Few songs have become as synonymous with the movies they've appeared in as much as The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" and 1999's Cruel Intentions.
Of course, music has always been one of the most important and memorable aspects of film and television. Of course, outlandishly rich Celine Dion's Titanic song, "My Heart Will Go On", is probably the most famous. Then there are all the James Bond songs, including Billie Eilish's upcoming song for No Time To Die. Even the theme song for Jeopardy is part of pop culture history.
But, in terms of the 1990s, you don't get much more iconic than The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" at the end of Cruel Intentions. Of course, the soundtrack of the Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Selma Blair film is packed with stellar '90s songs. But the director of the teen drama forked out a ton of money to use The Verve hit.
It actually cost them 10% of their entire budget...
Here's why getting the song was so important to him...
"Bittersweet Symphony" Was Almost Literally Part Of The Script
The soundtrack from Cruel Intentions features such 1990s hits such as Blur's "Coffee & TV", The Counting Crow's "Colorblind", as well as Fatboy Slim's "Praise You", but "Bittersweet Symphony" is the movie's crown jewel... It's also the only song (that we know of) that writer/director Roger Kumble wrote for.
Cruel Intentions is based on the 1782 novel "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, a novel about two narcissistic elites who use the power of seduction to exploit and completely control others. The novel has been adapted before, most notably the Academy Award-winning 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons which starred Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Uma Thurman, and Keanu Reeves... If you haven't seen that movie, run... don't walk.
But a modern, Upper East Side adaptation required a lot more re-writing... And, like many writers, Roger Kumble used music to propel him, according to W Magazine. He envisioned the song, which came out in 1997, as the ending song and it helped him compile the events and montage that occurs in the final moments of this erotic, moving, and downright deliciously entertaining movie.
The Rolling Stones... Yes... The Rolling Stones Made Things Really Difficult For 'Cruel Intentions'
"Bittersweet Symphony" was released by The Verve (who are also known for their song "History") in their 1997 album called "Urban Hymns". It's been used countless times in other pop culture phenomenons such as The Simpsons and even on CW's Riverdale. But it owes much of its success to Cruel Intentions.
But it wasn't easy for Roger Kumble and Columbia Pictures to get the rights to use it. In fact, things came to a point where it didn't look like they could use the song at all. Even though Roger Kumble had always envisioned the song in his movie, and it greatly influenced his final scene where Reese Witherspoon's character reveals the truth of Sarah Michelle Gellar's character to their entire community, it didn't look like he could use it.
According to W Magazine, this is because the rights to the song cost 10% of the movie's entire $10.5 million budget. And all of this was because of The Rolling Stones.
After "Bittersweet Symphony" was released in 1997, The Rolling Stones' former manager (Allen Klein) drew The Verve into a lawsuit for plagiarism. This is because "Bittersweet Symphony" purposely sampled a portion of an orchestral cover of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time" by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra. Of course, The Verve licensed this part of the cover. However, Klein, who represented The Rolling Stones during the time "The Last Time" was released, believes that The Verve took more than they paid for.
According to W Magazine, Allen Klein ended up suing The Verve and ended up getting all royalties from the song and handing them over to Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. This gave them credit for "Bittersweet Symphony" alongside The Verve's Richard Ashcroft who wrote the song.
On top of this, it took A LOT of money out of The Verve's pockets.
This is something Richard Ashcroft is still furious about, and thus why the use of his song is so expensive.
Therefore, securing "Bittersweet Symphony" for Cruel Intentions was a nightmare. Still, according to an oral history of the movie by Entertainment Weekly, the stars aligned and they managed to get the song into the movie... After shelling out about a million dollars, of course...
"The song cost close to a million dollars, which was probably 10 percent of the budget,” producer Neal Moritz said to Entertainment Weekly. "It was well worth it."