The new attraction is still hot, still fatal

“Fatal Attraction” is back – now longer and deeper, but still fatal.
It has eight parts now, with the first three arriving Sunday (April 30), taking its characters (shown here) on a wild ride. “We love a twisty-turny show that … gives use something new and fun to think about,” showrunner Alexandra Cunningham told the Television Critics Association.
That’s on Paramount+, which had a sort of treasure hunt. It scoured the massive library of Paramount films, looking for ones to reboot as series or miniseries. So far, that’s involved:
— “The Godfather.” Instead of redoing the story, “The Offer” was a 10-parter about the making of the film. Critics had mixed reactions.
— “Grease.” The 10-part first season of “Rise of the Grease Lady” has added some sharp satire of 1950s rules … but has inexplicably avoided the charm of ‘50s-style songs.
— Lots more in development, including “Flashdance,” “Love Story,” “Soapdish,” “Urban Cowboy” and “The Parallax View.”
— And “Fatal Attraction,” based on the 1987 hit in which Dan (Michael Douglas) had a weekend fling with Alex (Glenn Close) … who then injected herself into his life and his marriage.
To some, Alex is mentally ill. Cunningham, however, paraphrases what the original screenwriter, James Dearden, said: “Alex Forrest is not a study in madness, but rather a sad, tragic, lonely woman under pressure from a really hard job.”
That feels familiar, Cunningham joked. She sees herself as “a frequently sad — not at all tragic, not as lonely as I sometimes wish I was – woman under pressure from a really hard job.”
But what about Dan’s part in this? The original film, said Lizzie Caplan (the new Alex) was “a very binary, black-and-white, villain-vs.-hero story.”
Clearly, this guy is no hero, she said. “What about consequences for him?”
Joshua Jackson, who plays him in the reboot, agrees. This is a “privileged white man” who feels he can avoid consequences, he said. “He is a man who is not being honest with himself and has not really come to terms with some of the darker places inside of his ego.”
In the original, Alex was a dazzling presence – big hair, bright clothes, big attitude. In this version, with Caplan, she’s quietly intense.
And in the original, Dan’s daughter was mostly ignored. “She’s the kid that gets her bunny boiled,” Alyssa Jirrels said. “But nobody really (asks) if she’s okay.”
Now they do. The story leaps between two times – as the tragedy unfolds and as Dan tries to emerge from 15 years in prison. His wife (Amanda Peet) wants nothing to do with him, but he’s desperate to re-connect with his daughter (Jirrels).
This is familiar turf for many of the people. Jackson did the five seasons of “The Affair,” as a guy whose troubled marriage implodes with his wife’s affair. Cunningham produced the two seasons of “Dirty John,” with Peet as the lethal ex-wife in the second season.
And Caplan? She went from trying to save a marriage in “Fleishman’s in Trouble” to ruining one here.
“Luckily, I got Covid in-between,” she said. “So I got a little, 10-day” break. Playing two “completely different human beings was terrifying and also very fulfilling. And I definitely would like a long nap.”