*all information taken from official page*
Cruel Intentions marks the fourth
screen adaptation of Les Liaisons
Dangereuses, the classic and
scandalous Pierre Laclos novel of
sexual manipulation and romantic
war games first published in 1782.
In 1959, Roger Vadim directed the
French-language film of the same
name, an updated version of the
novel starring Gerard Philipe and
Jeanne Moreau. The Royal
Shakespeare Company's stage
production, which won a New York
Drama Critics Circle Award as best
foreign play, was written by
Christopher Hampton, who also
penned British director Stephen
Frears' three-time Oscar ® winner
Dangerous Liaisons starring John
Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle
Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman.
Valmont, written by Jean-Claude
Carriere, was brought to the screen
by director Milos Forman in 1988
and starred Colin Firth, Annette
Bening, Meg Tilly and Fairuza Balk.
Director Roger Kumble had
always been a fan of the original
novel and had closely observed its
previous incarnations on stage and
screen. "I've always thought this
novel was timeless and could be
remade for a younger audience," he
says. "Kids are vicious in high
school, and when I re-read the
novel about two and a half years
ago, I realized how much high
school kids act like the characters in
the novel. So a different slant in
making this movie would be to set it
in the world of high school."
Although Kumble had written for the
screen, he had not directed a
feature film-and if he wrote this
film, he very much wanted to direct.
His successful theatrical
productions- Pay or Play starring
Jonathan Silverman and Dana
Ashbrook and d-girl starring David
Schwimmer-had prepared him for
directing his first feature film, but
Kumble knew that it would be a fight
to get a major studio to allow him to
direct. "I planned on writing a really
vicious, low-budget update of
Dangerous Liaisons, and then going
out and raising a million dollars and
directing it," he says. "I had no idea
it would turn out the way it did."
Co-producer Heather Zeegen
had worked with Kumble in the past
and admired his writing. She knew
he was working on a modern-day
adaptation with younger characters
and thought it would be something
Original Film might want to produce,
having had success with I Know
What You Did Last Summer. "We
were able to capture that youth
market so well with Summer," she
says. "I knew Neal would really
spark to it."
At the time, Moritz was
spearheading the comeback of
youth films. His I Know What You
Did Last Summer met with huge
boxoffice success and he was in
pre-production for the sequel. The
third, Urban Legend, was ready to
go and his much anticipated The
Rat Pack had just wrapped. As soon
as he read the script and saw how
strong the material was, he
immediately knew who he wanted
for the two leads. "I had worked with
Ryan Phillippe and Sarah Michelle
Gellar on Summer and I knew
they'd be perfect for the roles of
Sebastian and Kathryn," says
Moritz.
"It's a rare situation in Hollywood,
where you have ability to basically
pick who you want for your roles.
There are a slate of youth films
being made right now, and it's a
very competitive market for this
talent," he continues. "And when
you're lucky enough to have a piece
of material like this, which all the
young actors loved, you're sitting in
a position where you really get to
find the best people. Ryan and
Sarah are two of the most incredibly
talented young actors in the
business and I was dying to have
them in the movie, even though
every studio wanted them for their
other movies."
Both Phillippe and Gellar recognized
the script as something special-a
real standout among the rest of the
scripts sent to them. "When I read
it I was immediately frightened and
challenged and intensely interested
all at once," says Phillippe, who
knew immediately that if there was
an opportunity to play Sebastian
Valmont, he had to seize it.
"Valmont has been played by some
great actors, so I knew that it was a
tall order," he continues. "But the
script was so smart, funny, sharp
and angry that I found it
fascinating. There was no question
that if I had the chance, I would be
part of it."
For Phillippe, the chance to
work on a film that was so character
intensive was what attracted him.
"This script is all about dialogue,"
he says. "There is no one chasing
you with a hook, no explosions and
no car chases. It's all about
relationships and their complexities
and how you work within those
confines, how they feed off of each
other and push each other... it's
theatrical in that sense and more
like a play. That, for me, is what is
most appealing about acting in
general."
The re-creation of the classic
Valmont into a modern-day
character presented Phillippe with
many challenges. "To make it what
it classically has been, I had to
separate the layers of the character
and each storyline and make the
individual unique in his levels," says
Phillippe. "Sebastian Valmont is a
different person with each character
with whom he comes into contact
throughout the film. The Sebastian
who spars with Kathryn is quite
different from Sebastian the
seducer when he deals with Cecile,
and Sebastian the lover as he woos
Annette. In each and every scene
and with each and every actor and
actress that I play opposite in the
film, the character changes. So I
had to develop those personalities
for Sebastian. There is a fair
amount of psychosis involved.
Sebastian is so incredibly mean and
so incredibly arrogant... yet he's
not. It's put on. It's make believe.
But the audience has to weave their
way through their experiences with
him to find out what is real and
what's not."
It's Sebastian's surprising
feelings for the new girl in town
which sets him off kilter. Annette
Hargrove is unlike any girl he's met
before. "She's as smart as she is
beautiful," he explains. "She's
funny, and she doesn't take his
antagonisms and that sort of thing.
She gives it right back to him as
much as he doesn't want it. As
much as he tries to resist it, he
can't help but be enchanted by her
and want her, and he ends up
falling in love with her and there is
nothing he can do about it. He
didn't expect it and wasn't looking
for it. He didn't want it, but it
happens and he can't lie to himself.
And he bites it until he can't any
longer."
For Phillippe, the chance to work
with Neal H. Moritz again, with whom
he had worked on I Know What You
Did Last Summer, brought a certain
level of comfort. And it was the
casting of Summer alumna Sarah
Michelle Gellar in the role of Kathryn
Merteuil to complement his Valmont
that made the experience even
more inviting.
"Ryan is the reason I've
been able to do what I think has
been my best work so far," says
Gellar of her co-star. "He's been
able to get it out of me. He's the
most amazing young actor." The
chance to portray the famously
wicked character was a refreshing
idea for Gellar. "It's so different
than what I normally do with Buffy,'"
she says. "It was such a stretch,
and as an actor, of course that's
what you want. It was the best
written script, perhaps the best
dialogue, for somebody of my age
that I've seen in such a long time.
It was the first script I read to
consider on my break from 'Buffy,'
and I wanted to commit right away.
Everyone kept saying 'no, Sarah,
read other options' and I said 'I will
tell you right now, there is nothing
that I will read that I want to do
more than this project.' And I was
right."
The chance to portray a witty, evil
and, most importantly, intelligent
character was what attracted Gellar
to the role. "It's wonderful to see
characters who are aimed at people
our age and who give the audience
credit for being intelligent," she
says. "These characters don't talk
down to young audiences, and that
was important to me."
In the re-creation of Kathryn,
Gellar made a few interesting
choices. "I've tried, with my
interpretations, not to mimic Glenn
Close's Marquise de Merteuil," she
says. "That would be so easy since
she did such a wonderful job. But
the Marquise de Merteuil had a
colder veneer. She hid her
emotions. People weren't as 'out
there' as they are now. We can say
more things than we were able to
during the 18th century, and we can
show more emotion. That was a
great thing to be able to do-show
emotion and not hide behind wigs,
corsets and huge costumes. We
were able to use our bodies, which
makes a very big difference when
telling a story like this. Kathryn
needed to be able to use her body
because her sexuality is all she
thinks she has."
With the two leads in place, Reese
Witherspoon was brought on to play
the chaste Annette Hargrove, the
updated version of Mme. De Tourvel
and object of Valmont's desires.
The script appealed to her sense of
humor and presented several
challenges for the actress. "One of
the hardest things for me about
Annette was to find a modern way to
make a teenager a virgin," says
Witherspoon. "Not to say that all
teenagers are sex-starved people,
but it was actually difficult to find a
reason that wasn't self-righteous or
obnoxious." In working with director
Roger Kumble, the two came up with
something that they felt cut close to
the heart. "Annette is not interested
in having sex for anything but love,
and she's waiting for love," says
Witherspoon. "I think that's what is
appealing to Sebastian as well."
The final peg of the
foursome, Cecile, was the only role
left to be filled. "Cecile is somewhat
of the comic relief in this piece,"
explains Kumble. "She's a brat who
is turned into a slut by Kathryn and
Sebastian, and now she's such a
brat about wanting sex all the time,
it annoys them. I needed an actress
who could be both innocent and
sexy in the same moment."
Newcomer Selma Blair was cast in
the role. "It's fun as a director to
find someone who no one has seen
before," adds Kumble. "Reese,
Ryan and Sarah are already
established actors and you have
that joy as a director to find
someone no one knows and
hopefully turn them into somebody
that everyone's interested in. I
think I found that with Selma."
Producer Moritz agrees. "Watching
Selma perform, watching her dailies,
and watching the cut together
scenes amazed me. She has that
characteristic that when you watch
her on screen, you want to watch
her. To me, that's what makes the
difference between actors and
stars-that when you see them on
screen, you can't take your eyes off
of them. Selma has that quality."
"It was the first story that I had
read that was so amazingly evil,"
says Blair. "Then I met Roger and I
fell in love with his style of directing
in the auditions, and I just knew I
wanted to do this."
With the cast in order, executive
producer Michael Fottrell and
producer Neal H. Moritz put together
a production team for the new
director. "We knew Roger was
prepared to direct since he had
worked in theater," says Fottrell.
"But we also knew that he needed a
strong support team to get him
through the picture." With the help
and experience of a great
cinematographer (Theo Van De
Sande) and editor (Jeff Freeman)
along with Fottrell and Moritz,
Kumble had the support he needed.
"The three or four of us would talk
him through things and get him
over the little hurdles that he was
tentative about on occasion," says
Fottrell. "For example, using a crane
or a camera move, or technical
things relating to covering a scene
in a certain manner. But as far as
getting the performances out of the
actors, he's stellar."
"This is my seventh movie in a row
with a first-time director," says
Moritz. "I couldn't be working with a
more qualified, intelligent,
enthusiastic director than Roger
Kumble. He knows exactly what he
wants."
"I wasn't going to take a crash
course in filmmaking for three
weeks before I shot this," adds
Kumble. "My producers just knew I
needed a strong team. It's like
when you're President of the United
States. If you've got a great
cabinet, you'll have a good
administration. If you get a lousy
one, you're in deep trouble."
With the cast in place, the
filmmakers set out for the six-week
shoot in Los Angeles and New York.
Even though Cruel Intentions is a
modern-day piece, production
designer Jon Gary Steele created an
overall look for the film which paid
homage to the original novel. The
interior sets of the Valmont
townhouse, for example, which were
built and shot in L.A., were given a
French twist. "Most of the story
takes place in modern-day New
York, but when you walked into the
Valmont townhouse, I wanted you to
feel like you were walking into a
Parisian ballroom," says Steele.
In order to create the dichotomy,
Steele gave the walls, paintings and
art a period feel and gave the
furniture a more contemporary feel.
"The furniture in the living room was
very Louis XIV," he said. "We
stripped the wood and
reupholstered it in a much more
modern fabric so the room didn't
feel totally period. Then we added
bronze chairs and a bronze table. I
didn't want it to feel like only one
piece of the film was period and
everything else was
modern-contemporary. I wanted the
audience to feel like it was a period
piece, but once they examined the
room and noticed the detail, they
would realize the contemporary
additions.
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