Savannah Lee Smith and Sarah Catherine Hook had their work cut out for them when tasked with recreating Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair‘s Cruel Intentions kiss for the small screen.
“[There were] definitely nerves!” Smith, 24, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, November 19, at the red carpet premiere in Los Angeles. “It was an honor to be able to replicate something that won [the Best Kiss] award [at the MTV Movie Awards].”
Smith revealed that her onscreen kiss with Hook, 29, was originally quite different, adding, “In the script, they described it as just a peck. But then a couple of days leading up to the scene, we got a text from Phoebe [Fisher] and Sara [Goodman] where they just sent us the scene from the movie and they were like, ‘This is what we’re going for. This is going to be one of our Easter eggs.’”
Bringing the intimate moment to life was a group effort.
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“Sarah Catherine and I talked about it and we’re really close friends and we had an intimacy coordinator, who made it a really safe space,” Smith noted. “So it was all good vibes. But the nerves definitely came from it being an honor. We wanted to make it right.”
Cruel Intentions is a modern retelling of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos‘ novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses. In the 1999 film, viewers saw Annette (Reese Witherspoon) become a pawn in a sexual conquest wager between step siblings Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) and Kathryn (Gellar).
Kathryn was simultaneously trying to get revenge on Cecile (Blair), who was unaware of the scheme. While advising Cecile on her love life, Kathryn offered to help her practice her kissing skills, leading to two heated kisses that fans still talk about to this day.
“Selma’s a great kisser. I mean, I’ll tell you, it’s just soft [lips]. She smells great,” Gellar, 47, shared with Us in February 2021. “Kissing a girl on camera is way better because when you kiss a guy, all your makeup rubs off and then in between you have to get these touch-ups. But [when] it’s a girl it’s, like, you’re good to go.”
Gellar said she was “all for it” when she read the script, but she wasn’t expecting the overwhelming response from fans.
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“Obviously, we knew people would be excited by it, but I read that script and I was so desperate to be a part of it,” she noted while referring to the movie’s cult following. “And I’ve loved it forever. I’ve seen every iteration, every Broadway version.”
Gellar was supportive of the material because she thought it “was so mature for a younger audience, that [filmmakers] were finally getting that we didn’t need to be talked down to. That it was about actually [how] we were capable of understanding so much more.”
While Hook didn’t speak with Gellar before taking on the role, she said she was honored by the opportunity.
“I really love her and have always loved her. I feel like I kind of have a weird connection with her. I did a vampire show [First Kill] and everyone compared it to Buffy [the Vampire Slayer] and I’m like, ‘Oh that’s so cool,’” she told Us. “It feels like there’s something brewing there. Like I said, I don’t really expect anything but I think she’s f—ing amazing and just like the queen of all queens.”
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Hook also explained why the cast wasn’t encouraged to watch the 1999 film prior to shooting the TV adaptation, adding, “I was really discouraged to do anything Sarah Michelle Gellar did. But of course, I think her gorgeous performance was just running rampant in my brain and I couldn’t avoid it. … I was told ‘not to go Sarah Michelle Gellar,’ and we didn’t want to copy her already iconic performance.”
She continued: “Sarah Michelle Gellar is so good at just delivering such biting lines, and her delivery is so cutthroat whereas I think mine had a more relaxed energy. She’s more bored and a quiet observer. There’s more of a quietness to Caroline than there was with Sarah Michelle Gellar and ultimately that’s where we were trying to find a new, different version.”
Cruel Intentions is now streaming on Prime Video.
