Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: cruel intentions, prime video

Cruel Intentions Star Brooke Lena Johnson on Real-Life Inspirations

Brooke Lena Johnson (The Strangers: Chapter 1) spoke with us about Prime Video's Cruel Intentions, previous takes on the story, and more.

Brooke Lena Johnson has come a long way as a rising star in Hollywood since her debut in the 2011 indie horror film The Crying Dead. She's also appeared in We TV's South of Hell, Netflix's You, and Lionsgate's The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024). Her biggest role is the modernized adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons, better known in the U.S. as Cruel Intentions. Based on the 1782 Pierre Choderlos de Laclos novel, it's been adapted into four theatrical films from the 1988 French film to the live-action American modernizations Cruel Intentions (1999) and the direct-to-video sequel Cruel Intentions 2 (2001) from director Roger Kumble, and the 2004 unrelated DTV sequel Cruel Intentions 3 that has no ties to the characters of the previous films. The latest incarnation is a Prime Video series from Phoebe Fisher and Sara Goodman.

The Prime Video series incarnation of Cruel Intentions is based on the 1999 film that starred Sarah Michelle Gellar and follows the similar themes of two step-siblings, Caroline Mertueil (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess), who go to the same college, working their way up the social hierarchy of Greek life and try to maintain their status when a hazing incident goes wrong. Johnson plays Beatrice Worth, a character original to the series, who's discovering Greek life isn't what she expected. The actress spoke to Bleeding Cool about her history with the franchise and how it became a personal favorite, working with Fisher and Goodman, and the personal inspirations that helped find her Beatrice's voice.

Cruel Intentions Star Brooke Lena Johson on Finding Beatrice's Voice & Watching the Sarah Michelle Gellar Film

Bleeding Cool: How did you come across 'Cruel Intentions' and what intrigued you?

My agent submitted me for it, and I remember hearing the series' name; I was like, "Wow!" It brought me back to life watching [the 1999 film of the same name] as a teenager and asking, "What are they doing with this series?" Because I remember vividly how the original movie was. I was intrigued from the get-go asking, "What's this new spin? What's this new take on it?" What I loved, especially about that, was playing Beatrice, which was what I auditioned for and what I ended up booking. I loved she was not in the original film, and it was someone I could take on, place a new perspective into this world, then see what she can do to cause more issues along the way and take this storyline in a new, different direction for the series.

Did you read the 1782 original novel or the original 1988 French film, 'Dangerous Liaisons?'

I never read the novel, but I remember doing a scene from it in my scene study class, and then I saw 'Dangerous Liaisons' and, afterward, 'Cruel Intentions.' Now that it's all come out, I thought, "My gosh! I should read the novel." I'd be interested to see how different it is from everything, and it's cool to see how all these different makes of it are complimentary to each other. That part of it is exciting, and they have all these different worlds with royal courts, and then 'Cruel Intentions' was younger and more high school. With this one, it's more modern day, and now it deals with a whole different Greek life sorority. All these different spins on it have been exciting.

What was it like working with Phoebe and Sara as showrunners?

They're awesome and great! I only have great things to say, and it's because of their vision for it. It's great to have showrunners and writers hand-in-hand who have such a strong vision because it helps guide where you're going with it. What's also great is their demeanor. They were always up for play within it, too, because they trusted each actor in the series to take it and run with it. If they felt like, "Okay, it's not going in the direction we think it is, but this might be better" or they would help guide me when I was like, I'm feeling stuck. "What is it that we're trying to work through, and what's the perspective we're getting out?" They were willing to handhold us if we needed it or let us run and play. That's the ideal match. It was so cool seeing what the writing was and how all the actors portrayed it. It leaped it off the page, and it's cool to see that come to life.

Aside from what was on the scripts, were there any past performances or inspiration externally you had to play Beatrice?

It's funny because she's anyone [I can compare to] in the original ['Cruel Intentions'] or necessarily 'Dangerous Liaisons'. I pulled a bit from my life. I never experienced sorority fraternity life. I went to college in London, and so that was foreign to me. but I have a lot of friends in that. I pulled from them in their experiences, and I had some of my friends who ended up leaving fraternities and sororities. They had this in-between perspective on it that Beatrice had because she tried to be a part of it, and was rejected, and then she came to and saw a different perspective before realizing that's what she believed in. I got a great deal from two of my close friends; one of them ended up leaving the sorority. I swear at the layout of the room; it's almost exactly like my friend's room. I thought that it was pretty hilarious but good to pull from people's real lives. That's how I work as an actress, and I love people-watching. I like going to tidbits here and there.

Season one of Sony & MGM's Cruel Intentions, which also stars Sara Silva, John Harlan Kim, Khobe Clarke, and Sean Patrick Thomas, is available on Prime Video.

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