Keep an eye on your bunnies this Easter, folks, because a reimagined version of “Fatal Attraction” is headed your way.
On Monday, Paramount+ unveiled a trailer for its eight-episode adaptation of the 1987 psychological thriller starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas. Debuting on April 30, the new version stars Lizzy Caplan as Alex Forrest, a mentally ill woman who becomes obsessed with a married man, Dan Gallagher (Joshua Jackson), after a brief fling.
Written and executive produced by Alexandra Cunningham, the “Fatal Attraction” series will explore “timeless themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes toward strong women, personality disorders and coercive control,” according to press notes.
Viewers will find a number of memorable scenes recreated in the trailer, although the now-iconic “hot bunny” segment is still nowhere to be found.
Watch the trailer for “Fatal Attraction” below.
“I will not be ignored, Dan,” Caplan’s Alex proclaims, in a memorable line by Close in the original.
There’s one big difference, though: Much of the new “Fatal Attraction” takes place in the present day, with Dan serving 15 years in prison for Alex’s murder.
Directed by Adrian Lyne, the 1987 film Fatal Attraction received rave reviews and received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress for Close. While Alex remains one of her best-known roles, Close was unhappy with the film’s ending, and in particular, her character’s demise.
The film originally ended with Alex dying by suicide and framing Dan for his death. Lyne went against Close’s wishes and decided to reshoot the final sequence after test audiences reacted negatively.
Cunningham, whose credits include “Desperate Housewives” and “Dirty John,” cited Close’s displeasure as the impetus to revise the story and provide more insight into Alex’s perspective.
Caplan feels the same way, noting that the show allows Alex to have “a full story and a full point of view.”
“In the movie, Alex is the villain of the story and Dan is the hero, and there’s no gray area,” the “Mean Girls” and “Freaks and Geeks” actor told Entertainment Weekly last year. “Now, the audience has changed so much that we are no longer prepared to believe this story of an evil woman. She’s clearly mentally ill, and that’s not something that’s really touched upon in the film.”
