How Al Pacino inspired Cary Elwes to train at Lee Strasberg

Cary Elwes has established his career on going beyond his comfort zone.

The 63-year-old, actor of The Princess Bride and Saw series, mentioned to The Saturday Guardian that his choice of roles is driven by fear.

He began to explain, "If I come across something I'm a little bit scared of, then that's usually the thing I gravitate towards."

The Being Charlie star owes Hollywood to his childhood dreaming in London, he got his first audition, of 1984 in Another Country, as soon as he immigrated to the U.S. at 18. 

Moreover, he admitted, "I don't recommend that, because after that, I thought it was too easy."

The veteran artist rendered jobless a year after The Princess Bride first flunked in the box office. 

He turned down similar romantic leads as they came in lest he be typecast. "I didn't want that. I wanted to play character roles," he described.

It was an accidental meeting with Al Pacino in a restaurant in New York that propelled him. 

The Godfather legend encouraged him to study in the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

"He asked me if I was working, and I said no," adding, "He said, 'You need to exercise your muscles,' and told me to go back to school and train."

He concluded, "I auditioned, I got in and ended up working with Al's mentor, and it changed my life."