Stage and screen actor Mandy Patinkin wants to know how he can stop presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) from impersonating his character Inigo Montoya from the classic film, “The Princess Bride.”
When the New York Times reached the fabled actor, most known for his current stint on Showtime’s Homeland, Patinkin told the newspaper about the videos of Cruz he had seen.
“They Photoshopped his face right over my face!” Patinkin told the Times. “I said, ‘How can I stop this?’”
He added Cruz is missing the point of the movie.
“I would like to be with Senator Cruz for a moment and I would like to respectfully ask him, since he quotes all the lines from ‘The Princess Bride’ and certainly all of my character, Inigo Montoya’s, lines, I would like to know why he doesn’t quote my favorite line?”
Patinkin said his favorite lines is one of his character’s last: “I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it’s over, I don’t know what to do with the rest of my life.”
Patinkin said, “This man is not putting forth ideas that are at the heart of what that movie is all about. I would love for Senator Cruz, and everyone creating fearmongering and hatred, to consider creating hope, optimism and love. Open your arms to these people, these refugees trying to get into our country, and open your hearts.”
Here’s Cruz’s original impersonation:
For what it’s worth, Mandy also played Che Guevera in the Broadway production of Evita.
He’s OK in my book.
Cruz: I am a Courageous Conservative.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using those words. I don’t think they mean what you think they mean.
Can’t say I blame Mr. Patinkin for being offended. I, and I would think a great many others would also be offended by Cruz’s cheap and insulting efforts to imitate New York Jewish accents. I can just bet that as Cruz said, “My media people are now having a heard attack.” I wonder if Sheldon Adelson enjoys this performance from Cruz.
Of course Cruz is a princess. His mother is still alive and he won’t become a queen until she passes.
Amen to that, I love that line he quoted. It is so apropos. He is also amazing in Homeland.