“Catharsis is important,” says the actress.
“And the easiest way to get catharsis is to shed blood.”
Alex becomes obsessed with him, and unhinged when he tries to end it.
Everett Collection
GLENN CLOSE:I read the script in one sitting.
When I finished, I think my body temperature had dropped.
They said, “Well, can she be sexy?”
Everett Collection
And I thought, “Well, you know, yes!”
GLENN CLOSE:One is always looking to stretch yourself.
It had a huge emotional arc to it and a lot of different shades.
So it was wonderful to play.
And Adrian was brilliant just the most wonderful director.
He really knew how to stage things, and he thought about it a lot.
He really cared about every aspect of it.
We had endless hair and makeup tests, just playing around, and I think it really paid off.
And I was losing weight and working out, and I was so strong and buff.
I remember the day that Adrian said, “I think you’ve lost enough weight.”
I think I was down to 118 pounds.
Test audiences rebelled against the original ending, demanding that Alex deserved a more bloodthirsty comeuppance than suicide.
Filmmakers devised a new ending that had Alex brutally attacking the Gallaghers with a knife.
Dan tries to drown Alex in a bathtub before his wife (Anne Archer) shoots and kills her.
GLENN CLOSE:In approaching Alex, I just wanted to verify that my character didn’t get trashed.
I felt a lot of empathy for her.
She was somebody who was basically out of control.
She wasn’t an evil person.
So when they told me they were going to reshoot the ending, I thought they were joking.
I didn’t get it.
The new ending made her into kind of a psychopath.
Somebody like Alex, especially if they were abused when they were little, they’re moreself-destructive than destructive.
I really rebelled against it.
I said, “I can’t do that, that’s not who that character is.”
I fought against it for two weeks.
We had screaming fights.
I was basically told that if I didn’t do it, they wouldn’t release the movie.
I was beside myself because I really believed in the character I had created.
We gave the audience the catharsis that it needed.
Filming the new ending wasn’t easy, either.
You see the feet kicking in the bathtub, and that’s my stunt double.
I did everything else.
Kisco, N.Y., and we finished filming there.
I was like, “Do they know what we’re doing here?”
The final coup d’etat took place in the Unitarian church.
With little bits all over the wall.
I found out not long after that that I was pregnant.
So with all that violent stuff, I was actually pregnant.
I walked out with Michael, and the audience just started howling with laughter.
It was really funny.
I still have the cardboard knife from the ending, that looks totally real.
I have the costumes too.
I have an extensive costume collection, so I have the leather jacket.
It’s just unbelievable how big the shoulders are.
But I’m not sure if that would’ve helped.
I guess there will come a time someday when people will say, “Glenn?
Who was that guy?”
ButFatal Attractionmade such an impact and continues to.
I have a friend who saw a screening ofSunset Boulevardin a cemetery where all those wonderful people are buried.
Maybe one day they’ll do the same thing withFatal Attraction, in some cemetery where I’m buried.
Except I’m going to be sprinkled, so that’ll be hard!
