Lizzy Caplan Will Star In The Paramount+ TV Series Adaptation Of “Fatal Attraction”
I don’t know how many times the executives at Paramount+ heard people whisper, “Hands off the classics, please,” when it was announced earlier this year they were thinking of turning the 1987 erotic thriller and top-tier Glenn Close performance, Fatal Attraction, into a TV series. Because let’s face it, an erotic thriller, and one as high-caliber in the over-the-top drama department as Fatal Attraction, has no business being adapted outside of any decade besides the 80s (the 90s get a pass, but only based on its close proximity to the 80s). Not to mention doing it without Glenn Close seems wrong, but, it’s still happening, and we learned today that it will star Lizzy Caplan.
Fatal Attraction focuses on (spoiler alert for a 34-year-old movie) an affair gone wrong that begins at work. The name of the revival series is the same, and so is the character’s motivations. Which is to say, Alex is still extremely unhinged. Deadline reports that Lizzy Caplan will star as Alex in a “reimagining” of Fatal Attraction. via Deadline:
The series explores the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes towards strong women, personality disorders and coercive control. Caplan plays Alex, who becomes obsessed with her lover after a brief affair. The male lead role of the lover, Dan, played by Michael Douglas in the movie, is currently being cast.
Paramount+ head David Nevins had this to say about Lizzy’s Alex, and why the Fatal Attraction TV series will totally work more than 30 years after the film’s release:
“There’s a very timeless appeal to the themes of fidelity and infidelity, why good people make very dumb, problematic choices, and just marriage and family against those themes of fidelity and infidelity. I think the writers have come up with a very smart way to make it very contemporary while also honoring the original. How it’s done for today and how it’s turned into a series is interesting, and it’s interesting for Lizzy’s part in particular.”
According to Paramount+ president of scripted series Nicole Clemens, this version will be viewed through a feminist lens. Oh shit, so Dan doesn’t ignore Alex this time around?
“[Screenwriter Alexandra Cunningham] brings an incredibly strong and nuanced point of view to a story that became a cultural phenomenon but has thus far only been told from the male gaze. Partnered with [co-writer Kevin J. Hynes], they will bring the next explosive chapter of this story to a new generation with a balanced eye to the complexities of the human psyche.”
According to Deadline, Lizzy’s casting secured the show’s fate, and which is why it’s officially a go now. And like they said, they just have to find their Dan. Married, horny, sneaky, dumb decision-making Dan. The casting has to be just right. Because if it’s off, and they cast an actor that reads more stupid than dumb n’ horny, the audience will doubt that Dan was smart enough to pull off an affair with someone at work. Dumb n’ horny cheats on his wife with an obsessed stalker from work. Straight-up stupid gets caught hooking up with a TGIFriday’s waitress after he accidentally texts his wife a dick pic and a message that reads, “Can’t wait 4 u 2 TGIFuck this later.”
Pic: Wenn.com