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Why didn't he become a teen heartthrob after 'Princess Bride'?

posted 11 years ago by KatiesGhost
3 replies | jump to latest

A lot of actors become teen heartthrobs after they appear in a movie or in a TV show. Leonardo DiCaprio became a teen heartthrob thanks to "Titanic" or "Romeo and Juliet". John Travolta became a teen heartthrob thanks to "Welcome Back Kotter". Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner became teen heartthrobs thanks to "Twilight". Ralph Maccio became a teen heartthrob thanks to "The Karate Kid". Johnny Depp became a teen heartthrob thanks to "21 Jump Street".

So why didn't Cary Elwes become a teen heartthrob after "The Princess Bride"? Was it because the movie wasn't that big of a success when it came out? I'm sure a lot of girls had crushes on him or their first crush on him.

Truth be told, his looks in the "Princess Bride" went downhill once he grew that moustache. But at the beginning of the movie when he was a farmboy he was beautiful.

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[–] PrometheusTree64 10 years ago

Too unique. Too intelligent. Too contemptuous.

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Non-sequiturs are delicious.

[–] mythreesense 10 years ago

Princess Bride wasn't a blockbuster from the start. Unlike Leo who was already known to the public, had an ongoing personal full fledged publicity campaign in place and a studio with an alloyed budget to promote "Titanic" that was bigger than the entire filming budget for most of the movies unknown actor Cary had done.
American (teens especially) are known to like what they're told to like. Titanic turned out to be a great movie but the studio wasn't willing to take a chance on letting the movie speak for itself. They were more interested in setting 1st week box office sales so they blasted us with PR.
Princess Bride did the opposite. The little movie that no studio wanted to make and didn't know how to market was left to find its own audience - which turned out to be everyone. It's one of the few movies that never gets old and never disappoints. The casting was perfect and Elwes leads that group. Rare that someone so beautiful also bothers to develop a personality. I'd think that was a British thing but Robin Wright has it too. It's a Rob Reiner thing. He is as smart, real and non pretentious as the movies he makes. Thank God it was Reiner who made The Princess Bride. What a gift.