Mandy Patinkin has reflected on filming The Princess Bride with the late director Rob Reiner during an emotional appearance on The View.
Patinkin, 73, was somber as he joined the ABC talk show Thursday with fellow actor Patti Lupone, who broke into tears after the duo were asked what they remembered about Reiner in the wake of the killings of the filmmaker and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.
The actor, who played Inigo Montoya in the beloved 1987 fantasy movie, recalled traveling on a bus to their next location on set and watching Reiner interact with two of his best friends, actors Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest, who respectively played Miracle Max and Count Rugen in the film.
Patinkin said the three men were going through baseball stats and scores with encyclopedic knowledge of games that occurred when they were only children. While he was amazed watching the trio spout out the sports trivia, Patinkin said he was equally marveling at the bond between the men, saying their friendship was “the glue of their lives.”
Lupone became emotional as she remembered Reiner as “generous,” saying about his death: “It’s hard to believe.”
The day before Patinkin appeared on The View, he issued a statement where he also spoke about his fond memories of The Princess Bride, which he starred in alongside Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Andre the Giant, and other stars.
“When we were filming the scene in The Princess Bride, where Inigo kills the six fingered man and says: 'I want my father back your son of a bitch,' take after take after take Rob kept asking me to do less do less do less,” Patinkin said in his statement to People. “In my sleepless night, I realized he wanted less anger from me to allow my broken heart to be felt.”
“Now I’m hearing his voice tell us all to do more do more do more to repair the human soul to repair our hearts to repair our country to repair our world. To never give up, to keep fighting, to keep living for every soul taken from this earth, that no longer has the life and breath to raise their voices for a better world, we must raise our voices for them.”
Tributes to the Reiners have flooded in from Hollywood after the couple were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home Sunday. Their son, Nick Reiner, has been arrested and charged with both murders. He has yet to make a plea.
