The Princess Bride Auditions Kicked Out Liam Neeson For One Specific Reason

At 6 feet 4 inches, Liam Neeson is as physically imposing as he is talented. This combination of attributes has helped him build a vast and decorated acting career that started in the late 1970s and features everything from esteemed drama films to high-profile genre fiction and a lengthy late-career pivot to action roles. However, sometimes even Neeson's towering presence has failed to impress.

While promoting 2025's "The Naked Gun," Neeson and his co-star Pamela Anderson sat down with Entertainment Weekly to fact-check some of the claims on their IMDb pages and other websites. One of the assertions that surfaced was that the most embarrassing moment in Neeson's acting career was his audition for "The Princess Bride," where director Rob Reiner was less than impressed to find out how tall Neeson was. Of course, a lot of this had to do with the particular role he was auditioning for — and as Neeson himself admitted, the claim that Reiner was visibly disgusted to see him turn up to audition for the role of Fezzik the giant holds water:

"It's very true. And he turned to the casting director and said, 'I asked for a giant. What height are you?' '6 foot 4.' 'Come on!' That was it. No 'Hello, thanks for coming.' Nothing like that. It was a little embarrassing for the casting agent. I felt bad for her. I really did."

In this particular case, it's perhaps understandable that Rob Reiner wasn't impressed with Liam Neeson's physical dimensions. After all, everyone who's seen the movie (and, really, not having watched "The Princess Bride" is inconceivable) knows very well the role of Fezzik ultimately went to pro wrestler and legitimately massive man André the Giant. Billed at 7 feet 4 inches (though likely a bit shorter than that in reality), André was a larger-than-life character who became an instrumental part of the movie ... and also contributed to some shenanigans behind the scenes, thanks to an on-set accident star Cary Elwes had with André's ATV. 

Fortunately for André, "The Princess Bride" premiered in 1987, at which point Neeson was still a few years removed from his proper breakthrough role in 1993's "Schindler's List." As such, he was free to work on the movie without another actor's reputation breathing down his neck ... unlike Wallace Shawn, who felt like he was living in the shadow of Danny DeVito (the first actor eyed to play his character, Vizzini) during filming. Still, despite the pair's different situations, they both became key parts of a fantastic cast that features no weak links. As for Neeson ... well, even though he missed the role, things certainly didn't work out too badly for him, either.