Glenn Close Wants ‘Fatal Attraction’ Series to Empathize with ‘Fragile’ Killer, Explain ‘Her Side of the Story’
Samantha Bergeson
Don’t get your bunnies in a boil: The Paramount+ reboot of “Fatal Attraction” will certainly have even more twists than the (theatrical) original.
Exactly 35 years since Adrian Lyne‘s iconic erotic thriller debuted, Oscar nominee Glenn Close gave some sage advice for the revival series: Show more of a well-rounded Alex, and less crazed woman stereotype.
“I hope they tell her backstory, her side of the story,” Close told Entertainment Tonight. “[Alex] is a human being in need of great help. She’s a fragile person.”
The original ending for “Fatal Attraction” concluded with Close’s Alex killing herself. Test audiences reportedly didn’t like the darker finale, and director Lyne instead opted to have jilted “other woman” Alex die at the hands of the married couple (Michael Douglas and Anne Archer), with domesticity triumphing for all.
“I mean, I would be flattered if it was the one that we came up with [originally],” Close said of the Paramount+ series. “But obviously I’ll be very curious.”
After “Fatal Attraction” premiered in September 1987, the film went on to garner six Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Actress for Close. The Paramount+ series is set to star Lizzy Caplan as Alex and Joshua Jackson as Dan Gallagher, her one-time lover. Plot details have been kept under wraps as the series is currently in production.
Close previously told IndieWire that she “loved” playing Alex and never thought of her as a villain. “I’m thrilled that movie has become part of our culture,” Close said. “[However] it’s easy to make fun of and make unbalanced people the bad guy — that perpetuates the stigma.”
The “Tehran” star also revealed that she hopes the series will explore Alex’s “point of view” as a “tragic figure” instead of being perceived as pure evil. Bunnies, beware.
The revival series is part of Paramount+’s push to bring film titles to the small screen, on the heels of “The Godfather” making-of story “The Offer.” IndieWire’s Ben Travers deemed “The Offer” a “vapid I.P. extension” for the franchise in his review of the series, which stars Miles Teller, Dan Fogler, Matthew Goode, and Juno Temple.
