Story highlights
Robin Wright talks about her first feature film role in "Princess Bride"
"I did not act," Wright tells Town and Country magazine in its June issue
She says she was "convinced" she was going to marry co-star Cary Elwes
These days she stars on Netflix's "House of Cards"
If a young Robin Wright had gotten her wish, she would’ve wed Cary Elwes.
The now 48-year-old actress recalls in the June/July issue of Town and Country magazine that she had a definite crush on her “Princess Bride” co-star as they were working on Rob Reiner’s 1987 film.
“Cary was so good looking,” Wright says. “I was convinced we were going to be married.”
At the very least, she got to have an on-screen happy ending with the actor in the cult favorite film, which tells the story of Princess Buttercup’s longing to reunite with her true love, Elwes’ “As you wish” Westley.
“It was my first film experience, and so you might say that I fully immersed myself in the role,” Wright tells Town and Country. “I did not act. It was mostly telling myself, ‘Don’t be an idiot in front of Mandy Patinkin and Christopher Guest.’ “
Wright’s come a long way since her days playing princess, and she now co-stars with Kevin Spacey in Netflix’s praised “House of Cards.” Although fans – and critics – love her as the calculating wife of Spacey’s politician, Frank Underwood, Wright has begun to enjoy working behind the camera more. In the second season of “House of Cards,” she makes her directorial debut in the 10th episode.
“I’ve been in this business almost 30 years, and I’m such a control freak. You’re sitting around knowing how a scene should be blocked or the direction an actor should be given, and biting your tongue,” Wright tells the magazine. “I loved being in the driver’s seat. I honestly don’t want to act anymore.”
Part of that ambivalence might have something to do with the roles she’s been offered; if the main duty was just to stand and be pretty, Wright says she’s had no problem passing them up.
“Hollywood is difficult to navigate if you have integrity, so I opted not to work if there wasn’t enough to do in a role, which doesn’t have to do with the role’s size,” she says. “If there’s nothing for me to do as an actress, that’s frustrating. … I’d rather go work at a menial labor job, where I can actually get my hands dirty.”
It’s a good thing portraying “House of Cards’” Claire Underwood involves plenty of dirty work.