'Cruel Intentions' Cast: Where Are They Now?

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe in 'Cruel Intentions.'

It’s been 25 years since Cruel Intentions first hit theaters and surpassed the expectations of everybody involved to become a beloved cult classic. A modern-day remake of the 18th century French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the movie’s daring blend of black comedy and sexually charged teen romance proved to be irresistible.

“Teen movies at that point were teen movies," star Sarah Michelle Gellar told ET as she reflected on the project. “We were coming out of a John Hughes era and moving into these sort of frothy, romantic comedies, and to take material like Les Liaisons Dangereuses and give it to teens, it was sort of the first of its kind.”

Here's what the major cast members are now.

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Cruel Intentions Cast: Where Are They Now?

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Kathryn Merteuil)

By the time she was cast as the narcissistic and manipulative Kathryn, whose schemes are the driving force behind just about every plot twist in Cruel Intentions, Gellar had already made her name with another indelible role. She was then two seasons into playing Buffy Summers on the beloved TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and relished the chance to play the villain instead of the hero.

"My reps thought it was a terrible idea for me," Gellar told Entertainment Weekly. “They were like, 'You're Buffy! People have this great idea of you—why shatter it?' I was like, 'That's the point.'"

Since finishing her run on Buffy in 2003, Gellar has gone on to appear in movies including the horror remake The Grudge (2004), and the buzzy Netflix teen black comedy Do Revenge (2022). She recently made a return to TV in the Paramount+ supernatural drama series Wolf Pack (2023), but the show wasn’t picked up for a second season.

Selma Blair (Cecile Caldwell)

Of all the main cast members, Blair was the newest to the industry when she was cast as the naïve Cecile. She reunited with co-star Reese Witherspoon two years later in Legally Blonde (2001), and went on to star in movies and TV shows including Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy (2004) and American Crime Story: The People vs. O. J. Simpson (2016).

More recently, Blair has been open about living with multiple sclerosis (MS), a debilitating neurological condition which went undiagnosed for more than 40 years, while the symptoms rendered her unable to work for long stretches of time. After living her life in “terror” for many years, Blair told British Vogue, she is now proud to be a disability advocate. “I didn't imagine I could ever make a difference by showing up as myself and being open about my experiences. But when others with mobility aids rallied around my presence on the red carpet with a cane and in the midst of an MS flare, I noticed. I felt empowered to share.”

Reese Witherspoon (Annette Hargrove)

While Cruel Intentions helped to springboard many of its cast members to stardom, Witherspoon’s ascent was on another level. Almost immediately afterward, she starred in another classic high school satire, Alexander Payne’s Election (1999), where she created an indelible character in Tracy Flick. Witherspoon subsequently became one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars, racking up critical and commercial hits alike in Legally Blonde (2001), Walk the Line (2005) and Wild (2014), the latter of which earned her an Oscar win and a nomination, respectively. Today, Witherspoon is a prolific actress and producer, and has recently worked primarily on TV projects like Big Little Lies (2017) and The Morning Show (2019).

Related: Legally Mom! All About Reese Witherspoon's 3 Kids and Their Fathers

Ryan Phillippe (Sebastian Valmont)

Phillippe plays Kathryn’s womanizing stepbrother, Sebastian, who ends up getting in way over his head with her Machiavellian schemes. This role, in tandem with I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), cemented his stardom in the late nineties. He’s since starred in a number of movies including Gosford Park (2001), Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), and played the lead role on the USA Network series Shooter (2016). He was engaged to Witherspoon at the time Cruel Intentions was released, and although the couple divorced in 2006, they continue to co-parent their two children.

Joshua Jackson (Blaine Tuttle)

Jackson was already well established as a teen heartthrob when Cruel Intentions came out, thanks to his role as Pacey Witter in the beloved WB series Dawson’s Creek. After wrapping that show in 2003, he went on to star in a number of other long-running series including the JJ Abrams sci-fi drama Fringe (2008), Showtime’s The Affair (2014) and most recently the disturbing Peacock podcast adaptation Dr. Death (2021), which earned him a Critics Choice TV Award. He also reunited with Witherspoon in the 2020 Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere, where the pair played husband and wife.

Christine Baranski (Bunny Caldwell)

Baranski made a small but memorable appearance as Cecile’s domineering mother. A veteran stage and screen actress, she’s most widely known for playing Diane Lockhart on The Good Wife (2009), a character so compelling that she ended up getting her own equally acclaimed spinoff, The Good Fight (2017). She’s currently starring in HBO’s The Gilded Age (2022) as Agnes van Rhijn, a widowed old-money socialite with a delightfully sharp tongue.

Sean Patrick Thomas (Ronald Clifford)

After his supporting turn as Cecile’s music teacher (and secret lover) Ronald, Thomas went on to a starring role in the romantic classic Save the Last Dance (2001), where he starred opposite Julia Stiles. He’s since had roles in films including Barbershop (2002), Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain (2006) and Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). More recently, he appeared in Till (2022), the widely acclaimed biopic of Emmett Till, which was controversially shut out of last year’s Oscars race. He's reportedly set to appear in Amazon Prime's TV adaptation of Cruel Intentions.

Next, Everything to Know About the 'Cruel Intentions' TV Series