The homoerotic shower scene between Kevin Bacon and Matt Dillon that never was

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.”