Editing Fatal Attraction (section)

== Production ==

=== Writing ===
The film was adapted by [[James Dearden]] (with assistance from [[Nicholas Meyer]])<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WW3on1yWkPoC&q=nicholas%20meyer%20the%20making%20of%20fatal%20attraction&pg=PT139|title=The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood|isbn=9781101133477|last1=Meyer|first1=Nicholas|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|year=2009|access-date=2020-10-24|archive-date=2021-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505020534/https://books.google.com/books?id=WW3on1yWkPoC&q=nicholas+meyer+the+making+of+fatal+attraction&pg=PT139|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/the-fatal-flaws-of-em-fatal-attraction-em/360119/|title=The Fatal Flaws of Fatal Attraction|first=Ben W. Heineman Jr , Cristine|last=Russell|date=April 7, 2014|website=The Atlantic}}</ref> from Dearden's 1980 short film ''[[Diversion (film)|Diversion]]''. In Meyer's book ''The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood'', he explains that in late 1986 producer [[Stanley R. Jaffe]] asked him to look at the script developed by Dearden, and he wrote a four-page memo making suggestions, including a new ending. [[John Carpenter]] was approached to direct the film, but turned it down as he felt it was too similar to ''[[Play Misty for Me]]'' (1971).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lloyd |first=Brian |date=2016-03-15 |title=In Conversation With... John Carpenter |url=https://entertainment.ie/movies/movie-news/in-conversation-with-john-carpenter-235597/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Entertainment.ie |language=en}}</ref> A few weeks later Meyer met with the director [[Adrian Lyne]] and gave him some additional suggestions. Meyer was asked to redraft the script to create the shooting script.

=== Casting ===
Producers [[Sherry Lansing]] and Stanley R. Jaffe both had serious doubts about casting Glenn Close because they did not think she could be sexual enough. Instead, they had many other actresses in mind.<ref name="Oxford Union">{{cite video| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDWDhntzc-w| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/qDWDhntzc-w| archive-date=2021-11-17 | url-status=live| title=Glenn Close Full Address & Q&A Oxford Union| author=Oxford Union| publisher=YouTube.com| date=2018-05-04| access-date=2018-08-18}}{{cbignore}}</ref> [[Barbara Hershey]] was originally considered; she wanted the role but she was unavailable.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{Cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/movies/fatal-attraction-oral-history.html|title = 'Fatal Attraction' Oral History: Rejected Stars and a Foul Rabbit|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 14 September 2017|last1 = Fretts|first1 = Bruce|access-date = February 14, 2020|archive-date = July 22, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200722020730/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/movies/fatal-attraction-oral-history.html|url-status = live}}</ref> Several actresses auditioned for the part, but they were almost all turned down.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Lyne had French actress [[Isabelle Adjani]] in mind for the role.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1987-11-19 |title='EROTIC CHEMISTRY' CLINCHED 'FATAL' ROLE FOR GLENN CLOSE |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-11-19-8703270330-story.html |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> [[Tracey Ullman]] was approached for the role, but she declined due to a scene in the script where the character boils a bunny.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1990-04-08 |title=TRACING TRACEY |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-04-08-9001300019-story.html |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> [[Miranda Richardson]] also turned it down as she found it "hideous."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/88877/Richardson-has-no-regrets-over-Fatal-Attraction-snub|title=Richardson has no regrets over Fatal Attraction snub|date=March 12, 2009|website=Express.co.uk}}</ref> [[Ellen Barkin]], [[Debra Winger]], [[Susan Sarandon]], [[Jessica Lange]], [[Judy Davis]], [[Melanie Griffith]] and [[Michelle Pfeiffer]] were also considered for the role.<ref name="Galloway">{{Cite web |last=Galloway |first=Stephen |date=2017-03-29 |title=Sherry Lansing Book Excerpt: Screaming Matches and Tears on 'Fatal Attraction' Set (Exclusive) |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/sherry-lansing-biography-fatal-attraction-book-excerpt-989565/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57617 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref> [[Kirstie Alley]] auditioned for the role.<ref name="Galloway"/> Close was persistent, and after meeting with Jaffe several times in New York, she was asked to fly out to Los Angeles to read with Michael Douglas in front of Adrian Lyne and Lansing. Before the audition, she let her naturally frizzy hair "go wild" because she was impatient at putting it up, and she wore a slimming black dress she thought made her look "fabulous" to the audition.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://www.ew.com/article/2011/10/07/reunion-fatal-attraction/| title=From the archives: Fatal Attraction's Glenn Close, Michael Douglas reunite| author=Jess Cagle| magazine=Entertainment Weekly| date=2011-10-07| access-date=2018-08-18| archive-date=2018-08-18| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818150537/https://www.ew.com/article/2011/10/07/reunion-fatal-attraction/| url-status=live}}</ref> This impressed Lansing, because Close "came in looking completely different... right away she was into the part."<ref>{{cite video| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ivSI9tY2OI&t=815s| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501011255/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ivSI9tY2OI&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=2020-05-01 | url-status=dead| title=Fatal Attraction (1987) The Making Of Part 1 & 2| publisher=YouTube.com| date=2017-09-05| access-date=2018-08-18}}</ref> Close and Douglas performed a scene from early in the script, where Alex flirts with Dan in a café, and Close came away "convinced my career was over, that I was finished, I had completely blown my chances".<ref name="Oxford Union"/> Lansing and Lyne were both convinced she was right for the role; Lyne stated that "an extraordinary erotic transformation took place. She was this tragic, bewildering mix of sexuality and rage—I watched Alex come to life."<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://people.com/archive/cover-story-the-dark-side-of-love-vol-28-no-17/| title=The Dark Side of Love| author=James S. Kunen| magazine=People Magazine| date=1987-10-26| access-date=2018-08-18| archive-date=2018-08-18| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818150510/https://people.com/archive/cover-story-the-dark-side-of-love-vol-28-no-17/| url-status=live}}</ref>

To prepare for her role, Close consulted several psychologists, hoping to understand Alex's psyche and motivations. She was uncomfortable with the bunny boiling scene, which she thought was too extreme, but she was assured on consulting the psychologists that such an action was entirely possible and that Alex's behavior corresponded to someone who had experienced incestual sexual abuse as a child.<ref name="Oxford Union"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Bryan |title='Fatal Attraction' at 30: Glenn Close has empathy for her bunny boiler Alex Forrest |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/09/14/fatal-attraction-30-glenn-close-has-empathy-her-bunny-boiler-alex-forrest/664546001/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref> While filming her death scene, Close suffered a concussion and was hospitalized. She later found out that she was pregnant during filming.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/02/glenn-close-reflects-on-her-oscar-nominated-roles|title=Glenn Close Reflects on Her Seven Oscar-Nominated Roles|date=February 13, 2019|magazine=Vanity Fair}}</ref>

=== Alternate ending ===
Alex was originally scripted slashing her throat at the film's end with the knife Dan had left on the counter, so as to make it appear that Dan had murdered her. After seeing her husband being taken away by police, Beth finds a revealing cassette tape that Alex sent Dan in which she threatens to kill herself. Beth takes the tape to the police, who clear Dan of the murder. The last scene shows, in flashback, Alex taking her own life by slashing her throat while listening to ''Madame Butterfly''.

When the film was test-screened for audiences, the ending was poorly received as audiences disliked the idea of Alex triumphing in the end. Joseph Farrell, who handled the test screenings, suggested that Paramount shoot a new ending. While Douglas approved of changing the ending as he believed it was "best for the film", most of the cast and crew disliked the idea. Archer was "appalled" by the change and burst into tears when she heard the news. Close had doubts, believing Alex would "self-destruct and commit suicide".<ref name="autogenerated1">Remembering Fatal Attraction 2002 DVD Special Features</ref> Lyne initially refused to change the ending until Lansing offered him an additional $1.5 million salary, while Dearden reluctantly agreed to write the new ending believing the film would be a bigger hit if changed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/business/joseph-farrell-dies-at-76-used-market-research-to-shape-films.html|title=Joseph Farrell, Who Used Market Research to Shape Films, Dies at 76|first=Bruce|last=Weber|date=December 26, 2011|website=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=July 21, 2018|archive-date=July 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707234314/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/business/joseph-farrell-dies-at-76-used-market-research-to-shape-films.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-nov-07-tm-30884-story.html|title=SHADOW FORCE|date=November 7, 1999|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=December 10, 2020|archive-date=August 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808201509/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-nov-07-tm-30884-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2017-03-29 |title=Inside the Fight to Keep Fatal Attraction's Original Ending |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/03/glenn-close-fatal-attraction-ending |access-date=2023-11-16 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}}</ref>

Close fought against the change for two weeks before eventually giving in on her concerns and filming the new sequence after [[William Hurt]] convinced her to do it.<ref name=autogenerated1 /><ref name="auto"/> Though the ending was not the one she preferred, she acknowledged that the film would not have been as successful without it, because it gave the audience "a sense of catharsis, a hope, that somehow the family unit would survive the nightmare".<ref name="Oxford Union"/>

While Lyne has stood by the revised ending believing it was a "good idea", Dearden and Close have continued to express their displeasure.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-21 |title=CS Interview: Adrian Lyne Looks Back on Fatal Attraction |url=https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1132185-cs-interview-adrian-lyne-looks-back-on-fatal-attraction |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=Comingsoon.net |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2010, during a cast reunion interview, Close shared that she "never thought of [her character] as a villain"<ref>{{cite video| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IY8lxuo_yA&t=1s| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/3IY8lxuo_yA| archive-date=2021-11-17 | url-status=live| title=Fatal Attraction Reunion Interview| publisher=YouTube.com| date=2010-03-06| access-date=2018-08-18}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and said: "I wasn't playing a generality. I wasn't playing a cliché. I was playing a very specific, deeply disturbed, fragile human being, whom I had grown to love."<ref name="Oxford Union"/> Close also stated that she doesn't think the film would have been a hit without the "new" ending.<ref>https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/role-recall-glenn-close-remembers-beautiful-genius-robin-williams-garp-great-boobs-dangerous-liaisons-150024115.html</ref> In 2014, Dearden penned a piece for ''[[The Guardian]]'' stating that while he does not regret writing the story, he does express his regret for the theatrical ending believing it to be sexist and the way Alex was portrayed in it stating that he didn't want to make her a monster but rather "a sad, tragic, lonely woman, holding down a tough job in an unforgiving city." When adapting his script to [[Fatal Attraction (play)|the stage]], he opted to lean away from making her a villain and more a tragic figure.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2014-03-09 |title=Fatal Attraction writer: why my stage version has a different ending |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/mar/09/fatal-attraction-why-stage-version-different |access-date=2024-07-18 |magazine=The Guardian |language=en-US}}</ref>

The film's first Japanese release used the original ending. The original ending also appeared on a special edition [[VHS]] and [[LaserDisc]] release by [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] in 1992, and was included on the film's DVD release a decade later.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fatal Attraction (Special Collector's Edition) (1987)|url=https://www.amazon.com/Attraction-Special-Collectors-Michael-Douglas/dp/B00003CXA0/|website=[[Amazon (website)|Amazon]] (United States)|date=16 April 2002|access-date=14 February 2012|archive-date=14 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214030024/http://www.amazon.com/Attraction-Special-Collectors-Michael-Douglas/dp/B00003CXA0|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Home media===
A Special Collector's Edition of the film was released on DVD in 2002.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fatal Attraction (Special Collector's Edition) [DVD] (2002)|url=https://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Attraction-Special-Collectors-Edition/dp/B000065NIY/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614050301/http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Attraction-Special-Collectors-Edition/dp/B000065NIY|archive-date=14 June 2012|access-date=2 November 2012|work=[[Amazon.com]]}}</ref> Paramount released ''Fatal Attraction'' on [[Blu-ray|Blu-ray Disc]] on June 9, 2009.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fatal Attraction [Blu-ray]|url=https://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/834/Fatal-Attraction-(1987).html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120130536/http://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/834/Fatal-Attraction-(1987).html|archive-date=20 January 2013|access-date=2 November 2012}}</ref> The Blu-ray contained several bonus features from the 2002 DVD, including commentary by director Adrian Lyne, cast and crew interviews, a look at the film's cultural phenomenon, a behind-the-scenes look, rehearsal footage, the alternative ending, and the original theatrical trailer. In April 2020 a remastered Blu-ray Disc was released by [[Paramount Home Entertainment]] under their Paramount Presents series. Included was a new interview with the director titled Filmmaker Focus, previous rehearsal footage but excluding some of the extra features from previous releases.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Fatal-Attraction-Blu-ray/261832/|title=Fatal attraction Blu-ray|website=Blu-ray.com|date=21 April 2020|accessdate=July 23, 2022|archive-date=March 22, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322031839/https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Fatal-Attraction-Blu-ray/261832/|url-status=live}}</ref> Paramount released the film on 4K [[Ultra HD Blu-ray]] in the U.S. on September 13, 2022.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hd-report.com/2022/06/23/fatal-attraction-1987-4k-remaster-dated-for-ultra-hd-blu-ray/|title=Fatal Attraction (1987) 4k Remaster Dated For Ultra HD Blu-ray|accessdate=July 23, 2022|archive-date=July 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723114630/https://hd-report.com/2022/06/23/fatal-attraction-1987-4k-remaster-dated-for-ultra-hd-blu-ray/|url-status=live}}</ref>