There’s a ‘Cruel Intentions’ reboot coming to NBC: will you watch?

cruel-intentions

Here’s another entry into the “Hollywood has officially run out of ideas” file. According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC has ordered a TV reboot of the 1999 movie Cruel Intentions (which just appeared on Netflix this month). The original movie was a modern retelling of the 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (which was adapted to film in 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons). The series came to be after Roger Kumble saw a Cruel Intentions musical parody at L.A.’s Rockwell Table & Stage this past summer. He was so impressed that he recruited the musical’s writers, Lindsey Rosin and Jordan Ross, to work on the TV version of the popular film.

The new series picks up in the modern day, centering on Bash Casey (what a name), the son of characters Sebastian Valmont, played in the original movie by Ryan Phillippe, and Annette Hargrove, played by Reese Witherspoon. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character Kathryn Merteuil will also be a major part of the series, trying to gain control of Valmont International and up to many other cunning plans, I’m assuming. There’s no mention of Selma Blair’s character, the naive Cecile, as of yet. From what I can gather, Bash gains access to Sebastian’s journal and is introduced to a “world of sex, money, power and corruption he never could have imagined.” Sounds tawdry, huh?

When will Hollywood learn that making TV series from beloved movies is never a good idea? Remember 2003’s My Big Fat Greek Life? You shouldn’t, it only lasted for a whopping 7 episodes. The list of flops is seemingly endless – no one wanted small screen remakes of Ferris Bueller, Working Girl, 10 Things I Hate About You and Dirty Dancing either. But, hey, who knows? Maybe late 90s nostalgia will garner ratings. Stranger things have happened. (I would totally watch the musical though!)

cruel-intentions-cast

Exclusive... Stars On The Set Of 'Big Little Lies'

Sarah Michelle Gellar Out And About In Santa Monica

Photo Credit: Columbia Pictures, Fame Flynet

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29 Responses to “There’s a ‘Cruel Intentions’ reboot coming to NBC: will you watch?”

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  1. Original Kay says:

    Absolutely not

  2. Barrett says:

    no!!!! Let it stay in the 90s.

    Sara Michelle Gellar really rocks the dark hair, much more striking and natural!

  3. emmyb1608 says:

    It looks like Ryan is kissing his daughter in the first picture! I think this is a bad idea though, re-boots rarely do the originals justice.

  4. Lama Bean says:

    WTF? NO!

  5. ichsi says:

    When I read the title I thought this was about a miniseries based on Cruel Intentions which would have been AWESOME (Dangerous Liaisons is one of my favourite books and I’m a sucker for all the adaptations) but this… Ew, no.

    • Lizzie McGuire says:

      Yeah that’s what I thought which I had mixed feelings about it, but now that I know is NBC & it’s not really that yeah it’s dumb & it shouldn’t’ be made.

  6. Betti says:

    Nooooooo. Leave it as it is. Was bad enough there were sequels.

    SMG looked great here with the dark hair.

  7. Betsy says:

    Thanks for that picture! They’re all babies!

    And movie to TV reboots don’t work. How many talented scriptwriters are there in Hollywood alone? Why don’t they hire them, buy their scripts and ideas?

    • Betti says:

      Well Cruel Intentions was a modern adaptation of Dangerous Liasons by Pierre Chodelous de Laclos, so it wasn’t an original idea.

      • minime says:

        LOL This!! It wasn’t an original ideia and it was not even close in quality to the original movie that “only” starred John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman…It was a teenager adaptation of an amazing novel and of the previous movie. Meh…if they could do it then, they can do it now.

      • Nic919 says:

        I was in the target age group for that movie back in the day and even then there was no way Ryan Phillipe could pass as remotely decent as a Valmont type character. Not when you had John Malkovich and Colin Firth’s Valmont’s out there.
        Cruel Intentions was a bad CW teen version of Dangerous Liaisons.

      • Elisa the I. says:

        I saw both Dangerous Liaisons and Cruel Intentions back in the day and I enjoyed both tremendously. The soundtrack of CI was all kinds of awesome. Placebo!
        Also, Reese Witherspoon hasn’t really aged since then, b***
        😛

  8. Talie says:

    This movie has held up really well. Ah, the 90s…

  9. ShinyGrenade says:

    Beurk. And Valmont will always be John Malkovitch.

  10. Tifygodess says:

    Man, I miss the 90s. I wish I could go back and relive my teens again!

  11. Tiffany says:

    So Annette was pregnant, while still in high school. Rich people problems.

    Also, Christine Buranski might be done with her other show this season. NBC, just leave to check blank for her.

  12. ldub says:

    NO. This has already been done.
    It was called Gossip Girl. And it was done very well….at least the first 2 seasons.

  13. lizzie says:

    i planned my confirmation outfit on a VERY 90’s floral maxi dress SMG wore in this movie. I even wore my hair in the same and a short diamond by the yard necklace….memories

  14. Josefina says:

    I’m all for this if they make it a Mexican telenovela. The plot is spot-on for that kind of thing. And nobody plays mean, evil ladies like us latinas do.

  15. Irene says:

    They tried to do a Cruel Intentions TV show back in the day, but the pilot was never picked up because they showed a girl having an orgasm from riding on a horse. People were so outraged about teenagers having sexuality back in the 90’s, I swear.

    And ‘Bash’ is one of many nicknames for ‘Sebastian’.

  16. Elisa the I. says:

    NO
    NO
    NO
    NO
    NO

  17. moi says:

    well, it might actually fit in a gap left by gossip girl

  18. Magpie says:

    Valmont DIES at the end of the movie, how do they have kids????

  19. Blackbetty says:

    One of my favourite 90s movies doesn’t need a remake! No more damn remakes FFS!

  20. Chloe says:

    Loved Valmont! First thing I ever saw Colin Firth in! It wasn’t Annette Bening’s character who became pregnant by Valmont though, it was Fairuza Balk’s character, Cecile.