CNN
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“Merciless Intentions,” the 1999 teen drama which celebrates its twenty fifth anniversary this week, tells the story of spiteful stepsiblings Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) as they wage a twisted sport of deception towards Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon) and Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair) at their elite Manhattan prep college.
Grossing over $70m on the field workplace — and pushing its stars even additional up the teenager A-lister charts — the film is an adaptation of French novelist Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.”
“We had a really small finances (all the film was reportedly made for $10.5m), so we needed to be actually inventive with the appears to be like,” costume designer Denise Wingate advised CNN.
Eager to determine itself not solely as a visible departure from teen movies launched across the similar time — suppose “Can’t Hardly Wait,” “Jawbreaker” and “I Know What You Did Final Summer time,” — but additionally from the 1988 movie adaption of “Harmful Liaisons,” starring Glenn Shut, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer, filmmakers determined from the outset to marry 18th-century magnificence with 90s sensuality.
In Kathryn’s first scene, Sarah Michelle Gellar wears a Dolce & Gabbana swimsuit paired with a {custom} corset Wingate says was a direct nod to “Liaisons.” “I cherished that film and needed to acknowledge and honor it by placing some interval silhouettes in with the up to date costumes,” she defined.
Whereas Donna Karan, Gucci and Calvin Klein featured within the characters wardrobes, Ryan Phillippe was despatched “an enormous field of garments” from Prada for his Sebastian character, because the actor had not too long ago modelled for the luxurious Italian home, Wingate mentioned. Christine Baranski, who seems as Bunny Caldwell – Cecile’s WASP-y mom – was adorned in Chanel-style fits from St John.
In direct distinction to Kathryn and Sebastian’s mature and darkish coloured appears to be like, each Annette and Cecile seem in preppy pastels and younger types to showcase their naivete (in a single scene, Cecile wears an “cute” koala bear T-shirt, for instance).
However the period-clashing juxtapositions didn’t finish with the garments. Kathryn’s deep blue boudoir — created on a sound stage in LA — was a deliberate distinction to Sebastian’s autumnally toned bed room, wherein his desk was additionally a delicate nod to the 1988 adaptation. Set decorator Tessa Posnansky advised CNN, “(manufacturing designer, Gary John Steele) got here up with the thought to deconstruct a Louis XIV desk and add a lighted glass prime, pairing outdated and new so we had that custom-built for us.”
The opulent Harry F. Sinclair Home on New York’s Fifth Avenue — named after the oil tycoon who as soon as lived within the residence — was the situation of Sebastian and Kathryn’s decadent residence. “My favourite factor of the lounge set was the daring magenta silk curtains that spilled to the ground in all of the decadence that the late 90s would permit,” Posnansky mentioned.
Central Park has no duplicate and certainly it shaped the set for one of many film’s most iconic scenes wherein Cecile, who has by no means been kissed, learns how to take action from Kathryn.
Wrapped in all-black clothes with darkish sun shades and Chapeau du Matin-style hat, Kathryn’s look was a deliberate reference to one of many huge display’s most well-known outfits. “I used to be undoubtedly impressed by Audrey Hepburn for the scene within the park,” Wingate says. Sarah (Michelle Gellar) and I each cherished the thought.”
1 / 4 of a century on, the affect “Intentions,” had — and continues to have — is simple, spawning a musical and a forthcoming collection from Amazon. Its styling references could be seen in noughties hit reveals “The OC,” and “Gossip Lady,” and, extra not too long ago, the finale of Netflix’s “Do Revenge,” (which co-starred Sarah Michelle Gellar as the college’s headmistress), seemingly echoes that of “Intentions.”
Regardless of being an adaptation that took its cues from a plethora of current works, 25-years after its preliminary launch, “Merciless Intentions” is, it appears, offering the exact same inspirations for an entire new technology.