Yeah. Thank you so much for your time.
It's a real pleasure to chat to you and you as well.
Few things to do.
So I want to take you back, as it were, to
there was a period when I was a teenager, when you were in a lot of big films
and you were quite prominent
in a lot of these films that that we're going to talk about.
But also Wild Things was such a I mean, for me
that was such an amazing film to watch for the for the first time.
And that was amazing, this amazing Blu ray release and the people over in the UK
that do all these amazing Blu ray releases have given it this fancy new transfer.
And it's it looks amazing.
It looks amazing, and it's fantastic to watch it again.
Oh, that's so great.
So it's so much.
It's so it's really thrilling.
But also it's a lot of fun as well, that film.
So I wanted to take you back to when you first read it,
because I can imagine that was quite an experience
to read that script for the first time, given
what happens and all the characters got to go through in that film.
Absolutely.
But I was just starting out my career and I remember I auditioned for it
right after I finished filming Starship Troopers
and I auditioned for it a few times and kind of
did a little screen test
but I you know, when you see something
in a script, you never know if that's where they're going to go.
Sometimes they can say, Oh, well, there's no nudity.
Or this or that.
But obviously with that one, it was
I had to do stuff that I had never done before.
And I was, you know, very nervous, obviously,
but I was so excited when I got the part
to be able was coming off of screen and to work
with Matt Dillon and also Kevin Bacon and Bill Murray and everyone.
And I was a complete unknown.
So I was so excited to be able to work with
the actors of that caliber.
Yeah, because it sounds strange to say, but on paper,
when you put all those names together
and that Bill Murray and everything else, you guys think, Oh, that's,
that's very interesting.
That's not a cast you would always kind of put together,
but it works you know, we were a very eclectic group.
Yeah, yeah.
But it kind of works for the film.
It kind of fits all of your personalities kind of fit the film.
So well.
I can imagine that was a great experience to shoot as well, given that it felt like
everyone was kind of perfect for their roles.
You know, I learned a lot just by because I was,
you know, the new one of the group that was working in the movie.
You learn
you can go to so many acting classes, but the best class is on set.
And this is something when people ask my advice when they're
first starting out in this business, what I recommend, and even if it's this,
even if you are a background or if you have one line
stay on set and watch because you learn so much by watching.
I learned more from working and watching everyone else
and I did learn a lot in the acting
classes and all the acting coaches that I work with.
But you learn a lot by doing, too.
Yeah, there's that.
There's a real fantastic chemistry between all of you.
But what I love about your older characters really is that
that you judge them at the beginning, you know, the first half an hour
you get a sense of what your work is
and what she's going to do, and then this like everybody else.
And it just spirals into this into this fantastic kind of thriller
with a lot of twists and turns.
Did you
when you were reading the script
for the first time, did you were you kind of guessing along the way as to,
you know, not to give spoilers?
And I've seen this what happens and what transpires in the in the box, literally.
I loved it.
And you know what?
They there were some the flashbacks at the end of the movie.
Are my favorite scenes.
And, you know, because obviously it pieces everything together.
And there were some of those they added after
afterwards, OK, they were not in.
Yeah.
And a lot of them were with Bill Murray.
Yeah.
Because a lot of the flashback scenes
start you start to second guess yourself because you as an audience.
Yeah.
The first time you're like, OK, I think I know what's going to happen.
And I'm like, wait a minute.
That's right.
I wasn't expecting that.
And then you see that kind of interaction that you haven't seen in the first half
hour and a half, which is which I think that's
I think that's fun for the audience to see that.
And and also, you know, putting the movie together and everything
too, at the end to add things that weren't in the script.
Obviously, the viewers don't know what the script
actually was, but there was you know, there were scenes
that I think that were really fun to see at the end yeah.
And for you, I mean, at that point in your career is the role.
It was a role I can imagine because there's a lot of elements to
to her, there's a lot of things you judge her at the beginning
because she's come from money and all these things.
But actually she's a little bit small. Right.
People might really like she's must been a great character to play
because she has a lot of depth to oh, it was so fun to play that character.
And especially so early on in my career.
I had literally just finished Starship Troopers, which is the total
opposite of the character of, you know, the character I played in Wild Things.
So it was great for me to be able to show some, you know, two completely different
characters and different genres.
And it was I feel very grateful and blessed to be able to do that.
Yeah.
And now obviously flash forward to now where I think the anniversary's coming up
and obviously Starship Troopers anniversary and everything else.
There's lots of like tech talks and social media.
I've seen on Tiktok, the scene where you throw the glass
and even the courtroom where you say, oh, really?
The people are using now because people
that, you know, these younger generations are only just discovering these.
Right.
It's of I know they've gone, oh my God, this film is amazing.
And Denise Richards does this.
And Neve Campbell does this and Kevin Bacon does this,
you know, the day I threw the glass, they were very nervous.
They they actually put a lot of plexiglass up
for the camera operator, so I wouldn't hurt them.
I'm a lefty, so I feel like I don't have good aim at all.
I feel like I'm backwards but I nailed that,
and they were shocked that I was able to hit where they wanted me to hit.
But I think it came from pure fear and fear and nervousness,
like, oh my God, I have to do this.
And I was able to nail it where they wanted me to,
and I didn't hurt anyone in the process.
But as one of the moments from the film
that if you I know that is one of the moments
that's kind of sad was the film because you're like, I need to see
and it was thank you.
It was, it was, it was quite a big success as well even back then because,
you know, these kind of movies don't really get made in the same way anymore.
You know, there's all franchises and I know
these kind of movies off the ground, unless you do it with Netflix
or you do it with Amazon so much of its time, that must be great
to be kind of like part of a time, almost like a time capsule.
And these movies kind of don't exist.
Yeah, I know it is.
And there's, you know, the subject matter I think would be difficult
to make now, too.
But, you know, it's also there's a little tongue in cheek in it, too, as well.
So I think that's also why it's been,
you know, a cult
classic type of thing, which I'm so happy to be part of.
And, you know, I'm glad that people are still enjoying the movie.
Yeah.
I saw an interview recently with Kevin Bacon,
and he was talking about his nude scene and he was talking about how
it's one of those movies that there's nude scenes from men and women
you know, it kind of does both. Yeah.
He talks about it.
You know, I don't get he said I don't get out of the shower in a bathing suit.
I get out of the shower. How everyone gets out of the shower.
Why would it be exactly and it was kind of good that John
wanted to make a movie that was kind of showed because obviously
you have your scenes and then Matt does his bits and Kevin does his bit.
So it's kind of quite fair and quite progressive in some ways.
I agree.
And I actually think it was in a weird way ahead of itself.
Yeah.
However, I will say,
you know, having teenage daughters now, knowing I did this movie
has been a little challenging trying to explain it to them.
And they've told me that their friends have seen it
and my daughters have not seen it and they don't want to see it.
Which I don't.
I'm glad I don't want them to
because I wouldn't want to see my mom in that way either.
You know what I mean?
So it's but they're at an age
now where their friends are discovering
things their mom did in her career when she was little.
Well, not a little a lot younger.
So it's, you know, that's challenging, too.
Yeah, indeed.
And what was what was for you when obviously, I know
you've got a long career and you've been gone for a long time.
You done amazing things.
But when you went from Starship Troopers, Wild Things
Drop Dead Gorgeous and Bond, what was that?
That must have been quite a whirlwind, those few years when you were doing it
because it kind of led up. It was James Bond. Yeah,
it was definitely a whirlwind.
And each one was so different every end.
As a as an actress that was just starting my career,
it was so great to be able to do so many different characters
and different genres and, and to have be
and now even at my age, to see the impact
that these movies have had on people and fans has been really incredible.
And it's, you know, it's a wonderful feeling
to see that people are still enjoying the movies.
Yeah.
I was going to ask you what what is it like making a Bond film?
Because obviously they've come a long way since obviously Daniel Craig is obviously
now departed.
But you did it when Pierce [Brosnan] did it, which he was my dad.
And, you know, when I was a teenager, he was the first kind of Bond film
I saw in a cinema was old enough to see Goldeneye.
Was it like the experience of making a Bond movie?
Because I can imagine
this is a lot of people and a lot of things carrying on in a Bond.
Yeah, it is so epic
and I had no idea the impact that Bond had has on
the loyalty of all the fans.
I had never seen a Bond movie when I auditioned for it.
After I got the movie, Barbara Broccoli
and her brother sent me every single Bond movie
up to that point, and I was like, Oh, wow, this is a big movie.
I had no idea.
And I'll never forget when it was announced that
CNN and that I was the Bond girl.
And why is this such a big deal?
I was asking my agent, he goes, Do you have any idea that
this is like a big movie?
I thought, Oh, well, this is great.
And then when I did all the press for it, traveling all over the world
and seeing the fans come out for all the premieres and everything is
something that is really, you know, it's it's it's incredible
to be part of such an iconic franchise and to be a Bond girl and and all of that.
Yeah, it's
even more so now, I
guess all over, over in the UK is a Bond is obviously a very big deal and.
Right.
And everything about because even now I still talk about who's
going to be the next James Bond, who's he going to be?
You know, there's so much kind of things written about.
Yeah, that was the biggest premiere I've ever been to in
my life was in London.
Yeah.
Such a bond is a big deal in the.
Yeah, it is
I was reading beforehand about going back to the Wild Things
that you almost maybe somewhere down the line might have done a kind of sequel.
Was that ever something that happened?
I joked about, Well, I was dead.
My sister died, so I was never asked to do a sequel.
OK, as of right now, did you ever hear I read this?
I don't know if this is true.
It was Matt Dillon's character.
It was almost played by Robert Downey Jr, which I.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I I didn't know that. Is it true?
That is a true fact.
That's true. Yeah.
OK. Could have been different for him.
His career could have been different.
If these things are not done, I'm
it's very it's a very different film.
So he's had a very successful career, though.
He's not our guy tonight, I think.
Yeah, it's happens ever.
I think it can
happen
and for you, obviously,
I know that you've been doing
some TV stuff and everything else and you've got a few movies coming out
this year.
Can you give us a taste of any of those that are coming soon?
I have one that's coming out on Amazon, as
I almost said, love actually, but it's love accidentally.
And is that it's that one was already there
and it's just it's just a sweet, you know, romantic
comedy, feel good movie and it's coming out July 15th.
I also very soon excited. Yeah, very strong.
Yeah, that's good.
And as a final question and if young audiences maybe not
your your daughter
or her friends and everything else, but if young audiences are going to discover
wild things, what would you say to them in terms of if for your point of view,
what would they expect well, how would you sell this film to the people
well,
when I made the movie, I did not think, oh,
one day my daughters might see this because I didn't know.
I think about having kids in my twenties.
Yeah.
You know, it's just
the the storyline is not appropriate
for this day and age with teachers and students, I have to say.
But it's a fantasy.
It's a, you know, it's a thriller and it's,
you know, it's been around for a very long time and people have enjoyed it.
So I hope you enjoy it. Yeah, absolutely.
I enjoy it. I think it's I don't know what else to say.
I think it's I think I think it's great.
Great line is not appropriate.
Yeah.
It's yeah, it's a little it's this is nice of its time.
Shall we say? Very nice. Very nice. Very late night.
We did it today. Yes. It's very nice.
If we did it today, I'd obviously I think that would be a different storyline.
I think. Yeah, it's also very funny.
I feel like it's very touching.
Oh, it's, I feel it's I'm so glad you say that.
I feel like it's got a lot of humor in it too. Yeah.
Yeah. It's where they I mean, tongue in cheek in place.
Obviously, Bill Murray is always funny, of course, but the film is the luck
is a little bit if you take the tongue in cheek, it's a little tongue in cheek.
Yeah, I think so too.
Yeah. I think it's great fun.
It's great fun.
Denise, thank you so, so much for your for your time. Thanks.