David Farnor | On 29, Jun 2020

Quibi is releasing a home movie remake of The Princess Bride online, featuring an absurdly star-studded ensemble of actors in lockdown.

Self-described as a “scrappy fan film”, the project was conceived by director Jason Reitman in the early stages of the coronavirus lockdown. After convincing Norman Lear, RobReiner and William Goldman’s estate to let him do it, he rounded up a gaggle of Hollywood’s biggest names to produce a backyard take on the timeless movie in aid of the charity World Central Kitchen.

The recreation of the 1987 classic is filmed in DIY fashion with each actor recording their own parts – including their own halves of scenes – on smartphones.

The cast includes Josh Gad and Fred Savage as Grandson, Rob Reiner, JK Simmons, and Adam Sandler as Grandfather, Chris Pine, Common, Sam Rockwell, Neil Patrick Harris, Sophie Turner, and Lucas Hedges as Westley, Tiffany Haddish, Jennifer Garner, Leslie Bibb, David Burtka, Annabelle Wallis, Joe Jonas, Alice Oswalt, and Jenna Ortega as Princess Buttercup, Hugh Jackman and David Oyelowo as Humperdinck, Jack Black as Dread Pirate Roberts, Diego Luna, Oscar Nunez, Finn Wolfhard, Keegan-Michael Key, Nick Kroll and Pedro Pascal as Inigo Montoya, Dave Bautista, Brian Baumgartner, and Jason Segel as Fezzik, Patton Oswalt, Angela Kinsey and Rainn Wilson as Vizzini, Retta as Mother and Jennifer Garner as “The Ancient Booer”.

Cohabiting couples such as Sam Rockwell and Leslie Bibb, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner and Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka have recorded some scenes together, with other names taking part including Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood, Beanie Feldstein, Dennis Haysbert, Taika Waititi, Jon Hamm, Stephen Merchant, Mackenzie Davis, Zoey Deutch, Zazie Beetz, Kaitlyn Dever and Brandon Routh.

The series premieres today on Quibi, with the whole movie split into 10 parts, released on weekdays on the streaming platform. It marks a major step into mainstream appeal for the fledgling service, which has struggled to win subscribers with its mobile-only premise of programmes and films divided into 10-minute segments (or “quick bites”). Indeed, just last week, Quibi added support for Chromecast and Airplay to allow users to stream from their phones to their TVs.

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