20th Century Fox
It might seem inconceivable to believe that "The Princess Bride," a beloved fantasy-comedy-romance movie with a devoted cult following, could have been remade with an all-star cast without everyone knowing about it — but that's exactly what happened. In 2020, a glittering line-up of Hollywood stars came together to create "Home Movie: The Princess Bride," a serialized remake composed of charming homemade clips shot during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Created by Jason Reitman to support the World Central Kitchen charity, which provided relief to restaurants affected by the widespread pandemic lockdowns, "Home Movie: The Princess Bride" attracted a ton of big names, including Adam Sandler, Zoe Saldaña, Jennifer Garner, Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner, David Spade, Dennis Haysbert, Nicholas Braun, Zazie Beetz, Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Pine, Sarah Cooper, Jason Segel, Taika Waititi, Tiffany Haddish and many more. The late "Princess Bride" director Rob Reiner also appeared in the series, as did original film actor Fred Savage.
"Home Movie: The Princess Bride" aired on Quibi, a streamer that produced short-form content for mobile users in 2020 — and that's probably why you may not have heard about it. Unfortunately, Quibi shut down just a few months after its debut.
Jason Reitman explains how Home Movie: The Princess Bride came about
John Shearer/Getty Images
In 2020, Jason Reitman spoke with Vanity Fair about what initially inspired him to put "Home Movie: The Princess Bride" together. "The week that the stay-at-home order came through in California," he said, "I just woke up one of the first mornings, I think like most people did, feeling as though, 'All right, I need to be able to do something of value.'" He added that he had been inspired by a fan-made "Star Wars" film. From there, he started reaching out to actors he knew about his idea for the remake. Unsurprisingly, they responded enthusiastically.
Although "Home Movie: The Princess Bride" may not have found a cult following like "The Princess Bride," many of those who saw it seemed to love it. Although it doesn't currently have any scores on Rotten Tomatoes, it does have several reviews on Letterboxd, and a good number of them are positive. One person, for example, wrote, "I went into this thinking 'oh i'll just watch like 5 mins of it' and next thing you know i watched the entire thing, lmao this was absolute gold." Meanwhile, a second commented, "This felt like a long a** tiktok and i'm obsessed."
You can currently watch "Home Movie: The Princess Bride" on YouTube.
