50 Fun Facts About Fatal Attraction

Who directed Fatal Attraction (1987)?

He was nominated for the Best Director Oscar and later made Indecent Proposal and Unfaithful.

Who plays Alex Forrest, the spurned lover who stalks Dan Gallagher?

Producers doubted she could be sexual enough; she let her frizzy hair go wild for the audition and won them over.

Who plays Dan Gallagher, the cheating publishing attorney?

He was one of the few on set who approved of changing the film's ending.

Which actress plays Dan's wife, Beth?

She was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar and was "appalled" when the ending was changed.

Fatal Attraction was based on which 1980 short film by screenwriter James Dearden?

Dearden expanded his own short into the feature script with outside help.

What is Alex Forrest's job in the film?

In the 2023 series she works instead in a district attorney's Victim Services Bureau.

What is Alex's favorite opera, which she invites Dan to see?

In the film's original ending she takes her own life while listening to it.

What does Alex do to the Gallaghers' pet rabbit?

The scene gave English a new phrase for an obsessive, spurned lover.

How does Alex first announce herself to Beth?

Dan had changed the family's phone number to stop her calls.

Where does Alex take Ellen after picking her up from school?

Beth crashes her car while searching frantically and ends up in hospital.

What does Alex pour on Dan's car?

She also sends him a tape recording full of verbal abuse after the family moves out of the city.

Who kills Alex in the theatrical ending?

Dan appears to drown her in the bathtub, but she rises swinging the knife and Beth shoots her.

How did Alex die in the film's original, unused ending?

She framed Dan for murder, until Beth found a tape in which Alex threatened suicide.

Why was the ending changed?

The director refused to reshoot until he was offered an extra $1.5 million.

Which actor persuaded a reluctant Close to shoot the new ending?

She fought the change for two weeks and still prefers the original, though she admits the film would not have been a hit without the reshoot.

Which director turned down Fatal Attraction because it was too similar to Play Misty for Me?

Critic Barry Norman later called the finished film inferior to Clint Eastwood's thriller.

Which actress declined the Alex role specifically because of the rabbit scene?

Olivia Hussey also passed for that reason, and Miranda Richardson called the script "hideous".

Which French actress did the director originally want for Alex?

Barbara Hershey wanted the part but was unavailable.

What happened to the actress playing Alex while filming her death scene?

She also later learned she had been pregnant during the shoot.

Roughly how much did Fatal Attraction gross worldwide, on a $14M budget?

It was the highest-grossing film worldwide in 1987 and spent eight weeks at number one in the US.

Which film narrowly beat Fatal Attraction as the top-grossing movie of 1987 in the United States?

Worldwide, Fatal Attraction finished the year on top.

How many Academy Award nominations did Fatal Attraction receive?

They included Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actress and Supporting Actress, but it won none.

Which award did Fatal Attraction win at the BAFTAs?

The film's leading man and supporting actress were nominated for acting awards there.

Fatal Attraction is credited with triggering what late-1980s film trend?

Basic Instinct, with the same leading man, followed in 1992.

What term for an obsessive spurned lover entered the language thanks to the film?

It comes from the scene with Ellen's pet rabbit.

Psychiatrists have used Alex Forrest as an illustration of which condition?

Close consulted several psychologists to build the character; one source describes Alex as suffering from de Clérambault's syndrome, or erotomania.

Where did Alex Forrest rank on the AFI's list of 100 greatest movie villains?

The film itself is #28 on the AFI's 100 Thrills list.

Which real-life 2013 murder trial was widely dubbed a "real-life Fatal Attraction"?

Arias was convicted of killing her ex-boyfriend in Mesa, Arizona.

At which West End venue did the 2014 stage version open?

The film's screenwriter adapted it himself, making Alex a more tragic figure.

Who directed the 2014 West End play?

Robert Fox and Patrick Ryecart produced the fifteen-week run.

Who plays Alex Forrest in the 2023 streaming series?

Joshua Jackson plays Dan, reimagined as a Los Angeles deputy district attorney.

In the 2023 series, what is Dan Gallagher's job?

Amanda Peet plays Beth, and the story adds a present-day timeline with a grown-up Ellen.

What happened to the 2023 series after its first season?

It had aired from April 30 to May 28, 2023.

Fatal Attraction was the first film directly distributed by a US company in which country, in 1988?

Local protesters threatened to release snakes in cinemas showing it.

Where was the version with the original ending first shown in theaters?

It played in three Tokyo cinemas in October 1988 and was two minutes shorter.

Which studio released Fatal Attraction in September 1987?

Producers Sherry Lansing and Stanley Jaffe had grave doubts about casting Close.

Which Star Trek II writer helped rework Fatal Attraction and suggested a new ending?

He wrote a four-page memo for producer Stanley Jaffe in late 1986 and later redrafted the shooting script.

Where do the Gallaghers move mid-film, hoping to escape Alex?

Alex follows and is sickened by the sight of the happy family through their window.

What does Alex do the first time Dan tries to end the affair?

He bandages her and stays until morning.

What grade did CinemaScore audiences give Fatal Attraction?

Rotten Tomatoes' consensus calls it "a potboiler in the finest sense".

Which feminist author criticized the film in Backlash for making Alex wholly negative?

Screenwriter Dearden later called the theatrical ending sexist and said he never wanted Alex to be a monster.

On what date was Fatal Attraction released in US cinemas?

It then spent eight weeks at number one in the United States.

How many weeks did Fatal Attraction spend at number one at the US box office?

In the UK it set an opening-week record and stayed at number one for ten weeks, and it ended 1987 as the top-grossing film worldwide.

Which producing duo initially doubted Glenn Close could be 'sexual enough' for Alex Forrest?

Close won them over by reading opposite Michael Douglas with her frizzy hair let 'go wild' and a slimming black dress.

Which actress was originally considered for Alex, wanted the role, but was unavailable?

Alley auditioned, while Griffith and Lange were among a long list of names merely considered.

What did Glenn Close discover about herself during the filming of Fatal Attraction?

She also consulted several psychologists to understand Alex's psyche and was reassured the rabbit scene was psychologically plausible.

How did Anne Archer react to news that the film's ending was being changed?

Michael Douglas approved the change as 'best for the film', but most of the cast and crew disliked the idea.

In which year did Paramount first release a home-video edition featuring the original ending?

That special edition came on VHS and LaserDisc; the 2002 DVD and 2009 Blu-ray also carried the alternate ending.

Where did Fatal Attraction rank on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills list?

Alex Forrest separately placed seventh among the AFI's greatest screen villains.

Which network announced a Fatal Attraction TV series in 2015 that was cancelled before airing?

Mad Men writers Maria and Andre Jacquemetton were developing it; the project was scrapped in January 2017, years before the Paramount+ reboot.