Christine Baranski Is ‘Still Making Residual Money’ From Her ‘Cruel Intentions’ Gig

Christine Baranski played the snooty Bunny Caldwell in the 1999 film Cruel Intentions. Starring a group of up-and-coming actors, the teen movie was quite scandalous for the ’90s. Viewers will forever remember the film for the kiss between Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair). Rounding out the young cast were Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon, who were dating at the time. Baranski as Cecile’s mom was a small but standout role for the successful actor, and she’s pretty happy about it.

Christine Baranski revealed she still makes money from ‘Cruel Intentions’

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Baranski spoke about her role as Bunny. 

“I had to be talked into doing that one,” she revealed. “It was going to be shot during my first year’s hiatus from Cybill, and I was anxious to go home and be with my kids.”

She agreed after “the director begged and begged” her and said, “It’s only a few scenes,” Baranski recalled. 

“I’m still making residual money off Cruel Intentions,” the actor added. “It might be the movie that’s made me the most in residuals because it is such a hit. I didn’t do much in that movie, and yet people will come up to me and quote my lines.”

The award-winning performer can do it all

“I rarely play a victim,” Baranski said. “I’m usually someone who’s kind of foxy with great lines. I always say that my career has been great one-liners and great clothes. I’ve been lucky. I almost consistently play characters who are famous for being well-dressed. And there’s always a feistiness to the characters I play and a real strength.”

She has done multiple Broadway productions and won Tony Awards for The Real Thing in 1984 and Rumors in 1989. 

The actor has played memorable roles in several movies too. Baranski portrayed Katherine Archer in the hilarious The Birdcage with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. She sang and danced in Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. And she was fabulous in many other films, including Into the Woods, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Chicago.

But her breakout TV role was as Maryann Thorpe in the ’90s CBS sitcom Cybill, for which she won an Emmy. Before she was cast, she wasn’t sure if she would like doing television and was uncertain about moving to LA from New York. 

“But I did make the jump, and it changed the course of my career,” Baranski said. “The first season won me an Emmy Award, and suddenly I was nationally famous in the way that television can make you famous.”

From there, she appeared in the series The Good Wife and then got her own spinoff, The Good Fight. In addition, she played Leonard Hofstadter’s terrible but funny mother in The Big Bang Theory. She has even hosted Saturday Night Live.

What is Christine Baranski doing now?

Baranski recently bid a final farewell to her character Diane Lockhart from The Good Fight. “I’ll sort of miss her,” she told People.

But the actor isn’t unemployed. She plays Agnes van Rhijn in the HBO series The Gilded Age. Her character is the snooty grande dame of New York society in the late 1800s. Season 1 was a huge success, and season 2 is said to be done with filming and will premiere this year. 

“What could be better than playing a curmudgeonly snob written by Julian Fellowes?” she told Harper’s Bazaar.