'Fatal Attraction' Star Lizzy Caplan Says It Was 'Scary' Delivering Glenn Close's Iconic Line in New Paramount+ Reimagining (Exclusive)
Paramount+ has debuted its new Fatal Attraction reimagining, and the series takes the classic thriller movie's story in a fascinating direction. Ahead of the premiere, PopCulture.com had a chance to speak with some of the cast, including lead stars Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan. During our conversation, Caplan opened up about her role, including the comparisons to her Castle Rock role, and how "scary" it was to say that iconic line that Glenn Close so passionately delivers in the original film.
In Fatal Attraction, Caplan portrays Alex Forrest, the role played by Close in the 1987 film. Notably, the actress previously starred in Hulu's Stephen King universe series, Castle Rock, as Annie Wilkes, a role originated by Kathy Bates in the 1990 film Misery. Both Fatal Attraction and Castle Rock have been opportunities to reimagine once-vilified female roles through a modern perspective, which Caplan herself has even noticed fans have picked up on. "It's worth saying that I feel like nobody watched Castle Rock when it was on, and I have been getting a fair amount of questions about doing press for Fatal Attraction," she told us during an exclusive interview. "So if that means more people are watching Castle Rock, I'll take it."
Caplan continued, "They felt like two very different assignments. Castle Rock, it always felt like that was an Annie Wilkes that eventually would become the Misery Annie Wilkes, the Kathy Bates Annie Wilkes, and so I wanted that character to feel like it was the same person with very different circumstances, obviously. With this, the circumstances are quite different, the time period is so different, that this felt like just a totally different beast."
The actress went on to explain, "While I wanted to have little subtle nods to what Glenn Close so spectacularly did in the film, this felt like a different thing. While they're both very iconic villainesses from bygone days, it actually feels really different. I was really scared about doing Annie Wilkes, and also very scared to do this, but maybe that gave me a bit more confidence to say yes to this one."
At least a portion of the fear Caplan felt was present in having to deliver Close's iconic line, "I'm not going to be ignored, Dan," which is said to Dan Gallagher, the role that Michael Douglas played in the film and Jackson plays in the new series. When asked about saying the line on camera, Caplan confessed that it was a "scary," moment. "Even just the context of where that line is delivered in our show versus in the film, it feels very different, and yet, it's a line that's very important to people."
Jackson then noted that he'd recently returned to Los Angles and noted "that line is on the billboard," before quipping to Caplan, "Probably good they didn't tell you that then." He then added, "'We're going to take this line and we're going to plaster it all over your hometown,' would've rattled me a little bit."
Finally, Caplan offered her perspective on how the lines are different coming from the two versions of Alex. "I really do think that the Glenn Close version of that line, while it seems super menacing and is remembered as a purely menacing line, I see it as somebody really struggling to understand the situation and what is going on and how it's gotten so far out of her control and so far out of what she understood it to be," she said. "So I do think there's so many differences that obviously our show's called Fatal Attraction, our characters are Dan Gallagher and Alex Forrest, but this feels like its own animal."
The first three episodes of the Fatal Attraction series are now streaming on Paramount+, with new episodes debuting on Sundays. The original film, starring Close and Douglas, is also available to watch on the streamer. Those interested in trying out a free trial of Paramount+ can do so by clicking here. Keep it locked to PopCulture.com for more coverage of the Fatal Attraction series!