By PTI
LOS ANGELES: Actors Alice Englert and Nicholas Denton have been cast in the lead roles for Starz’s original series “Dangerous Liaisons”.
The show, which comes from Lionsgate TV, Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment and Tony Krantz’ Flame Ventures, is a reimagining of French author Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ classic 18th Century novel “Les liaisons dangereuses”.
It will follow the origin story of how the Marquise de Merteuil (Englert) and the Vicomte de Valmont (Denton) meet as passionate young lovers in Paris on the eve of revolution.
“Driven to right the wrongs of their past, it follows the couple as they rise from the slums of Paris and scale the heights of the French aristocracy, seducing and manipulating both the nobility and each other to survive,” the official plotline read.
The classic novel was previously turned into a 1988 movie “Dangerous Liaisons”, starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves.
Later, actors Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe featured in the novel’s contemporary adaptation, titled “Cruel Intentions”.
The Starz show is created by Harriet Warner, who also serves as a writer alongside Coline Abert, James Dormer and Rita Kalnejais.
Leonora Lonsdale will direct the first four episodes of the season.
The show is executive produced by Warner, Colin Callender, Tony Krantz, Bethan Jones, Scott Huff and Christopher Hampton.