There Are Levels to Ryan Phillippe

There Are Levels to Ryan Phillippe

PS: Exactly. That’s great, and so necessary. Switching gears, I know you have a movie coming out [supernatural horror film Wish Upon, in theaters July 14], but you’ve also starred in some very iconic films over the years. I was just watching Cruel Intentions the other day, actually. There is so much ’90s nostalgia right now, people talking about reboots and movie anniversaries . . . how does it feel to be at the center of all that?

RP: It’s fun, once I got over the fact that it made me feel a little bit like a dinosaur [laughs], especially because they’re remaking I Know What You Did Last Summer. But I am proud of the fact and grateful for the fact that I’ve made a few films in my career that hold up over time and get played on certain holidays. I just found out recently that watching I Know What You Did Last Summer on Fourth of July is a thing?

PS: I’ve heard that too, although I watched Cruel Intentions instead.

RP: [Laughs] Cruel Intentions is going on 20 years old, and it’s still on TV all the time. It finds new fans all the time, and early in my career, it was a hope of mine to do a seminal teen movie, because I grew up watching The Breakfast Club, and these things that were so re-watchable, and that if you turned it on at any given point, you’d just settle in and enjoy it. So I love that.

PS: It seems like Wish Upon has that potential, too.

RP: Part of my connection to Wish Upon, when I first read the script, was that I thought there would be something kind of cool about me playing a father in a movie that was reminiscent of those ’90s thrillers and horror movies. Because it does very much have a tone that’s not so dissimilar from The Craft and Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, and I just enjoyed the hell out of the script. And I love Joey King; I think she’s got a tremendous career ahead of her. I also saw an opportunity to do a movie that my kids [Ava and Deacon] could watch and that I think they’ll love.

PS: That was actually my next question! Are there any of your older movies that your kids have seen? Or is it like . . . I mean, maybe not Cruel Intentions, but . . .

RP: You know, no [laughs]. I’m not ready for them to see that yet. Most of the movies that I’ve done in my career have been R-rated — but they’ve watched White Squall, which is one of the first movies I did, with Jeff Bridges. Deacon now watches Shooter, and I think they’ve seen a couple of things, but yeah, I mostly have done adult stuff.

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