Wild Things was almost a whole lot wilder.
The film was already one of the raciest thrillers of the ’90s, and if it had kept one scene the screenwriter had written in, it would have reached a whole other level.
In an interview celebrating the 25th anniversary of the movie’s release, director John McNaughton revealed that when he read the screenplay from Stephen Peters, it featured a steamy shower makeout scene between the film’s two male leads.
“When I first read the script, I was like, ‘I didn’t see that coming!’ But we couldn’t do it,” he told Yahoo! about the scene.
In the film, two young women played by Neve Campbell and Denise Richards seem to be working together with a man played by Matt Dillon to pull off an extortion scheme while a police detective played by Kevin Bacon is on their trail. But a third-act twist reveals Bacon and Dillon were actually working together the whole time.
As Peters wrote it, the reveal that Bacon and Dillon were working together would have also revealed that they were in a deeper relationship than just a work one.
"In the original version of the scene, Matt walks into his bathroom to take a shower and there's Kevin," McNaughton said. "They were supposed to look each other up and down and then wham — go at it."
Unfortunately, McNaughton said that one of the actors (he didn’t specify which, more on that later) made it clear that he did not want to film a kissing scene with another man.
“I love surprise, and I love stuff that I don't see coming," he said. "But in that moment it was like 'You win some, you lose some; we're moving on.'"
Columbia Pictures
Back in 2005, both Bacon and Dillon commented on the cut scene, with very different responses, making it pretty clear which actor didn’t want to film the kiss.
“Actually, the movie almost came with another surprise for people to talk about, cos Matt was gonna climb in the shower with me! I thought it was great because the whole movie is about secrets coming out, right? As reveals go, that one was just huge,” Bacon said of the cut kiss in an interview with Total Film at the time. “Unfortunately, the financiers didn’t like the idea of men making out. They felt it went too far. They felt it wasn’t right.”
Dillon had a different tone. When asked “so did you want to make out with Kev in the shower,” he responded loud and clear.
“No, I didn’t! Man, I was relieved when they got rid of that scene. Kevin seemed pretty attached to it, though!” he responded. “One twist too many, man, one twist too many. Kevin’s a married man. I’m wondering why he was so eager to do the gay scene?”
Wild Things is available to stream on Hulu.
Official Trailer: Wild Things (1998)A police detective uncovers a conspiracy behind a case involving a high school guidance counselor, when accusations of rape ...
Columbia Pictures
