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Cruel Intentions is a 1990s cinema staple. The sensual and steamy romantic drama featured the talents of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Reese Witherspoon and followed the wealthy and manipulative step-siblings Kathryn Merteuil and Sebastian Valmont as they devised a bet in which the notorious playboy must try and woo the prudish Annette Hargrove. The film proved to be a knockout with audiences and grossed over $75 million while becoming a celebrated hit of the decade.
After countless setbacks and hurdles, a long-awaited TV adaptation of both the ’99 hit and Pierre Choderlos de Laclos novel is finally set to make its exciting premiere on Prime Video on November 21, 2024, and will instead take place on a Washington D.C. campus where a new spellbinding love triangle will emerge. Let’s take a look at how the series will relate to the original film, and explore who (if any) of the film’s cast members are set to make their return.
- Release Date
- March 5, 1999
- Director
- Roger Kumble
- Runtime
- 97 minutes
- Writers
- Roger Kumble
A Modern Remake of the ’90s Cult Classic
Based on the celebrated 1999 cult classic of the same name, the romantic drama series Cruel Intentions will provide a modern-day retelling of both the popular film and Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s novel. This time it will take place at the elite Manchester College in Washington D.C. where step-siblings Caroline Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess) have meticulously established themselves as two of the campus’ most prominent and popular members of Greek life.
When a hazing incident goes horrifically wrong, the scheming duo will go to any extremes necessary to ensure they keep the high social status they have so carefully crafted. The devious Caroline is head of Delta Phi and, along with her playboy step-brother Lucien, set their sights on the daughter of the Vice President of the United States, Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith), hoping to convince the bright student to pledge Caroline’s sorority. The conniving blonde keenly declares in the trailer, “You know what they’re not gonna do? Kick the Vice President’s daughter’s sorority off campus.”
Hook will take on the role of Caroline, one inspired by Sarah Michelle Gellar’s iconic performance as the manipulative Kathryn Merteuil in the ’90s fan-favorite, while Burgess will be starring as Manchester College’s resident lothario Lucien, based on Ryan Phillippe’s Sebastian Valmont. Finally, Smith’s character Annie Grover is reminiscent of Reese Witherspoon’s virtuous Annette Hargrove, with the lead trio rounding out the main cast members in the long-awaited remake. In the eight-episode adaptation, a heated and complicated love triangle will form between the college students, leading to a series of salacious events.
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Cruel Intentions’ aesthetic of individuals using sex, seduction, and status as leverage became some of the inspiration for Emerald Fennel’s Saltburn.
Callbacks & Easter Eggs Galore
The long-awaited television adaptation will feature countless callbacks and Easter eggs to the original cinema staple, as the remake’s trailer itself includes a cover of The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” a song that was prominently featured in the ’99 knockout’s final scenes. The revealing trailer also shows an intimate moment between Lucien and Annie in a swimming pool, one that mirrored the heart-racing scene between Witherspoon and Phillippe’s Annette and Sebastian that made audiences swoon as the young pair began to truly fall in love with one another and connect.
Another unforgettable callback from the ’90s gem is the iconic “practice kiss” makeout scene that was shared between Gellar’s Kathryn and Selma Blair’s Cecile Caldwell, a provocative and steamy image in which the characters locked lips in Central Park. The trailer for the Cruel Intentions series teased the epic kiss and also brilliantly included the appearance of the black vintage Jaguar XK140, Sebastian’s beloved car that he bartered with in the film version; Caroline was seen behind the wheel in the brief clip.
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Trailer for Prime Video’s Cruel Intentions Series Is Filled With References to the Original
The Cruel Intentions series will debut on Prime Video in November 2024, featuring plenty of callbacks to the 1999 film.
A cast member from the original film returning for the TV series is Sean Patrick Thomas, who had previously played Cecile’s lovelorn music teacher Ronald Clifford but will appear as Professor Hank Chadwick in the remake. Phoebe Fisher and Sara Goodman developed the Prime Video reimagining and are also serving as executive producers, with the creative duo wanting to tip their hat to the film but also create their own distinct world centering on the timeless tale. They reflected on finding a balance and told Entertainment Weekly in 2024:
“It is modern, but we don’t do social media. It feels like our characters read newspapers. We really wanted to put it in this kind of timeless place…
There’s the car. The cross necklace, ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony.’
Wherever we felt like it served the story or the style of the show to tie it all together, we did. We love the movie. We’re not trying to reinvent cruelty.”
The Remake Has Huge Shoes to Fill
Cruel Intentions is an unforgettable cult classic and a true standout in ’90s cinema, and its overwhelming popularity and worldwide success helped to further elevate the stellar careers of its lead stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Reese Witherspoon. Recreating the movie magic and captivating chemistry between the sizzling stars is quite a tall order, as the romantic drama holds a special place in the hearts of passionate fans; only time will tell whether or not the series can capture the essence of the original.
Some audiences may not realize that the movie’s success led to the 2000 prequel Cruel Intentions 2 and 2004 sequel Cruel Intentions 3, neither of which fared well with critics or viewers. A sequel TV series was picked up by NBC in 2015 that would have been a continuation of the original film’s storyline and would have focused on Sebastian and Annette’s son as he discovers a journal belonging to his late father, but the network ultimately passed on the project.
Gellar was set to reprise her role as Kathryn Merteuil for the scrapped project, but found its cancellation a blessing-in-disguise, telling the New York Times it should have been “straight streaming” rather than a “network show” and adding, “If it is a network show, it’s not my Cruel Intentions. So, I was actually grateful.” The upcoming TV remake will have big shoes to fill and will have eight episodes to try and win over skeptical viewers, and those curious to see what the story could look like 25-years-later can check out Cruel Intentions when it makes its exciting debut on November 21, 2024.
Stream Cruel Intentions on Prime Video on November 21, 2024.
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