Wild Things

John McNaughton says he chose this as a deliberately commercial picture after Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer; in his words, what sells is sex and violence. Stephen Peters wrote the script. Robert Downey Jr. was first choice for Sam Lombardo, but the insurance side balked. Neve Campbell’s contract held a strict no nudity clause, and she took the part to break the mould Party of Five had made. An early draft revealed the tie between Duquette and Lombardo; changed at the shoot, that link in the scheme stays closed. Filming ran from 21 April to 16 July 1997. The Everglades made trouble: a tornado nearly tipped the trailers, and work stopped and police were called when a real body drifted into view. George S. Clinton’s score, made partly with the band Morphine, was nominated at the 25th Saturn Awards. Bill Murray shared best supporting actor at the 1998 Los Angeles film critics awards with Billy Bob Thornton, cited for Rushmore and this film. A good fit if you take a story still explaining itself over the closing titles as design rather than defect, and want McNaughton’s reading of class, where the girl from the trailer park outlasts them all. Not for anyone uneasy watching an accusation of sexual assault used as fuel for a plot game.