will think it was worth the wait.
One thing is for certain, though: Even a great sequel written by Goldman that will "bwing evewyone togethah" won't have Andre the Giant, Peter Cook, or Peter Falk in it. And that is a pretty big bummer.
Photo credit: The Princess Bride Official Site
‘Princess Bride’ sequel? Inconceivable! says writer William Goldman [Hero Complex]