Starz gives 'Dangerous Liaisons' fresh life

"Dangerous Liaisons" has been told in both classic and contemporary versions, and now, there's a new chapter to the tale.

Premiering at 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6, a same-named Starz series is a prequel to the famous Pierre Choderlos de Laclos novel, examining how Camille and Valmont - played by Alice Englert and Nicholas Denton - initially became manipulative, power-driven young lovers in the era of the French Revolution. They tried to keep each other in check while insinuating themselves into the lives of others, over whom they exerted cruel control. Oscar nominee Lesley Manville, Kosar Ali and Carice Van Houten also star in the drama.

"I think it's full of universal themes," says executive producer Harriet Warner, who devised the new drama and also wrote much of it. "It's sex, privilege, poverty, class, love ... and, above all, power. And I think also that story of a woman navigating a man's world is hugely powerful today, as well as (maneuvering through) that very divided society between rich and poor that has great resonance now. It still packs a real punch."

Actress Englert agrees, as she inherits the role played by Glenn Close in the 1988 "Dangerous Liaisons" film and by Sarah Michelle Gellar in 1999's "Cruel Intentions" modernization. "What's interesting about the story," she reasons, "is that if it's not love, it's war. And if it's war, is it love? Love kind of is not nearly as interesting as what these two people have between each other."

Denton was surprised to land the part of conspiring schemer Valmont, which he got from testing for something rather different. He explains that he read for HBO Max's "Gossip Girl" remake "well before the season (of 'Dangerous Liaisons') was going to shooting. They were like, 'OK, you're kind of on for "Gossip Girl," but you've got some potential to be Valmont in "Dangerous Liaisons." 'Then it was just this long process of forming that, and that was a testament to (the producers) for taking a chance."

Also an executive producer of the piece, award-winning television veteran Colin Callender likes backing up "Dangerous Liaisons" to a point preceding the story that readers and viewers know.

"By the time you begin to meet these characters," he reflects, "you have a sense that there's a depth to them and there's a history to them. And they have a history that in some cases haunts them, and in other cases drives them to do sort of difficult and complicated and messy things. Harriet rooted the characters in a way that isn't quite there in the book, and that was a glorious invention. And it's actually what makes the show so much fun."