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Don’t worry, fans of the 1999 movie Cruel Intentions: the creators of the new adaptation for Prime haven’t forgotten to pay tribute to the classic Sarah Michelle Gellar starrer.
To help satiate the old fans while hoping to lure new ones, Showrunners Phoebe Fisher and Sarah Goodman told an audience at Deadline’s inaugural TV Sidebar as the SCAD Film Festival Saturday that they added multiple Easter eggs in the pilot to pay homage to the film.
They’ve already announced one big one: Sean Patrick Thomas, who starred as Ronald in the original, is back playing a professor in the new iteration that stars Sarah Catherine Hook (Caroline Merteuil) and Zac Burgess (Lucien Valmont) as the affluent step-siblings bent on causing mayhem. When a hazing incident puts Caroline’s sorority in jeopardy, she enlists Lucien’s help to get the vice president’s daughter Annie (Savannah Lee Smith) to pledge her sorority.
But there are many other eggs that didn’t go unnoticed by the students who were among the first to screen the pilot before its Nov. 21 premiere on Prime. All eight episodes of the first season will drop that day. Look for a certain convertible kit car but in black because the original wasn’t available, Fisher admitted.
As for remaking the classic, “we started from a place of what makes sense in terms of creating this rich world with its own social hierarchy,” explained Fisher, who was joined in the Q&A by Goodman along with cast members Hook, Burgess, Smith, Brooke Lena Johnson, John Harlan Kim, Khobe Clarke and Sara Silva. “Fraternities and sororities seemed like the perfect place to set it, and a place where cruelty still reigns.”
“It’s the royal court of present day, where certain people are allowed in and there are all kinds of rites and rituals,” added Goodman. “It just felt like a natural fit.”
To find the right actors to fill the classic roles in the cruel love triangle, the producers cast a wide net that involved receiving hundreds of audition tapes. Fortunately, the Gen Z kids are alright when it comes to having to film and Zoom their tryouts; Smith — who plays the Reese Witherspoon role in the adaptation — admitted she was surprised at how quickly she and Burgess were able to vibe via their laptops, with her in Spain and him on the show’s Toronto set.
“I mean, we’ve never even spoken a word to each other before and now we’re in the scene [for a chemistry read],” Smith said during the SCAD panel. “We had to build the chemistry and I think it just kind of clicked instantly. We got each other and it just felt right. As an actor, it’s nice to be able to do [audition tapes] a hundred times, but then you’re doing it a hundred times, you’re doing it 150 times and then by the time it’s over, you’re not sure if you are in a different place than where you were when you began. So I think it is a hard thing to try to navigate and balance, but Sarah and Phoebe had a very clear vision for what they wanted and just made our work very, very easy. Obviously it all worked out.”
The series is produced by Sony Pictures Television, Amazon MGM Studios, and Original Film. Along with Fisher and Goodman, Neal H. Moritz and Pavun Shetty of Original Film executive produce with Roger Kumble. Moritz produced the original film, which was written and directed by Kumble. Bruce Mellon along with Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi of Lervolino & Bacardi Entertainment are producers.
Kathryn Hahn participated in a Q&A with showrunner Jac Schaeffer to a packed house Saturday at the SCAD Film Festival. After receiving the Spotlight Award for her work, Hahn talked about harmonizing with her fellow witches on the limited series and how it was actually her idea to appear nude in the first episode. (Apparently, all of the top brass had to sign off before she stripped down, Schaeffer admitted, adding that “It IS Disney Plus.”).
No word on what’s next for Agatha, but Hahn did agree to take Deadline’s speed quiz that included questions like have you ever exclaimed do you know who I am? (“to my kids,” she said), whether she ever dated a co-star (response: hazy) and if she’s ever told a director to f— off. “No!” she exclaimed, though she wouldn’t deny having once considered it.
For more about the Agatha All Along finale, click here and here.
As Somebody Somewhere completes its third and final season on HBO, Bridget Everett admitted to the SCAD audience that “plot isn’t central to our show.”
“I think that’s what makes it unique. It’s just our taste, I guess,” she said during the show’s panel on Saturday that featured co-stars Mary Catherine Garrison and Jeff Hiller, along with co-creators Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen. “We’re more interested in the way the characters interact with each other. In season one, we tried to do a little more plotting. But every time, it didn’t feel organic to the show. So it’s really more about putting people in situations and how they can grow off of each other.”
Everett didn’t want to spoil what to expect from the final episodes of Somebody Somewhere, other than to say “it’s about facing fears, pushing yourself to grow and trying to embrace change, as painful as that is.” The season 3 cast includes Hill as Fred, Tim Bagley (Brad), Jennifer Mudge (Susan), Mercedes White (Tiffani), Meighan Gerachis (Irma), and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Iceland). The season was written by Bos, Thureen, Everett, Lisa Kron, and Lennon Parham, and directed by Jay Duplass, Robert Cohen, and Lennon Parham.
Should HBO consider a spinoff, Everett’s already got the title and logline ready in her back pocket. “It’s going to be called Somebody Somewhere Else,” she said. “It’s going to be Joel and Tricia and they’re running some sort of camp for kids. And she’s still got her c— pillows.”
