The Cast Of The Cruel Intentions TV Show Talk New Story, Bonding, and Legacy
In the new TV adaptation of Cruel Intentions, two step siblings have worked hard to climb the Greek life social ladder on their college campus. When a hazing incident goes wrong, they’ll do anything to maintain their status — even if that means setting their sights on the Vice President’s daughter. Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado spoke with the cast and creatives of the new Prime Video series.
While Cruel Intentions has been adapted from a book into movies and musicals, this is the first time its getting a television adaptation. “We wanted to keep the taboo. We wanted to keep the humor. We wanted to keep the sexiness. We wanted to keep the irreverence and the exclusivity of the world in each of those iterations. Those are all very exclusive privileged worlds and with people behaving very badly for their entertainment and I think we wanted to keep all of that,” said co-creator Sara Goodman. “We wanted to create a TV show, which it hasn't been and with characters that certainly pay homage to all of those previous iterations but have to sustain over many, many episodes. [They] have different inner lives and different histories and different desires and different dynamics between them. We both thought we could just have a lot more fun with it and go to new places while still loving all of those previous [iterations].”
“It's just ruthless sexy fun that we were missing in the world and on screen,” added co-creator Phoebe Fisher. “We just wanted to make the show that we wanted to watch.”
From Gossip Girl to Cruel Intentions, Savannah Lee Smith is no stranger to reimagining a classic teen project. “Gossip Girl changed my life. It was my first project so that in and of itself was just a blessing, but sometimes it can be a little intimidating because you want to get it right given the fact that both of these stories have been told and are loved in their original state. Sometimes you are nervous about the response you're going to get, but overall it's just really exciting,” she told me about playing Annie. “Cruel Intentions is really a new chapter and a reimagining, a new take on the lore, while keeping the same tone and energy and scandalous vibes and all that. It's super exciting to be part of something that already has so much history and bring something new to it.”
This new take on Cruel Intentions is set in a Washington D.C. college in the middle of Greek life. “It served all of our purposes very well as a backdrop for all of the manipulations and power plays and all that stuff and naturally served the story in that way. It's our version of the Royal Court in Dangerous Liaisons, the Upper East Side in Cruel Intentions, and now we get to see this new rarified world with all these rights and rituals and traditions and a place where reputation really matters and the social hierarchy feels life and death to them,” said Fisher, with Goodman adding: “And most people aren't allowed in.
Speaking of people who aren’t allowed in, Brooke Lena Johnson opened up about her character Beatrice who is very much against the Greek life system in the series. “Beatrice on her own is very much a fighter. She really stands up for what she believes in and, where that came from, I think is a lot of different areas. She has been burned by these people in the past so who's to say that it's not a little bit of revenge, it's not a little bit of pushback against a system that kind of rejected her. I think viewers will really relate to feeling like the outsider, feeling rejected,” she said. “I do think she pushes for what she believes in. She wouldn't go through all of these obstacles with all of these people and still try to push her way in, even though she keeps getting pushed back down, if she didn't. She's sacrificing her reputation the whole time. There's reputations everywhere in this show and I think Beatrice is like on the line of how much do I push to go against that and within that. You're dealing with your reputation. There's a lot of vulnerability that comes with it.”
The show has a surprising connection back to the original Cruel Intentions with the casting of Sean Patrick Thomas. He played young music teacher Ronald Clifford in the original film and now plays Professor Chadwick in the series. “Our casting director Lauren Grey talked to us about it because we wouldn't even have considered that he would be willing to do it. When she brought it up, both Phoebe and I were so, so excited about the idea because we obviously love him in the movie, but we also just love him as an actor,” said Goodman. “To be able to have that real relationship being formed between him and Cece in this that's intellectual and taboo and has all kinds of internal conflict for both of them I think was really really exciting for us.”
“Working with Sean was incredible and I felt so lucky to be working with such a talented vetted actor who was in the original. He kind of has this legend status for us for sure. He was just such a joy to work with. He made me feel so comfortable in terms of like reinterpreting the story. It is just a completely new interpretation so I feel like he was just so excited to be finding the nuances and the freshness. We kind of found that together,” shared Sara Silva, who plays Cece. “We both were playing and finding this new dynamic which is so much more about the intellectualism. We're both nerds and we're geeking out about history and fascism and that's the way that we flirt. It's just its own thing.”
Another duo we follow this season is Blaise and Scott. “You see immediately the sharp nature to him. He's a shark in the water and then I'd like to think, as you progress, you start seeing that the shark has feelings and emotions and thoughts and justifications as to why he does what he does,” said John Harlan Kim about Blaise, with Khobe Clarke adding: “Scott's very sheltered and I think he hasn't been exposed to a lot of hard times, which makes him in part very naive but also very unscathed, which is what makes him so innocent and sensitive and kind. He sees the good in everybody because nobody has done him very wrong yet.”
Despite the ups and downs in their character’s relationship, Kim and Clarke immediately bonded on set. “John is this professional veteran. He's talented, he's so, so generous,” said Clarke. “In so many ways he was not only a very good friend to me, but also this mentor and big brother. He tucked me under his wing and I had the easiest job in the world acting alongside and across from him. I continue to be inspired. He's the best. It was easy.”
Clarke continued: “There's one scene in particular with Scott and Blaise towards the end of the show. It was John and I's last day working together and it was the last time our two characters would see each other for the foreseeable future. With the rest of the show behind us, [we both] had this opportunity to like really hit this scene out of the park. Of John's performance, it's one of my favorites watching it, and when I did it with him it was the most memorable.”
Cruel Intentions is streaming on Prime Video.
