'Fatal Attraction'
The Ringer's Bill Simmons and Mallory Rubin and The New York Times's Wesley Morris hop up on the kitchen counter to rewatch the 1987 thriller 'Fatal Attraction,' starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and Anne Archer.
Cast
Michael Douglas as Dan Gallagher
Glenn Close as Alex Forrest
Anne Archer as Beth Gallagher
Stuart Pankin as Jimmy
Directed by: Adrian Lyne
Written by: James Dearden
Notes
- $14 million budget, earned $320 million – highest grossing film of 1987.
- Got 6 Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Actress (Close), Supporting Actress (Archer), Director (Lyne), Screenplay, Editing.
- Glenn Close had 3 prior Oscar noms for 'mom' roles (World According to Garp, Big Chill, The Natural) – producers doubted she could be sexual enough. She let her hair go wild to prove them wrong.
- The original ending had Alex killing herself with a knife in a Madame Butterfly-style suicide, framing Dan for murder. Test audiences hated it – they wanted her punished. The reshot ending cost $1.3 million.
- Glenn Close fought against the new ending for two weeks: 'I wasn't playing a cliché. I was playing a very specific, deeply disturbed, fragile human being who I'd grown to love'.
- Close was dunked underwater 50+ times for the bathtub scene, resulting in ear and eye infections. During the reshoot she suffered a concussion when her head hit the mirror, was rushed to the hospital, and discovered she was actually pregnant with her daughter.
- Michael Douglas was simultaneously filming 'Wall Street', alternating which set he was on day by day. Won the Oscar for 'Wall Street' that same year.
- Wesley Morris's thesis: Michael Douglas is who Americans actually are, while Tom Hanks is who Americans think they are.
- Created the 'from Hell' movie trope – spawned 40+ imitators including Sleeping with the Enemy, Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Single White Female, The Temp, and Pacific Heights.
- They used a real (dead) rabbit from a butcher for the boiling bunny scene – the smell was so bad it helped Anne Archer's horrified reaction.
Categories
Quote from Rog's review:
“A spellbinding psychological thriller that could have been a great movie if the filmmakers had not thrown character and plausibility to the winds in the last minutes.”
Ebert called it 'a spellbinding psychological thriller that could have been a great movie if the filmmakers had not thrown character and plausibility to the winds in the last minutes to give us their version of a grown-up Friday the 13th.' Bill is outraged: 'Give it three stars, Roger. Settle down.'
The sink sex scene (Mallory sent freeze-frame pictures), the 'are you discreet?' dinner conversation, the elevator scene, the park date with the dog, Alex's possessive meltdown and suicide attempt, the bunny boiling, Ellen's kidnapping, and the reshot bathtub ending. Mallory picks the ending; Bill says the whole movie is rewatchable.
Michael Douglas's flustered everyman performance, Anne Archer (everything about her including the 80s hair that actually works), hydration during sex, the boiling bunny joke that's been going for 30+ years, the Meatpacking District when it was still actually the Meatpacking District, and Beth's dad's 'you're such a fucking asshole' face at the hospital.
Dan Gallagher as Hall of Fame terrible pet owner (left dog alone 18 hours, took dog on mistress date, fed spaghetti and meatballs to the dog, put bunny cage near acid-fuming car). Also: Glenn Close smoking in office meetings, the '36 and this is my last chance for a child' line, elementary school pickup security letting a random permed lady take Ellen, the absence of modern technology (a doorbell cam ends this movie in act one), and Dan's behavior never being held properly accountable.
Sharon Stone auditioned for Alex but got passed over – good thing, or we don't get 'Basic Instinct'. Sally Field, Kirstie Alley, Emma Thompson, Carrie Fisher, and Jennifer Jason Leigh all considered. Christopher Reeve turned down the Dan role. Andie MacDowell considered for Beth. Brian De Palma wanted to direct but only if they dropped Michael Douglas. John Carpenter thought it was too close to Play Misty for Me.
Stuart Pankin as Dan's loud, heavy friend Jimmy. Also wins the overacting award – everything is big and dialed up, even in the whisper scene in the law library.
Stuart Pankin doubles up, winning both best-that-guy and overacting for his performance as Jimmy. His dinner sequence is just a laugh riot.
Glenn Close says men still come up and say 'you scared the shit out of me' and 'you saved my marriage.' The film was released in 1987, the Chinese Year of the Rabbit. Original title was 'Diversion.' Close was dunked 50+ times, got ear/eye infections. During the reshoot she suffered a concussion and discovered she was pregnant. Michael Douglas alternated days between this set and 'Wall Street'. The original ending had Alex's Madame Butterfly suicide framing Dan for murder.
Michael Douglas – this plus 'Wall Street' in the same year with the Oscar win. It's the peak of his incredible 12-year run. Glenn Close's biggest commercial movie but not her best performance (Wesley says that's Dangerous Liaisons). Anne Archer – absolutely. Adrian Lyne – the best movie he ever made, nominated for Best Director.
At what point should Dan have realized Alex was a lunatic? (Bill says the dog park fake heart attack.) She follows his 50-minute commute from NYC to Bedford without him noticing. The bathtub water floods way too fast. Ellen doesn't wake up during a murder with screaming, breaking glass, and a gunshot. The knife fingerprint setup is ludicrous. Beth stays in the broken-into house instead of leaving. No real estate broker when Beth shows the apartment alone.
Did Dan become partner at the law firm? Do Dan and Beth stay married? (Wesley says yes – it's too important to Beth.) Had Dan cheated before? Who was Alex's cancelled date? How did Alex know where Dan would rent a car? What happened to Alex's job – she just stops working? Is 'Fatal Attraction' 2 about grown-up Ellen, now disturbed from her traumatic childhood?
Glenn Close. This is the role that made her a star and it's the role people still approach her about decades later. Wesley is devastated by her death in the film – one of only two villain deaths that have ever truly upset him (the other being Misery).