The classic 1987 film Fatal Attraction is being reimagined as a brand-new series on Paramount Plus. Now fans can get their first look at the upcoming reboot down below.
Writer Alexandra Cunningham opened up about the series and how it’ll stay faithful to the original film. She also added that it will use the television format to explore other narrative perspectives. As shared in the statement below:
“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,” Cunningham tells EW. “Glenn talked about how, when she was doing the character work on Alex, she brought the script to two different psychiatrists, and neither one of them brought up mental illness, because it was the ’80s and nobody did that. 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.”
As you can see via EW, the new image features both Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson, who will be taking over from the original film’s stars Glenn Close and Michael Douglas.
Here’s the image:
First look at Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson in the ‘FATAL ATTRACTION’ series.
The series releases in early 2023 on Paramount+ pic.twitter.com/1dtOe2uF1H
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) December 21, 2022
Star Lizzy Caplan also explained how the series will explore her character differently than the film:
“In the film, Alex is the villain of the story, and Dan is the hero and there is no gray area,” Caplan says. “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.”
“There’s a lot to unpack with her,” Caplan continues. “She has a full backstory and a full point of view in our show. With a limited series, there’s an opportunity to take more time getting to know all of these characters.”
She also shared a few comments about her co-star, Joshua Jackson.
“I’m so happy that Josh is playing this role,” Caplan states. “He was the greatest partner. We had to do some pretty full-on stuff with each other. It’s an erotic thriller, and there’s also quite a bit of physical violence, which requires so much trust with your scene partner, and I trusted him every step of the way.”
Finally, Cunningham left fans will the following conclusion:
“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,” Cunningham says. “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.”
It seems as though this series will be an exciting addition to the Paramount Plus catalogue. Both fans of the original film and newcomers to the story should be able to find something to enjoy. After all, the basis of Fatal Attraction features the kind of story that anyone can find interesting, if not relatable to some degree.
The Fatal Attraction series is scheduled to be released on Paramount Plus in early 2023. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional updates on the upcoming reboot as we have them.