Denise Richards reunited with her former onscreen leading man Casper Van Dien this week. The 55-year-old actress, who recently returned to an iconic role, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a video alongside Van Dien, 57.
The co-stars were seated inside a car on the Hamilton, Ontario set of Damian Lee's upcoming film Key To Freedom. The Illinois-born beauty exclaimed in the clip: 'We are working together for the first time since Starship Troopers! We're not gonna say how long ago that was.'
Van Dien teased, 'A couple of days ago. We were young,' before Richards added, 'Exactly – a few years ago.' The actor, who was 28 while working with Richards (then 26) in 1997, said: 'You were young. I was [already] kind of old. We were very young. We still are.'
Noting that they were filming outside of Toronto, Richards exclaimed, 'I like THESE Canadians,' subtly snubbing estranged husband Aaron Phypers, 53, amid their ongoing divorce.
Van Dien left two comments on the post, including one that read, 'I am so happy to be working with you again. You are the best.' In another note, he dropped a string of red heart emojis.
Their former co-star Jake Busey also replied to the clip, gushing, 'Awe !! Y'all haven't aged a day! Amazing. So glad to see you working together!'
In January 2018, Richards spoke to The Guardian about playing Carmen in the Paul Verhoeven-directed sci-fi flick Starship Troopers. 'I love my character, and the fans seem to appreciate [that] she's a strong woman. If there were negative audience reactions to her swapping between two men, I didn't hear about it,' she said at the time. 'At some point or other, everyone gets dumped and does the dumping – that's young love! But for the most part I think she's a bad*ss, a great role model.' She also added about Verhoeven, 'I'd love to work with Paul again. He was a crazy person – in a good way.'
Joining Richards and Van Dien in the upcoming movie Key To Freedom are C. Thomas Howell, Kim Coates, and Patrick Muldoon – who was also in Starship Troopers.
This isn't the only new acting gig for the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, who in recent years has spent time earning money on adult content platform OnlyFans. Richards is returning to her iconic role as the former showgirl Shauna Fulton on Thursday's episode of The Bold and the Beautiful. She previously portrayed the character for almost three years before departing the long-running soap opera in 2022. 'It's nice to be back,' she told People magazine this week. 'It feels like I never left. It's such a great family environment, and I love my character. She likes to cause a little trouble.'
