The first look at the new Fatal Attraction series for streaming on Paramount+ has been released. Previously, Glenn Close, whose performance as Alex Forrester in the 1987 film forever cemented the character’s place in pop culture, talked about wanting to do a remake through her character’s eyes. Well, now the actress has gotten her wish, as that’s precisely what showrunner Alexandra Cunningham intended to do with the series. In an interview, Cunningham told Entertainment Weekly the following:
For those unfamiliar with the story, New York lawyer Dan Gallagher (played by Michael Douglas in the film and by Joshua Jackson in the remake) starts an extramarital affair with Alex, who’ll be played in the series by Lizzy Caplan. However, Dan subsequently deciding to ignore Alex doesn’t exactly go as planned. Hence a very infamous scene involving a rabbit.
“I did a lot of reading about the film and Glenn Close talking about the empathy she had for Alex, and how she felt that Alex was out of control and obviously not evil, which I definitely agree with because I don’t believe in evil.”
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“In the film, Alex is the villain of the story, and Dan is the hero and there is no gray area. Now, audiences have changed so much, we are no longer primed to believe in this villainous woman story. She’s clearly mentally ill and that’s not something that is really touched upon at all in the movie,” said Caplan.
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Society’s views on the portrayals of mental illness in the media, especially concerning women, have changed significantly since the ’80s, as shown by the more nuanced and sympathetic depictions in Joker (2019) or Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. According to Cunningham, while they were making the film, Close brought the script to two different psychiatrists, and neither of them brought up the subject of mental illness.
According to Caplan, the remake will utilize its miniseries format to spend more time on the characters and develop them. In addition to seeing things from Alex’s point of view, they’ll also be a lot to unpack concerning her backstory, which isn’t given in the film. However, a traumatic incident involving the character’s father is hinted at.
“She’s become such a mental health advocate since then, and it makes me sad that she’s said that she feels responsible for a lot of the stigma toward mental illness in pop culture because of her portrayal of Alex. She’s also said that she felt that it would be interesting to literally tell the exact same story, but from Alex’s point of view, and I kind of sparked to that,” said Cunningham.
“We want to entertain people who are familiar with the touchstones of the original movie, but also people who have no idea what it is. If people are interested, we want them to be able to jump in and enjoy it for its own merits, even if they don’t have context for bunny boiling.”
