Cruel Intentions | |
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Directed by | Roger Kumble |
Screenplay by | Roger Kumble |
Based on | Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos |
Produced by | Neal H. Moritz |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Theo van de Sande |
Edited by |
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Music by | Edward Shearmur |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages |
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Budget | $10.5 million [1] |
Box office | $75.9 million [1] |
Cruel Intentions is a 1999 American teen romantic drama film written and directed by Roger Kumble and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, and Selma Blair. The film is a modern retelling of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses , set in New York City among rich high schoolers. [2]
Initially a smaller-budget independent film, it was picked up by Columbia Pictures and widely released on March 5, 1999. Despite mixed critical reviews, the performances of Gellar, Philippe, and Witherspoon were praised and the film grossed $76 million worldwide. Its box office success spawned a prequel in 2000 and sequel in 2004, as well as a jukebox musical in 2015.
Since its release the film has become regarded as a cult classic. [3] [4]
In an upscale New York City mansion, wealthy, popular and intelligent teenager Kathryn Merteuil discusses her private school with Mrs. Caldwell and her daughter, Cecile, who will be starting as a freshman at the school soon. Kathryn promises Mrs. Caldwell that she will look out for the sheltered, naïve Cecile. When Kathryn's stepbrother Sebastian Valmont enters the room, Mrs. Caldwell reacts to him coldly and leaves with Cecile.
Kathryn tells Sebastian that she intends to use Cecile to take revenge on her ex-boyfriend Court Reynolds, who dumped her for Cecile. Kathryn enlists Sebastian, a notorious womanizer, to seduce Cecile, thereby ruining her in Court's eyes. Sebastian refuses because he is planning to seduce Annette Hargrove, the virgin daughter of the new headmaster at their school, who has written an essay which was published by Seventeen in support of chastity until marriage. After some negotiation, they agree on a wager: if Sebastian fails to seduce Annette, Kathryn gets Sebastian's vintage Jaguar XK140; if he succeeds, Kathryn will have sex with him.
Sebastian's first attempt to seduce Annette fails, as she is apparently already aware of his reputation. Sebastian initially suspects Greg, Annette's friend from Kansas who is a popular football player and closeted homosexual. Sebastian convinces Greg to put in a good word about him to Annette, blackmailing him with a photo of him and Sebastian's openly gay friend in bed. Sebastian also finds out that Mrs. Caldwell was the one who warned Annette about Sebastian. Sebastian finally agrees to corrupt Cecile as revenge. Meanwhile, Cecile confides in Kathryn about her romance with her music teacher, Ronald Clifford. Kathryn reveals this to Mrs. Caldwell, who orders Cecile to end the relationship, but only because Ronald is black. Sebastian lures Cecile to his house by claiming he has a letter to her from Ronald. He then gets Cecile drunk and blackmails her into allowing him to perform oral sex on her. The next day, Cecile confides in Kathryn, who advises her to be as promiscuous as possible to learn how to please Ronald.
Sebastian begins to truly fall in love with Annette, who returns his feelings but is still hesitant. Sebastian calls her a hypocrite for resisting the chance for true love despite claiming that she was waiting for it. Annette finally relents, but Sebastian, confused about his own feelings, now refuses her. Annette flees to the estate of her friend's parents. Sebastian finds her, professes his feelings, and they make love.
Kathryn offers herself to Sebastian after he wins the bet, but he rejects her, now only wanting Annette. Sebastian informs Kathryn that he was planning to tell Annette the truth, but a jealous and enraged Kathryn warns him that doing so will destroy both his and Annette's reputations. Sebastian lies to Annette, claiming that she was just a conquest and that he has no real feelings for her. Devastated, Annette tells him to leave. Sebastian informs Kathryn that he has broken up with Annette and now wants his reward for winning the bet. Kathryn reveals that he, not Annette, was the true target of her scheme and that she manipulated him into abandoning Annette for her own amusement. She then dismisses him, telling him that she doesn't sleep with "losers".
Sebastian tries to contact Annette to confess the truth and beg for a second chance, but she refuses to see him. He gives her his journal, in which he has detailed Kathryn's manipulative schemes, their bet, and his true feelings for Annette. Seeking revenge, Kathryn calls Ronald, claiming that Sebastian hurt her and slept with Cecile. Ronald violently confronts Sebastian, and the ensuing fight migrates to the middle of the street. Annette tries to intervene but is thrown into traffic. Sebastian pushes her to safety but ends up getting hit by a taxi. Sebastian and Annette confess their love for each other before he dies.
At Sebastian's funeral, Kathryn delivers a eulogy, but people start leaving midway through. Kathryn rushes outside to find Cecile handing out copies of Sebastian's journal. As the details of her manipulations and drug abuse are made public, Kathryn's reputation is finally destroyed. It is implied that the disapproving headmaster will expel her from the school, especially after finding cocaine hidden in the cross of her rosary. In the final scene, Annette drives away in Sebastian's car with his journal at her side, recalling their fondest moments together.
One of the filming locations was Old Westbury Gardens in Nassau County, New York, as well as the Harry F. Sinclair House in New York City. [5] In a 2016 interview, Sarah Michelle Gellar revealed that the original title of the movie was to be "Cruel Inventions". [6]
Cruel Intentions received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval score of 54% based on reviews from 114 critics, with an average rating of 5.20/10. The site's consensus states: "This darkly comic drama and its attractive young cast are easy on the eyes, but uneven performances and an uninspired script conspire to foil Cruel Intentions". [7] Metacritic gave the film an average score of 56 out of 100 based on reviews from 24 critics. [8]
Charles Taylor of Salon.com described the film as "the dirtiest-minded American movie in recent memory – and an honestly corrupt entertaining picture is never anything to sneeze at". [9] Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote: "You have the queasy sense that the whole thing is just an elaborate stunt and, in this case, an exploitative one." [10] Roger Ebert of the The Chicago Sun-Times praised Cruel Intentions and gave the film three out of four stars in his review, stating that it was "smart and merciless in the tradition of the original story". [11]
Cruel Intentions was a commercial success, grossing $13,020,565 in its opening weekend, ranking No. 2 behind Analyze This ; released in 2,312 theaters, the movie raked in $76.3 worldwide against a $10.5 million budget. [1] [12]
Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
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Blockbuster Entertainment Awards [13] | Favorite Supporting Actress – Drama/Romance | Reese Witherspoon | Won |
Csapnivalo Awards | Best Movie | Nominated | |
Best Teen Movie | Nominated | ||
Best Movie Soundtrack | Nominated | ||
Best Actress in a Leading Role | Sarah Michelle Gellar | Nominated | |
Best Original Score | Edward Shearmur | Won | |
Golden Trailer Awards [14] | Trashiest Trailer | Won | |
MTV Movie Awards [15] | Best Male Performance | Ryan Phillippe | Nominated |
Best Female Performance | Sarah Michelle Gellar | Won | |
Best Breakthrough Female Performance | Selma Blair | Nominated | |
Best Villain | Sarah Michelle Gellar | Nominated | |
Best Kiss | Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair | Won | |
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards | Worst Remake | Nominated | |
Teen Choice Awards [16] | Choice Drama Movie | Won | |
Choice Movie Actor | Ryan Phillippe | Nominated | |
Choice Movie Actress | Reese Witherspoon | Nominated | |
Choice Movie Sleazebag | Sarah Michelle Gellar | Won | |
Ryan Phillippe | Nominated | ||
Choice Movie Hissy Fit | Nominated | ||
Choice Sexiest Love Scene | Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon | Nominated | |
Choice Movie Soundtrack | Cruel Intentions | Nominated | |
Vega Digital Awards | Social Campaigns | Won |
The Cruel Intentions soundtrack is a compilation soundtrack released on March 9, 1999, by Arista/Virgin Records. It reached number 60 on the Billboard chart. [17] The lead track for the film was "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by rock band The Verve.
Cruel Intentions 2 was released direct-to-video in 2001, written and directed by Roger Kumble, assembled from three episodes filmed for Manchester Prep, a prequel series scrapped by Fox. The story features younger versions of Sebastian Valmont and Kathryn Merteuil played by Robin Dunne and Amy Adams.
Cruel Intentions 3 followed in 2004, directed by Scott Ziehl, starring Kerr Smith and Kristina Anapau, as Cassidy Merteuil, cousin to Kathryn.
None of the cast from the original appeared in the sequels.
NBC picked up a television pilot for a continuation of the film's storyline in October 2015. The pilot was set seventeen years after the events of the film and sees Bash Casey, son of Sebastian Valmont and Annette Hargrove, discover his late father's journal. Upon discovering this he is thrown into a world of lies, sex and power. The potential series was to have Kathryn Merteuil, Bash's step-aunt, attempt to gain power of Valmont International. [18]
Four months later in February, Taylor John Smith and Samantha Logan were cast, with Smith playing the male lead role of Bash Casey, Sebastian Valmont and Annette Hargrove's son. [19] Gellar reached a deal with producers to reprise her role as the female lead, Kathryn Merteuil. [20] In March, Kate Levering was cast to replace Witherspoon for the role of Annette Hargrove. [21]
Several months later, on October 31, NBC passed on the project and the series did not go forward. [22]
As of October 2021, a television series reboot of Cruel Intentions was in development for IMDb TV (now Amazon Freevee). [23] [24] [25] In April 2023, the reboot was given a series order. [26]
A 1990s jukebox musical by Kumble, Rosin, and Ross, was first staged in 2015. After two runs in Los Angeles and a pop-up engagement in New York, Cruel Intentions: The '90s Musical made its Off-Broadway debut at the Greenwich Village nightclub Le Poisson Rouge in November 2017 and ran through April 2018. Set to pop and rock hits of the 1990s and songs from the film's soundtrack, the plot follows the manipulations of Sebastian Valmont and Kathryn Merteuil, out to destroy anyone who gets in their way. [27]
Sarah Michelle Gellar is an American actress. After being spotted by a talent agent as a young child, she made her film debut at age six in the television film An Invasion of Privacy (1983). A leading role in the short-lived teen drama series Swans Crossing (1992) was followed by her breakthrough as Kendall Hart on the ABC soap opera All My Children (1993–1995), for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award.
Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 American period romantic drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Christopher Hampton, based on his 1985 play Les liaisons dangereuses, itself adapted from the 1782 French novel of the same name by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. It stars Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman, Swoosie Kurtz, Mildred Natwick, Peter Capaldi and Keanu Reeves.
Matthew Ryan Phillippe is an American actor. After appearing as Billy Douglas on the soap opera One Life to Live (1992–1993) and making his feature film debut in Crimson Tide (1995), he came to prominence in the late 1990s with starring roles in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), 54 (1998), Playing by Heart (1998), and Cruel Intentions (1999).
Les Liaisons dangereuses is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu from March 23, 1782.
Untold Scandal is a 2003 South Korean romantic drama film directed by E J-yong, and starring Bae Yong-joon, Jeon Do-yeon, and Lee Mi-sook. Loosely based on the 1782 French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses, this adaptation takes place in late 18th century Korea, during the Joseon dynasty.
Les Liaisons dangereuses is a 1959 French drama romance film loosely based on the 1782 novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, set in present-day France.
Kate Levering is an American actress and dancer. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her role in the 2001 musical 42nd Street. She is best known for her role as Kim Kaswell in the Lifetime comedy-drama series Drop Dead Diva.
Valmont is a 1989 romantic drama film directed by Miloš Forman and starring Colin Firth, Annette Bening, and Meg Tilly. Based on the 1782 French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos, and adapted for the screen by Jean-Claude Carrière, the film is about a scheming widow (Merteuil) who bets her ex-lover (Valmont) that he cannot corrupt a recently married honorable woman (Tourvel). During the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont ends up falling in love with her. Earlier, Merteuil learns her secret lover (Gercourt) has discarded her and is about to marry her cousin's daughter- the virginal 15 year old Cécile. As revenge, the jilted Merteuil employs Valmont to seduce Cécile before her marriage to Gercourt.
Cruel Intentions 2 is a 2000 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Roger Kumble, starring Robin Dunne, Sarah Thompson, Keri Lynn Pratt, and Amy Adams. It is a prequel to Cruel Intentions (1999) and was released direct-to-video on March 13, 2001. Both films are based on Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos.
Cruel Intentions 3 is a 2004 American teen drama film directed by Scott Ziehl and released direct-to-video in 2004. Despite its name, the film has almost no relation to the previous films in the series, except for the shared themes and the lead character in this film, Cassidy Merteuil, who is a cousin of one of the characters from the first film, Kathryn Merteuil.
Nathalie Kelley is a Peruvian-Australian actress, known for her role as Neela in the 2006 action film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and for her roles in various television series including Body of Proof (2011–2012), Unreal (2015), The Vampire Diaries (2016–2017), Dynasty (2017–2018) and The Baker and the Beauty (2020).
Kathryn Merteuil is a fictional character who appears in Cruel Intentions and Cruel Intentions 2, portrayed by actresses Sarah Michelle Gellar and Amy Adams, respectively. Based on the Marquise de Merteuil in Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses, Kathryn serves as the primary antagonist of the series.
Les Liaisons dangereuses is a 1985 play by Christopher Hampton adapted from the 1782 novel of the same title by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The plot focuses on the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, rivals who use sex as a weapon of humiliation and degradation, all the while enjoying their cruel games. Their targets are the virtuous Madame de Tourvel and Cécile de Volanges, a young girl who has fallen in love with her music tutor, the Chevalier Danceny. In order to gain their trust, Merteuil and Valmont pretend to help the secret lovers so they can use them later in their own treacherous schemes.
Les Liaisons dangereuses is a 2003 French television mini-series directed by Josée Dayan starring Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett, Nastassja Kinski and Leelee Sobieski. It is based on the classic 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
Dangerous Liaisons is a 2012 Chinese period romance drama film by Hur Jin-ho loosely based on the 1782 novel with the same title by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The novel has been adapted numerous times, including Les Liaisons dangereuses, an adaptation by Roger Vadim (1959), the eponymous Hollywood film (1988), Valmont (1989), Cruel Intentions (1999), and Untold Scandal from South Korea (2003).
Cruel Intentions is an unaired television pilot produced by Original Film and Sony Pictures Television for NBC. The pilot serves as a direct sequel to the 1999 film of same name by Roger Kumble, which is based on the 1782 French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
Cruel Intentions: The '90s Musical, known during its off-Broadway run as Cruel Intentions: The Musical, is a 2015 American jukebox musical based on the 1999 film Cruel Intentions, with a score made up of hit songs from the 1990s. The musical's book is by Roger Kumble, Lindsey Rosin and Jordan Ross; Kumble was the writer and director of the original film. The film Cruel Intentions is itself a modern-day telling of the 1782 French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
Eleonora De Angelis is an Italian voice actress.
Courtney Alice Shayne is a fictional character who appears in the 1999 film Jawbreaker, portrayed by actress Rose McGowan.
Dangerous Liaisons is an American period drama television series, based upon the novel of the same name by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. It premiered on Starz on November 6, 2022. Ahead of its premiere, the series was renewed for a second season. In December 2022, the series was canceled, reversing the early renewal. It was also reported that the executive producers were shopping the series elsewhere.