Lizzy Caplan has offered the briefest idea at how a forthcoming series remake of Fatal Attraction will tackle the infamous “bunny boiler” scene.
Caplan will star as Alex Forrest – the role made famous by Glenn Close in 1987 – opposite Joshua Jackson as Dan Gallagher (previously played by Michael Douglas).
The Paramount+ series is being led by showrunner Alex Cunningham, and will begin streaming on Sunday 30 April.
Both lead stars admitted they had their hesitations after being confronted with the idea for a remake of such an iconic film.
“My first thought was, ‘Man that’s crazy, why would you want to do that?'” Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter.
“Why would you do that? It’s perfect,” Caplan echoed.
Cunningham then said she knew the characters wouldn’t be able to recreate the scene where Alex boils Dan’s daughter’s pet rabbit, in part because the series sets out to “humanise” the character.
“We definitely wanted the rabbit to be a real part of it, but I came in knowing I wasn’t going to kill it,” she said.
Caplan remarked: “Times have changed, and yet I would argue that killing a rabbit maybe would have been better than what she actually does in the show.
“It’s been very funny, obviously it’s one of the most iconic parts of that movie, but there’s a bloodlust to people when they ask that question, ‘what happens to the rabbit?’ People want that rabbit to die.”
Cunningham’s project won’t be the first to attempt to give Fatal Attraction a contemporary spin.
Last year, writer James Dearden’s stage version attempted to tackle the film’s now-outdated gender stereotypes, to mixed reviews.
“The reason for the 2022 (rather than 1987) setting is never quite made clear (even after Thumper meets his rather messy end),” critic Isobel Lewis wrote in her two-star review for The Independent.
“It’s also, crucially, incredibly un-sexy – an erotic thriller sans eroticism… The film is so gripping because you believe that raw, animalistic connection between Douglas and Close, even when you know it’s wrong. Without it, you’re left wondering why either of them went to all this trouble in the first place.”
