Awww, Andre's so cute.

This one's for Sean, Chow Yun Fat's awesome Full Contact in a vid set to White Zombie.

Sweeet.

ETA: Works really well as a vid.

I mist up over Andre whenever he is mentioned. What a precious spirit in such an incongruous package.

The Special Edition DVD of Princess Bride had that tidbit about Andre keeping her head warm. The doc on the disc has lots of good stuff like that--my favorite was Chris Sarandon telling about how his little boys came to visit the set, and the youngest was really into the idea of meeting Andre. "Do you really work with a giant, Daddy? Is he a real giant? How tall is he, Daddy? Can he pick you up?" And then, when they came around the corner of Andre's trailer and the little boy saw him stand up to greet them, he shrieked and went hiding behind his dad's legs. He did warm up to him quickly, though.

Cool Andre factoid--when he was a little boy, he couldn't ride in the school bus due to his size, so he got a ride from the man in town with the biggest car. The man's name was Samuel Beckett (yes, that Beckett!).

Samuel Beckett had an interesting life. (He was a fighter in the French resistance movement among other things.)

ETA: Works really well as a vid.

It does. Everybody should see Full Contact. It's probably my favorite Chow Yun Fat movie. Plus it's extremely slashy.

What a precious spirit in such an incongruous package.

Huh.

I'd never thought of it that way. But I didn't know he was a wrestler until some time after his death.

eta:

Now I'm earwormed with Fezzik saying "It's no my fault being the biggest and the strongest."

Cool Andre factoid--when he was a little boy, he couldn't ride in the school bus due to his size, so he got a ride from the man in town with the biggest car. The man's name was Samuel Beckett (yes, that Beckett!).

I heard this story recently in a tv documentary on Beckett. The man was awe-inspiring.

I nabbed the '35 version of Midsummer Night's Dream off TCM.

It's fun! I don't know why people rag on it. Sure it's very 1935, but that's the charm. Maybe it's Mickey Rooney as Puck, but I like him fine.

Pre-pubescent Mickey Rooney could get away with the over-the-top acting style, but by the time he was in the Andy Rooney films, he had given himself over to it and it's almost painful to watch. (Seeing Boys Town, he almost ruins the film, even with Spencer Tracy to counter him.)

The most restrained I ever saw Rooney was in The Black Stallion.

The most restrained I ever saw Rooney was in The Black Stallion.

He was great in that role.

Hard to remember that he was Ava Gardner's first husband, huh?

I have no idea what she saw in him. IIRC, he was a drunk in the '40s, as well as a real arrogant ass.