Mandy Patinkin Goes Full Inigo Montoya On The Writers Strike Picket Line

Elyse Wanshel
·2 min read
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Mandy Patinkin is using his words like a blade.

On Wednesday, the Emmy winner joined a picket line outside Warner Bros. Discovery’s offices in New York amid the high-profile strike among TV and film writers. Patinkin carried a sign inspired by the film “The Princess Bride” that read, “You Killed Residuals Prepare To Pay!”

The sign was a play on his character Inigo Montoya’s most famous line from the 1987 classic:“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Patinkin also had no problem reading his placard just the way Montoya — a Spanish fencer and henchman turned unlikely hero — would have delivered it.

And it’s so funny, it will likely leave you mostly dead with laughter:

Meanwhile, a separate video showed the “Homeland” star passionately scolding Hollywood bigwigs.

“Don’t be stupid!” Patinkin yells, apparently addressing someone located outside the frame. (Given the circumstances, it was hopefully a studio executive.) “Make sure you take care of people! You guys make millions and millions of dollars, for God’s sake! Without the writers, we have nothing! They create the stories that make our hearts beat! Help out now!”

Needless to say, Twitter users appreciated the rage-fueled vibe.

Last week, 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America, West and East, went on strike after studio executives failed to agree to their proposals for more equitable pay in the streaming era, protections around the growing use of artificial intelligence, and other key issues. (HuffPost’s unionized employees also belong to the WGAE.)

The protests have shut down production on projects that are actively filming, including the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series “Severance” and Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

Patinkin is by no means the only famous actor to speak out for strikers. Bob Odenkirk also joined a New York picket line Wednesday, and oodles of other celebrities — like Jennifer Coolidge, Amanda Seyfried, Rob Lowe, Edie Falco, Jimmy Fallon and Quinta Brunson — have similarly shown their support.

“Writers need to be able to pay their bills and live a decent life,” Odenkirk said while demonstrating this week.

“We’re nothing without our writers,” Patinkin chimed in. “And ‘artificial intelligence’ is another word for ‘nonsense.’”