Denise Richards says Drop Dead Gorgeous was 'before its time' as cult film hits 25

"Some [people] walked out," says Denise Richards of her 1999 breakout role in the black comedy satire Drop Dead Gorgeous. She’s specifically referring to the scene in which her character, the Christian, gun-toting beauty pageant contestant Becky Leeman, carts a crucified Jesus Christ across the stage whilst serenading it with Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli. "It was actually uncomfortable for some of the background actors in the movie. Some walked out."

When Drop Dead Gorgeous — also starring Kirsten Dunst, Allison Janney, Ellen Barkin, the late Kirstie Alley and Brittany Murphy, and Amy Adams in an early role — premiered 25 years ago, it was roundly panned. Roger Ebert said it "never achieves takeoff speed" and it is certified rotten on Rotten Tomatoes. It didn’t make back its budget of $15 million.

The mockumentary-style film follows a coterie of teen girls as they compete for the title of Mount Rose, Minnesota’s Sarah Rose Cosmetics American Teen Princess (quite the mouthful, even without the north-central Minnesotan accent). That is, until they are picked off one by one in tragic accidents, revealed to be orchestrated by Alley’s Gladys Leeman, the definition of a domineering — and murderous — pageant mum.

Gladys is outed after Becky burns to death in an accident on a parade float, and thus Becky’s competition and the contestant Gladys was trying to prevent from winning all along, Dunst’s Amber Atkins, ascends the throne.

Being Sarah Rose’s American Teen Princess isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, though, as Amber advances from the state competition by food poisoning forfeit, and the cosmetics company goes bankrupt as the state winners arrive at the national competition. Sometimes we can have nice things, as Amber does achieve her dream of becoming a broadcast news journalist, after jumping into action during a shootout as Gladys escapes from prison, ever exuding main character energy.

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Like many comedic satires before their time that came out during that era, including Jawbreaker and fellow Dunst-starrer Dick, both of which are also celebrating their 25th anniversaries this year, Drop Dead Gorgeous has since enjoyed cult status. I hated Drop Dead Gorgeous at the time because it went completely over my head. Rewatching it now, there are some distasteful racist and ableist jokes, but otherwise it still hits.

Richards agrees, telling Yahoo UK that "the movie was before its time. Before social media and reality television," where these films have found second lives and where now Richards finds herself as a castmember of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Back then, Richards was cutting her teeth as an emerging Hollywood 'It' girl, alongside her co stars Dunst, Murphy and Adams, while learning from screen icons Alley, Barkin and Janney. Richards says of Alley, who passed away in 2022: "I am so blessed to have had Kirstie play my mum. We got close right away and had a lot of fun. She was one of the funniest women I have ever met."

But Richards almost didn’t play Alley’s daughter, the legacy contestant and presumed pageant winner. Instead, she recalls being up for the role of Amber Atkins, which ultimately went to Dunst. "I loved both characters but thought it would be fun to play Becky," Richards says.

It's hard to imagine Richards as the plucky but meek Amber; her confidence and statuesque presence make her perfect for the role of Becky Leeman, perhaps owing to being in her late 20’s at the time of filming, while Dunst was around the same age as the character she portrays.

Still, though, Richards remembers the primarily female cast and crew bonding during filming. "We often would go to dinner together, get our nails done and just have fun on location!" she says.

That includes Brittany Murphy, who tragically passed away a decade later. "Brittany was a ray of light in any room she walked into," Richards recalls. "Her laugh was infectious." Rewatching Drop Dead Gorgeous, Murphy’s character has some of the most problematic lines, to be sure, but her hilarious delivery of them almost makes you overlook that.

Drop Dead Gorgeous is certainly a product of its time, consisting of a mostly white cast and the aforementioned racist and ableist storylines. I’m not advocating for the dreaded reboot treatment in order to rectify those wrongs, but rather that we take into consideration the wider cultural landscape of the late 1990s.

Ultimately, though, amid millennial rewatches and Gen Z discovering the film for the first time, Drop Dead Gorgeous is finally getting its flowers.

"I’m grateful to be part of such a fun movie that fans enjoy, and a new audience has discovered," Richards concludes.

Drop Dead Gorgeous is streaming on Prime Video and Plex.