BOILING POINT
FATAL ATTRACTION Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson lead a twisted TV adaptation of the 80s hit.
Intense psychological thriller Fatal Attraction from 1987 has been reimagined as an eight-part television drama with Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan stepping into the roles made famous by Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. With an updated look at marriage, fidelity and mental-health issues, a modern twist has been given to the bunny-boiling erotic thriller.
How does your new TV show compare to the 1987 film?
Lizzy Caplan: This is a remake, but I think the movie is really more of a jumping-off point. You’ll be familiar with the characters, but what we are trying to do is ask the questions that would have been impossible to ask in a film because we wouldn’t have had the time. Also, they just weren’t questions that people cared to ask back then.
Joshua Jackson: The show has a modern setting, which allows us to update some of the sexual politics. Plus, we can delve much more deeply into the character of Alex Forrest [played by Caplan]. In the show, we get a richer sense of how she became who she became and why she does the things she does.
What do you think of the film?
JJ: As a film, it’s still fantastic. It’s compelling, interesting and scary. However, it’s hard to get inside the perspective where this guy [Dan Gallagher, now played by Jackson] is allowed to exist after this small indiscretion and this crazy lady [Alex Forrest] ruins his life, but then the world rallies around him and tries to push her out. Culturally, we’ve moved beyond assuming the white man in power is morally correct.
How much did you rely on the film to prepare for the show?
LC: I rewatched the movie a couple of times before we started and then again during the shoot.
I think it’s interesting how you view it differently now. The 80s audience saw it as a very binary, black-and-white, villain-versus-hero story. If you watch the movie again, you will find it very, very difficult to see Alex Forrest as a straight villain. It’s also difficult to not ask yourself, ‘What’s going on with her?’ And, ‘What about any consequences for him?’
‘We get a richer sense of how Alex became who she became’ JOSHUA JACKSON
What helped your portrayal of Alex and her mental health?
LC: I spoke to a clinical psychologist, which was very insightful. There’s a lot of responsibility to not play somebody who is just an unhinged, crazy woman. The challenge is finding how to make Alex a sympathetic character who believes she’s doing the right thing at any given moment.
Will we see a boiled bunny in the story?
JJ: There is a bunny. There are things that boil. But we can’t tell you if they happen at the same time.