Lizzy Kaplan will be heading a series adaptation of the classic 1980s psychosexual thriller Fatal Attraction for the Paramount+ streaming service.
Paramount+ had initially given the series a script-to-series commitment back in February. They had been searching for the series’ two leads, and Kaplan’s signing on for the series is what triggered the go ahead for production.
Alexandra, creator of Showtrime’s Dear John anthology series, is spearheading the series as writer, showrunner and one of the project’s executive producers.
According to the Hollywood Reporter –
The new Fatal Attraction is described as a deep-dive reimagining of the psychosexual thriller and will explore themes including marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes toward strong women, personality disorders and coercive control. Caplan will take on the role of Alex — previously portrayed by Glenn Close in the movie — who becomes obsessed with her lover after a brief affair.
While there are some who are probably already having their knee-jerk negative response to a remake of a pretty good film in its own right, I think that in an era of studios mining the intellectual property in their vaults, this is actually a pretty good idea. In the nearly three-and-a-half decades since the original Fatal Attraction came out, That is a lot of time for societal attitudes towards the things mentioned in the Reporter description above to have changed and evolved. Certainly, there is enough potential to explore in something longer than a two-hour movie.
Conversely, though, I am wondering how will they be able to stretch the story itself out over a time span of more than one season without it straining credulity. Perhaps a way to go would be the season-long anthology route, similar to American Horror Story. That way different permutations of those themes could be explored. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.
No additional information as to when the show would start production or premier on Paramount+ was announced.