Selma Blair’s teen son Arthur has crossed a major first off his list: he’s finally watched one of his mom’s movie’s, something Blair told People she’s tried — and failed — to get him to do for years. Unfortunately, she added, the 13-year-old watched “Cruel Intentions.”
Blair explained, “I mean, I’ve tried, he’s never watched. But with a girl, he’ll watch ‘Cruel Intentions,’ and I was like, ‘Oh dear.'”
Arthur also mimicked an explicit gesture that her character performed in the movie. “He’s like, ‘Mom, what was that?’ Because my character Cecile does it. It was naughty. It was naughty, is my point.” (We’re not entirely sure, but we’re guessing it was this one.)
Ultimately, she continued, her son liked the film.
The 1999 teen drama also starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon in a young adult retelling of the 1782 novel “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.” Phillippe played Sebastian Valmont, a New York teen who spends most of his time pursuing girls. Bored with the girls he’s gone after in the past, he makes a plan to entice Witherspoon’s Annette Hargrove — who is vehemently opposed to having sex before marriage.
Gellar plays Sebastian’s stepsister Kathryn Merteuil and the pair make a twisted bet: if Sebastian pulls off his plan, Kathryn will have sex with her stepbrother. If he doesn’t, Kathryn gets his vintage Jaguar. Blair plays the innocent Cecile, who Kathryn corrupts throughout the movie. With her, it’s not for a bet, but mostly for her own entertainment.
Sebastian and Kathryn deploy several mind games throughout the movie and generally control the other characters via their sexuality — and Sebastian ultimately suffers a tragic end before the movie’s conclusion. Though the film wasn’t necessarily the biggest hit with critics, it’s gained cult status with numerous fans.
In 2019, co-casting director Mary Vernieu said the movie’s team initially hoped to cast Brittany Murphy in Blair’s role, but she was busy, “so then we went in looking for someone, and we found Selma, who was a discovery for us,” Vernieu told Entertainment Weekly. “She really brought something so special to Cecile… I feel like I can actually still picture her coming in and her audition outfit.”
Blair, who was 27 at the time the movie was filmed, also chimed in. “I was the oldest in the cast but newest to the industry. I had auditioned for, like, 60 things [around then] and didn’t get them because I was over 18. I went in [for this], and Roger and I began this obnoxious banter. He said, ‘How old are you?’ and I was like, ‘How old are you.'”
“I wasn’t trying to cage around my age. I was just sick of all these auditions. He probably thought I was a nutball,” she added.
The post Selma Blair Cringes Over 13-Year-Old Son Watching Her ‘Cruel Intentions’ With a Girl: ‘It Was Naughty’ appeared first on TheWrap.
