Actor Cary Elwes has published a lengthy tribute to filmmaker Rob Reiner and Reiner’s wife, Michele Singer Reiner, describing them as “love and compassion” in human form and crediting the director with changing the course of his life on The Princess Bride. In a Dec. 29 Instagram post, Elwes wrote, “Enough time has passed that I can finally put my grief into words,” recalling that he was 24 when he met Reiner on the 1987 film and “fell in love with him” immediately.
Elwes framed Reiner as a director who valued craft over aftermath, quoting him as saying, “Once the movie is released it belongs to other people. But while you are making it, that’s your time on the planet, so you wanna make it good.” Elwes said laughter defined his days on set and called the film’s themes—love, loyalty and sacrifice—values Reiner “held dear.” He also praised Michele Singer Reiner’s partnership with her husband and said he admired the couple for using their platform to advocate for people “who were marginalized.”
The tribute arrives as prosecutors move forward in the homicide case surrounding the couple’s deaths. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has charged the Reiners’ son, Nick Reiner, 32, with two counts of murder, alleging he stabbed his parents at their Brentwood home early Dec. 14 before fleeing and being arrested later that day in Exposition Park, the district attorney’s office said. Prosecutors added a special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders and alleged use of a knife.
Investigators have also sought to restrict some case information from public release. A judge approved a hold on autopsy findings after law enforcement argued detectives should receive sensitive details before they circulate publicly, according to reporting published Monday.
Outside the courtroom, the deaths have reignited debate about how the public talks about addiction and mental illness in high-profile violence. Colleen Berryessa, an associate professor at Rutgers’ School of Criminal Justice, warned against filling gaps with stigma, saying, “The huge majority of people with addiction or substance use disorder do not ever show anything remotely close to violent behavior. It’s a real rarity.”
