The director of a 1990s cult classic has opened up about a scene that never made the final cut.
John McNaughton made the 1998 Florida-set thriller Wild Things. The movie starred Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, Matt Dillon and Kevin Bacon. Campbell and Richards play high school students who conspire with their guidance counselor (Dillon), to steal a multi-million dollar settlement from the mom of one of the girls.
On their trail is Bacon, playing a crooked cop.
It’s not until later in the movie that viewers discover—SPOILER ALERT!—Dillon and Bacon’s characters are working together to trick the young women and take the money themselves.
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McNaughton says the male characters were supposed to be more than just partners in crime. They were also lovers. This would become apparent in a sexy shower scene in the original script.
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Marking the film’s 25th anniversary, McNaughton told Yahoo Entertainment, “In the original version of the scene, Matt walks into his bathroom to take a shower and there’s Kevin. “They were supposed to look each other up and down and then wham — go at it.”
McNaughton says that even he hadn’t seen the twist coming when he first read the script. However, just before shooting the scene, one of the actors said they didn’t want to do it as written. McNaughton doesn’t specify who but laments the loss of the scene.
“I love surprise, and I love stuff that I don’t see coming. But in that moment it was like ‘You win some, you lose some; we’re moving on.'”
Whomp, whomp.
Both Bacon and Dillon have previously mentioned the deleted scene in past interviews. Speaking to Total Film in 2005, Bacon said, “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. 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, in a separate interview with Total Film, offered a different take. Asked about rumors of the scene, and if he didn’t want to “make out with Kev in the shower”, he responded.
“No, I didn’t! Man, I was relieved when they got rid of that scene. Kevin seemed pretty attached to it, though!”
Hmmmm… it seems pretty clear which actor wasn’t keen.
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McNaughton says a remnant of the characters’ supposed relationship does survive, but most viewers wouldn’t realize it without context. It takes place during the end credits when Dillon’s character meets Bacon’s at a bar.
“Neve preps him, and then Matt goes inside and sits next to Kevin and says, ‘Hey, could I buy you a drink?’ The next time you watch that scene, watch it closely, because [their relationship] is there,” he said. “I always called it ‘acting twice’ with the cast, because what their characters were saying was never really what they were doing.”
Mister P
You’ve made the comment. Enough!
gjamesm40
Speak for yourself, jerk. Most of us do support her.
Karlis
Well, at least we all got to see Kevin Bacon’s wee-wee, and I for one was most appreciative of that fact.
Dymension
I know, right? I spit out what I was eating when it happened. It was so unexpected for the 1990s!
Leo
Where, when, how? Did I miss some link?
Inspector 57
I believe I saw it in “Hollow Man” as well.
dbmcvey
@ Leo,
It’s at the end of the movie, it’s not a link, although I’m sure if you google it you can find it somewhere and not watch the film, which would be a shame because it’s really good.
Bosch
Hey tallskinhead
“Us gays” know that only the enemy wants us divided.
Are you the enemy?
KerryB
WTF does your comment have to do with story? There was no mention of Dylan Mulvaney anywhere.
Diplomat
This article ran on Fox News online and the comments were surprisingly tame. Lots of “no big deal” if the scene had been in the movie. Of course there were the psycho religious comments but far far fewer than I’d have expected.
Dymension
It’s always been so interesting. Not all of Fox News follow the lead of those bozos like Sean Hannity and Geraldo Rivera.
radiooutmike
That scene would have made a fun movie even better!
Diplomat
It might even have made the film a classic.
domen8r
very telling of our society (or mebbe Dillon/the producers) that the teenage girls’ sexual fluidity was an enhancement, but the adult males’ was a detriment.
Troyfight
@domen8r …so very true…. & Dillon is weak; they should have replaced his ass with another actor who wasn’t afraid.
frenchtiti
i totally agree with u . as a French gay man im totally appaled by how american people applaude this delusional person
Ziggy Tzardust
Stop pretending your bigotry is shared by the rest of the community, it isn’t. You are a miniscule minority no matter how much you whinge.
Doug
What does this have to do with the article here??
Doug
I don’t understand how Dillon had the authority to completely change what was in the script at the last minute if he’d already agreed to taking on the part in the first place!
leecee
Maybe he was ashamed that his endowment could not match up to Kevin Bacon’s.
Diplomat
The investors killed the scene not Dillon.
rray63
Bosch, please tell me who the enemy is?
DamiansFire
Never heard of “her”.
Man About Town
This makes Matt Dillon the current recipient of the Keanu Reeves Award for being too “uncomfortable” to do a gay sex (or even just kissing) scene while being paid insane amounts of money to do your freakin’ job. In Keanu’s case it was his dumb comments after filming “My Own Private Idaho.” He said “I hope I never have to do that again” while his costar River Phoenix made it clear he had no problem with it.
dougparr
Your totally wrong….I think most people support the positivity that comes form Dylan M. and I actually enjoy seeing her sometimes silly but positive messages about life…you should try to see life from a different angle you might find yourself a happier person.
ScottOnEarth
No surprise here. Matt Dillon was never a real actor. He owes his career to his good looks only and he has never had artistic vision. He had the same emotional range (of zero to .001) in all of his movies and I have no idea if he even works these days. Kevin Bacon, on the other hand, is true actor who is as busy as ever….and frankly, he’s far sexier than Dillon.
Dukeinct
Scott: I agree. Dillon has never been an actor.
Kangol2
Except that Matt Dillon gave great performances in Drugstore Cowboy, There’s Something About Mary, The Saint of Fort Washington, In & Out, and Factotum, to name just a few of his films. I’d mention the movie Crash, in which he also acted with real skill, but the film itself is trash! And I say this as someone who’s no huge fan of Matt Dillon’s but he is a decent, real actor!
dbmcvey
Now you’ve commented and none of us are better for it.
cuteguy
Matt Dillon is a homophobe and couldn’t stomach being considered gay, even tho he was ACTING. Thank goodness his career is in the trash, where he belongs
Kangol2
Huh? Dude, I get the anger at Dillon’s stupid, homophobic comments, but his “career” is anywhere but “in the trash.” The man has an Academy Award, a Grammy, and tons of other awards and he’s still making films and appearing on TV. Like I said above, I’m not huge fan of his, but his career hasn’t tanked.
mh1212
Matt Dillon never won an Academy Award or a Grammy. He was nominated for those, but lost both.
cuteguy
@Kangol2
If you hate yourself that much that is a problem between you and hopefully your therapist. You just defended a proven homophobe by exaggerating his accolades. He does not have an Academy award. He has no current projects or relevance. You really need help that you would defend this garbage that would undoubtedly discriminate against you (unless you’re a closeted Faux News troll)
DonaldTrump
@Tallskin5 I have mocked many women in my time and still occupied the Oval Office four years straight. I see no issue with this so long as your famous!
theaterbloke
I always got the gay subtext between Dillon’s Sam and Bacon’s Ray. That being said, it wasn’t a real connection, just another part of Neve Campbell as Suzie’s plot to end up with all the money and no one else alive to challenge her. As such, it would make sense for Ray to be gay and perhaps closeted, but Sam would just be coming on to him as part of an act. In that context, a make out scene, however nice to watch, might not have helped the movie. Unless it was very brief, it would have slowed down and distracted the plot.
johncp56
I had to pull up wild things and went to the shower scene, you can see it could have happened easily, damn they both look so tasty
GayEGO
Wow! Why not show us the shower scene again!