The first time that Kirk Douglas he saw his son act in a university play, he stoned him with a “you will never be an actor”. But when he discovered that this path was the only one to follow, he advised her: “Do your best and forget it. Don’t think you did something for which the world should thank you”. Two decades later, in 1987, the world would not thank him but a few men would for inspiring them to be faithful in their marriage. It was not for less: it had been released Fatal Attractionthe film that revitalized the erotic thriller, that imposed the term “boil rabbits” and that assured an entire generation that a horn was more dangerous than atomic bombs.
The script of Fatal Attraction was born of Fun, a short, written and directed by james dearden. Sherry Lansing He believed that there was a potential great film in that short film and he set out to produce it, but he added part of his personal experience to it. In those months she had become obsessed with his ex-boyfriend and would call him at home and hang up, drive by the door or try to get information about him. Thus the story of Dan Gallaghera successful lawyer, married to Beth and father of a girl.
One weekend the man is left alone and meets Alexandra Forrest. Little smile goes, seduction comes, they decide to have sex. They do it once, once more and no more. For him it was just casual sex without commitment, when his wife came back into his life. But for Alex, It became an obsession that escalated from inviting him to an opera, to calling him dozens of times, faking a pregnancy, cutting his wrists until he ended up boiling a rabbit and breaking into his house.
to embody Danthe producers thought of michael douglas. Kirk’s son, a Hollywood legend, until then was recognized more as a producer than as an actor. He had starred in the hit series The streets of San Franciscobut made a name for himself as a producer of Trapped without exit Y The Chinese Syndrome. star after the lost emerald Y The jewel of the Nile, had brought him popularity but not recognition. When she got the proposal to be Dan he accepted without hesitation.
A Close the idea of embodying ALex Forrest caught her too. She had only played nurturing, nurturing roles and being typecast in those roles worried her. In addition, as she herself stated: “I don’t have the face or the body to do romantic comedies, so they never offer me those kinds of movies.” Playing a sexy villain was a compelling challenge for her.
It would not be easy for them to accept her. Debra Winger, Barbara Hershey Y Miranda Richardson they had turned down the role. Sharon Stone he auditioned for the character, but did not convince the producers. the agent of Close He insistently requested that his client be taken into account. The producers were doubtful, Glenn had prestige but no one believed that she could bring to Alex that sexual, wild and angry thing that the character required. Perhaps not even the actress herself believed it. “Before the casting she was very nervous. I even took some Valium. I arrived and saw that Michael Douglas was there. I didn’t know what to do with my hair. I untied it, left it wild and sent myself.”
Just finished the audition, lyne I call your producers urgently. They had found their lead actress, the woman who could show all the mixed emotions, go from angelic to insane, from lover to stalker, someone who would scare the viewer in every frame and become as fearsome as unforgettable. “There are still men who come up to me and say: ‘You scared the shit out of me,’ although there are also others who tell me: ‘You saved my marriage,'” the actress revealed in a 2008 interview.
For Adrian Lyne, being the director was also a challenge. He was sick of being labeled the director of “visual exercises.” “Only flashdance, that it was a commission that they proposed to me, it could be described as such. Later, I tried to do new things so as not to pigeonhole myself into what you call video clip cinema. Fatal Attraction It was a risk because, when I did it, they were not in fashion, like today, thriller”. The studio also did not believe in the film and assigned it a budget of 14 million dollars. I would raise 700…
Close and Douglas surely sensed that the film would be a huge success. What they did not know is that their personal lives would change. Fatal Attraction was still on the bill when the actress announced her divorce from james marlas, the businessman she had married three years earlier. According to reports, the man could not stand the sex scenes that his wife starred on screen. As fictional as they were, the husband took them too seriously. “To continue being an artist you have to be with people who understand this and don’t expect you to have their only vision of the world. They really are like two different languages, ”Close assured, giving more than just a hint about the reasons for her divorce.
But the big change Alex brought to Glenn’s life is that he learned about people with mental illness. Composing it, she first thought that she was simply a psychopath, but from the way anger dominated her actions, there was something more to it and she consulted a psychiatrist. The expert explained that it was most likely that Alex was a person with some trauma suffered in his childhood. At the end of the film and taking advantage of the fame, Close founded an NGO in order to eradicate the stigma and discrimination that exists around mental illness.
For Douglas, the film was also a turning point in his life. Five years after the premiere of Fatal Attractionstarred in another erotic thriller: low instincts. It was then that the actor monopolized dozens of covers when a British newspaper assured that he was addicted to sex and that his irrepressible sexual desire had begun to affect his personal life. In addition, it was stated that although he had always had extramarital affairs, the scenes with Close and his character as Dan They were the ones that awakened that addiction.
At first, Douglas decided to deny the newspaper, but later he ended up accepting it. “I had an alcohol problem. Low Instincts It had barely been released and I don’t remember the clever publisher who was in London, but the sex addiction thing came up. It became a new disease. No one had heard of it until then, but it stuck with me, and it still comes up from time to time.” The concrete thing is that the actor was admitted to rehabilitate.
35 years after the premiere of Attraction today many of his proposals are anachronistic and even questionable. All the fury of the spectators was focused on Alex. There is not a bit of empathy with that woman who, like everyone else, also needed affection. It is true that between Alex Y Dan There was only one consensual and casual sexual relationship, but a little humanity is not denied to anyone. maybe Alex I wouldn’t have gone crazy if Dan he simply remembered that she was a person and not just a sexual object and did something as simple as give her a nice goodbye. She wasn’t even supposed to be sincere, just respectful or just kind.
It is also curious that the spectators were not indignant with this husband whose concern was not that he had betrayed his wife but that she would find out. Someone who didn’t care so much about breaking the heart of the person he loved as about breaking his comfortable world.
Close has admitted on many occasions that she hates the ending of the movie that made her such a big star. “I do not think that Fatal Attraction It would have become that bombshell if they hadn’t changed the ending, if they hadn’t given the audience a sense of catharsis. Americans like clean, neat finishes.” He also clarified that “after researching the subject, I came to the conclusion that Alex she was not a psychopath but a deeply disturbed woman. That’s why when you put a knife in her hand, you betray the character.” Mischievous, she said that “the best physical memory I have of my career is the knife of Fatal Attraction. I have it hanging in the kitchen. It’s my way of saying: ‘Don’t fuck with me’”.
Today Fatal Attraction perhaps it would not be the success that it was at the time. In these sad times, surely the end would be very different. Nor the one that was seen Beth killing Alex nor the one that was programmed in the original version with a Alex who committed suicide listening La Bohemia but managing to blame his lover. 35 years later we imagine an end where Beth Y Alex get together, plan some punishment against Dan to go happily to visit bars and laugh out loud. Because “it boils rabbits” there is only one and unforgettable and it was embodied by Glenn Close, but there are many more friends who enjoy life and sex without betraying and being betrayed, they are not scary and above all and in spite of everything, they have a great time.
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