André the Giant had to be followed by a cop while filming The Princess Bride
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity
Rashi Agarwal
Featured Image Credit: 20th Century Studios
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity
Andre 'The Giant' had a larger-than-life persona but wasn't immune to a few unintentional mishaps.
The late André René Roussimoff was 7'4" inches tall and weighed about 520 pounds.
Although The Giant's huge size gave him an equally impressive appetite, his post-production antics required someone to attend to him and ensure that his colleagues were safe and unharmed.
Roussimoff starred as Fezzik in the 1987 classic, The Princess Bride alongside Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, and Billy Crystal.
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According to New York Post, André and Cary went out drinking at one of André favourite bars in Manhattan, P.J. Clarke’s.
The Seinfeld actor noticed something quite usual which is described as 'André was downing his usual, a mix of hard spirits served in a beer pitcher, Elwes noticed a man sitting alone watching them'.
As the duo hopped from bar to bar drinking beers and enjoying the night away, Elwes noticed the stranger following them to every venue - always alone and never treating himself to a drink.
Elwes shared his concern with his co-star, but André remained unconcerned. It turned out that the man was a plainclothes police officer assigned to shadow the drinking Giant during his nights out on the town.
The reason behind the strict rule was once André got very drunk and fell over a passerby while waiting for his car home, injuring him in the process.
Hence, a special man was assigned to shadow and follow the giant across the city to prevent injuries and protect André himself.
Which is fair enough, I guess. When Andre wasn't being tailed by plain clothes police officers, he was being super helpful to cast members on set.
During filming The Princess Bride, Robin Wright who played the character Buttercup, was prone to cold weather while André always felt overheated. To deal with the problem, the duo came to the conclusion that André would 'use one of his hands as a hat on top of Robin's head'.
Robin said: "It was like having a giant hot water bottle up there."
When remembering Roussimoff, the cast and crew of The Princess Bride have plenty of anecdotes.
Since Roussimoff was born in France, his primary language was French and speaking in English wasn't comfortable for him.
Rob Reiner, director of the film, recorded all of Fezzik's dialogue onto cassette tapes, and he said: "I recorded his entire part on tape, exactly how I wanted him to do it, and he studied the tape."
Once, André 'let out a 16-second fart and brought production to a standstill... It could be heard three counties away!'.
Elwes narrated the incident and said: "I suppose you wouldn't expect a man of André's proportions to pass gas quietly or unobtrusively, but this particular one was truly epic, a veritable symphony of gastric distress that roared for more than several seconds and shook the very foundations of the wood and plaster set we were now grabbing on to out of sheer fear.
"It was long enough and loud enough that every member of the crew had time to stop what they were doing and take notice."