‘Fatal Attraction’ show vs. movie: How is the series different?

Hide your bunnies, because Fatal Attraction is back!

In 1987, Fatal Attraction his theaters, starring Michael Douglas as Dan Gallagher, a (seemingly happily) married man who finds himself unable to stay away from Glenn Close‘s Alex Forrest. What begins as a weekend affair turns into so much more when Alex doesn’t want to let Dan forget about her and return to his family as if nothing happened. After all, she won’t be ignored.

Thus begins what has become an iconic film, filled with unforgettable moments — most notably, Alex murdering Dan’s daughter’s bunny and leaving it in a boiling pot of water on the stove for his wife to find.

Now, 36 years after the film’s release, Paramount has brought the story back as a television series starring Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan. With the first three episodes available now, we’ve rounded up the similarities and differences between the film and series.

The basics

In the film, Alex is an editor, and Dan is a lawyer. In the show, Alex works in victims services, which means she works right alongside Dan on cases in the courthouse. Plus, when we first meet Dan in the series, he’s hoping to become a judge (though that doesn’t work out).

In both, Dan has a wife named Beth and one daughter named Ellen.

Timeline

The biggest differences have everything to do with time. The movie was made (and set) in the 1980s, whereas the show takes place both in present day and in the early 2000s. Speaking to that change, the show adds an entirely new timeline to things: Following everyone years later as Dan is released from prison, where he spent 15 years for killing Alex Forrest. In that time, Beth (Amanda Peet) has remarried and Ellen (Alyssa Jirrels) has grown up.

And while we’re on the subject, we might as well talk about how this differs from the film’s ending. In the movie, Alex attacks Dan’s wife, Beth (Anne Archer), and ultimately, Beth shoots Alex. Although we’re not sure exactly what’s to come in the show yet, it’s clear that Dan was convicted of Alex’s murder… and he claims he didn’t do it.

Also on the subject of time, the film has the affair taking place over one weekend when Beth is out of town. The series drags it out a bit longer, though not by much.

Location

This one is pretty simple: The movie took place in New York. The show takes place in California.

Different perspectives

When episode 3 begins, fans are treated to something entirely new: Alex’s point of view. We watch as she talks to a therapist on the phone, runs into her ex, and begins to move on to Dan.

Episode 4 then takes us inside Beth’s world, showing how she started to suspect her husband’s affair before he ever told her the truth. Another major change for Beth: Instead of coming home one day to find a bunny boiling on the stove, she comes home to find that her mother accidentally drowned in her pool. At least they think it’s an accident.

The references

In its first three episodes, the series winks at the movie more than a handful of times, from the elevator conversation Dan and Alex have about what happens when you pull the stop button to the fact that their first sex scene starts on her kitchen counter. Instead of getting caught in a New York rain storm, Alex sets the sprinklers off at a bar (but in both scenarios, she’s the only one with a working umbrella).

Then there’s the day spent with Dan’s dog, and the oversized white T-shirt Alex puts on when Dan tells her he has to go home, followed by her suicide attempt. Although, in the film she slits her wrists, and in the show, she simply lies about taking a bunch of pills to try to get him to stay.

Following that, the show mimics the movie’s at-work apology, and even sees the Gallaghers moving to a new house, which prompts two important moments from the film: Alex telling Dan that she’s not going to be ignored and her showing up at the open house and meeting Beth. Only, in the show, when Dan confronts Alex afterward, he threatens her career instead of her life.

Episode 3 ends with another movie moment: Alex covering Dan’s car in acid.

As for the bunny, it’s not on the stove yet. Rather, the series has used a white bunny once, as a sort of foreboding image that Dan sees as he leaves Alex’s apartment after she’s seemingly switched the flip on their relationship.

New episode of Fatal Attraction hit Paramount on Sundays.

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