Cruel Intentions
| Cruel Intentions | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Roger Kumble |
| Produced by | Neal H. Moritz |
| Screenplay by | Roger Kumble |
| Based on |
Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Edward Shearmur |
| Cinematography | Theo van de Sande |
| Edited by | Ryan Mikel |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English French |
| Budget | $10.5 million |
| Box office | $75.9 million |
Cruel Intentions is a 1999 American romantic teen drama film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, and Selma Blair. The film is an adaptation of Les Liaisons dangereuses, written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos in 1782, but set among wealthy teenagers attending high school in modern New York City instead of 18th century France.
The film started as an independent film with a small budget, and was later picked up by Columbia Pictures. It was released on March 5, 1999 to mixed critical reviews, but was a box office success, earning $75 million worldwide. It was followed by two direct-to-video films: a prequel, Cruel Intentions 2, and a sequel, Cruel Intentions 3. In early 2016, it was announced Cruel Intentions could receive a television series spin-off with Gellar set to reprise her role as Kathryn, as NBC ordered a pilot to a follow-up TV series.
In an upscale New York City mansion, wealthy and popular teenager Kathryn Merteuil (Gellar) is discussing her prep school with Mrs. Caldwell (Christine Baranski) and Mrs. Caldwell's daughter, Cecile (Blair). Kathryn promises Mrs. Caldwell that she will look out for the sheltered and naïve Cecile. Kathryn's step-brother, Sebastian (Phillippe), enters the room, whereupon Mrs. Caldwell reacts to him coldly and leaves with Cecile. Kathryn reveals to him that her real intention is to use Cecile to take revenge on her ex-lover Court Reynolds (Charlie O'Connell), who has dumped her for Cecile. Kathryn asks Sebastian to seduce Cecile; he refuses as he is planning to seduce Annette Hargrove (Witherspoon), the virgin daughter of their prep school's new headmaster. Annette is a 'paradigm of chastity and virtue' who recently wrote a published essay about saving herself for marriage and has been temporarily staying with Sebastian's aunt. The two make a wager: if Sebastian fails to bed Annette, Kathryn gets Sebastian's vintage Jaguar XK140; if he succeeds, Kathryn will have sex with him. It is mentioned that Sebastian keeps a journal detailing his conquests.
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Wikipedia