When Cruel Intentions, the 1999 film starring Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe, hit theaters in 1999, critical reviews were mixed, but audiences were not. Grossing $76 million worldwide, the dark and boundary-pushing (for its time) movie was by all accounts a success and became an instant cult classic, spawning a prequel, sequel, musical, and, just in time for your Thanksgiving-weekend viewing pleasure, a juicy new TV adaptation for Prime Video.
The drama, the twisted scheming, the romance, the lies and revenge—it’s all there in the 2024 television version. But instead of returning to the halls of New York’s elite high school Manchester Prep, the show pivots to Manchester College outside Washington, D.C., where Greek life rules. Delta Phi Pi President Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook) is our new ambitious and diabolical queen bee, who, in an attempt to preserve the reputation of the school’s sororities and fraternities as well as her own legacy, teams up with her manipulating stepbrother Lucian Belmont (Zac Burgess) to help recruit new student and daughter of the vice president of the United States, Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith), to join her sorority.
Much like the 1999 film, the show features an attractive cast of rising stars—like Sara Silva (American Horror Stories and The Boys), who plays Delta Phi Pi’s social chair and Catherine’s right-hand woman CeCe. The fresh face is a scene-stealer as the tightly wound perfectionist, and not just because of her on-screen wardrobe, which consists of Chanel-like tweed numbers and preppy blazers, but because hers is a journey of growth, and we love that. Not one to shy away from a noteworthy fashion moment herself, Silva, with the help of stylist Kat Typaldos, has been turning out look after look after look throughout the Cruel Intentions press run, so of course, we had to get all of the details.
We caught up with Silva ahead of the show’s Los Angeles premiere to talk about the vision for her press looks, which included supporting young designers and bringing the character of CeCe to life.
Let’s start with your press run for Cruel Intentions. Take me inside your fittings with stylist Kat Typaldos and the narrative you both wanted to tell with your looks.
It was a blast getting to know Kat. We are such kindred souls. This is our first time working together, but I am super stoked to keep working with her because it’s been a blast. Because of that, we were able to collaborate pretty closely on what we wanted, and I felt really comfortable. We took an approach of amplifying my own personal style and working with younger designers, like Puppets and Puppets, Alessandra Rich, and Sandy Liang, which I was super excited about and honored to be wearing all of those brands. We also wanted to use as much vintage as possible because in this day and age with consumerism and everything, we both have a huge passion for vintage.
We wanted to do a good amount of preppy, Upper East Side vibes in keeping with the Cruel Intentions vibe and a modern take on what preppy means and some nods to my character. Although my looks felt more personalized to me and what I might wear, we definitely had some very specific choices that were CeCe things. … For example, CeCe wears a watch, and I wore a watch in a couple of the looks. The attention to detail Kat has is so special. She had me in these [Bonnie Clyde] glasses for one of the looks, which I loved, and it felt like a contemporary take on CeCe.
We’re seeing a mostly black color palette throughout. Was that intentional?
I have very little color in my closet, so maybe it was just what I gravitated toward moreso, but I think it’s also the Cruel Intentions vibe, this darkness and sexiness. So it wasn’t just CeCe’s character that we took inspiration from, but the world itself and also Kathryn in the [original] movie is so iconic with all the black, so we took inspiration from the movie as a whole and many different characters.
Do you have a favorite look from this press run?
I think my favorite might be the premiere [Puppets and Puppets dress] because I’m just excited to gown it up and really live in that. From what I’ve already worn, the [Bonnie Clyde] glasses look was my favorite because I really felt like a completely different person wearing those glasses, and when we were doing interviews, I was just pretending to be like a hot scientist.
When you’re not dressing up for press days and red carpets, what does your everyday style look like?
It’s interesting because I actually feel like the ’90s are the biggest inspiration for my style, but it’s so different from Cruel Intentions. More of the hip-hop, baggy jeans, Aaliyah, TLC kind of thing is something that I’ve always felt really comfortable in, so I say my cartoon character look is baggy jeans, a tank top, and sneakers. That’s probably what you’ll find me in during the day running around.
But at nighttime, I do love to show off my body. I feel really comfortable in fitted clothes to go out and dance. I love a miniskirt. And then my Tabi heels and an oversize leather jacket.
You were 2 when the original 1999 film came out. What is your first memory of watching Cruel Intentions?
I watched it when I got the audition, so I really have no nostalgia when it comes to the movie, which, in a way, is kind of good for being in this new version because I’m not super attached to the original. I loved it. I thought the performances were so amazing. What I thought was so iconic about the film was how it was pushing boundaries and the line for its time, and unfortunately I just didn’t really get that because in 2023, it didn’t have that same shock value. I feel like we are so desensitized. I still really revere it, and I’m still honored to be a part of this world. I love Selma Blair’s portrayal of [Cecile]. As soon as I read the script, I was like, this is completely different, it’s a completely different character from [CeCe], so there wasn’t a lot of comparison going on in my head.
What about this television adaptation really appealed to you?
The writing was incredible. I read a lot of scripts, and a lot of times it’s just not that inspiring, but there was something about this writing that really sweeps you off your feet in terms of how bold and quick and witty, funny, and sexy [it is]—all things that I love and gravitate toward. Also, the character CeCe is such a fun character to watch and to play. You really feel for her, and I was super excited to get to figure out all of her crazy little mannerisms and stuff.
Tell me about that process for you, finding your CeCe.
It’s definitely an interesting journey because when I first got the audition, I didn’t necessarily think that I was right for CeCe. We’re very different. Sarah Catherine [Hook] and I will joke that she’s more like CeCe in her real life, and I’m more like Caroline. So it’s like they did some kind of opposite casting, which I think does end up having such a cool effect in execution because it creates such a deeper inner life for a character. I don’t necessarily know if that was intentional … but with CeCe, it did come really naturally to me, which has been an interesting process of realizing that I think inside of me, I am kind of a CeCe—really neurotic, a people pleaser, a perfectionist—but I mask it with this cool-girl aesthetic.
It was funny to see how easy it was to be CeCe. She talks in these really long monologues, which for me, I immediately was like, I want to work with a voice coach. I started working with this coach I worked with in college, and he was such a godsend because with huge chunks [of dialogue] like that, you would just naturally power through and not know what the fuck you’re saying, and so he really helped me piece everything together. That was a big part of CeCe. Visualization is really big too. With CeCe, she always has really crazy posture, she always stands up really straight, so that was something that as soon as I would get on set, I would really pull on that string on the top of my head. And one thing I did was I made a playlist of chaotic jazz music because I feel like that would be the soundtrack of how her brain moves, lots of different instruments and very dramatic and fast and really crazy frenetics. I was listening to this one track a lot and would literally start moving around. She doesn’t stop moving, and we even joke that she doesn’t sleep because she’s such an overachiever and needs everything to be perfect, so she’s just going to stay up all night and move around. So I would do laps around the set.
Also, working with Sarah Catherine, we had such a natural chemistry, so we found a rhythm really well together with the characters and had a lot of fun. She’s a scene partner I could trust.
Did you and Sarah Catherine get to spend time together building that friendship prior to shooting?
As soon as we found out we both got cast, we immediately started texting and voicenoting. I think if anything, even if we weren’t necessarily explicitly talking about the characters and what it was, we were becoming besties, and at the end of the day, CeCe and Caroline are besties, they just have a really fucked up way of going about it. Getting to know each other and bonding felt like we were doing character work because they are best friends.
(Image credit: Getty Images; Styling: Puppets and Puppets shirt and bag; Falke tights)
CeCe has some really great polished looks throughout the show. Her lilac tweed dress stands out to me. How collaborative were you with the costume department in shaping her look?
Honestly, for this I felt like I didn’t know what that world looked like, because I don’t really wear clothes like that. It’s not really my world, so I left it up to the wardrobe department, and they were fantastic and just so awesome and talented, and so I was in really good hands. The fittings for CeCe were always such a blast because she has such amazing looks. It was definitely one of the first times where I was obsessed with my clothes. Because sometimes you get put in stuff and you’re like, okay, it’s my character, but I don’t want to wear this. But with [CeCe], I was stoked to be wearing these pieces. They are so cool and fun. It definitely helped me get into character. We said something about CeCe that her mom would always just set out her outfit for the day and she would wear it. She never had a say over what she’s wearing, and that’s why it is a little mothery but also extremely rich and very put-together. Everything is very thought out.
What are you excited for audiences to see with this take on Cruel Intentions?
Because it’s a series, you get so much more. You get to dive into the different pieces of every character for so much longer. It’s been fun to extrapolate on these types and see how they interact in a world that some people might be familiar with and some people maybe were in, the Greek life. I think it’s definitely a world that everyone is interested in because it is so taboo. And particularly with CeCe, she’s such a fun character, so I’m excited for people to see the stuff that she gets into and how she grows and finds herself a little bit, which hopefully people will relate to.
Cruel Intentions streams on Prime Video November 21.
Stylist: Kat Typaldos
Hairstylist: Ricky Fraser
Makeup Artist: Johanna Nomiey
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