‘Fatal Attraction’ was not our ‘finest moment.’ A reboot hopes to change that
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who’s wondered what “Fatal Attraction” would look like from Alex Forrest’s perspective.
As senior television writer Yvonne Villarreal notes in this week’s Screen Gab, that thought experiment — posed by Glenn Close, who originated the role opposite Michael Douglas in Adrian Lyne’s 1987 blockbuster about a woman obsessed — helped inspire showrunner Alexandra Cunningham as she adapted the film into a TV series for Paramount+.
Plus, streaming recommendations for your weekend, the HBO comedy you need to be watching and more in Screen Gab No. 81. As always, we want to know what you’re watching too. Pretend we’re at the water cooler and give us your review of a TV show or streaming movie you’ve loved; it may be included in a future edition of Screen Gab. (Submissions should be approximately 100 to 150 words and sent to screengab@latimes.com with your name and location.)
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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
As the final season of “Succession” winds down on HBO, Netflix has stepped up with a new family drama about an aging patriarch and his family’s fight for control of the dynasty. The twist on this age old story? “Chimp Empire” is a nature documentary, making it all the more surprising that the series is full of sibling rivalry, strategic power grabs, shameless plotting and sheer treachery. Narrated by Mahershala Ali, the four-part series follows the largest known group of chimpanzees in the world, a community known as the Ngogo chimps of Uganda’s Kibale National Park. Director James Reed (co-director of the Oscar-winning “My Octopus Teacher”) spent more than a year following the chimps, capturing their intimate social structure alongside the lush beauty of the jungle where they reside. But when the clan breaks into two factions, this gentle story explodes into a deadly conflict. Dubbed the Central and Western groups by Reed and the scientists and trackers who accompanied him on the trek, the chimps’ fight for control of the territory, and power over the group, makes the Roys look like “The Brady Bunch.” —Lorraine Ali
In “School Spirits” (Paramount+), “Ghosts,” “Nancy Drew” and “My So-Called Life” combine in a compelling teen afterlife mystery-dramedy set in a high school. Peyton List plays Maddie, an outsider with outsider friends, who wakes up dead — thought missing, she has been murdered in the school boiler room — and sets out to discover her killer. (Disney Channel alumna and “Cobra Kai” regular List is impressive in the central role, and the supporting cast strikes the right mix of comedy and drama.) Spectral students (and a teacher, who runs a discussion group) present an array of types from various eras — jock, beatnik, stoner, gay kid (closeted in life, out in death) — that act as counterpoint to the living, and while social rituals and relations may exist beyond the grave, the series, happily, does not lean too hard on high school as a metaphor for hell. This afterlife has donuts. —Robert Lloyd
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Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s talking about
When “Somebody Somewhere” premiered last year, it seemed jarringly counterintuitive, not just to HBO, where the narrative stakes (not to mention the soundtrack) are usually pitched so high that the “H” could stand for “hyper-tension,” but pretty much the entire television landscape.
The story follows Bridget Everett’s Sam, who has unhappily returned to her tiny hometown in Kansas to nurse her dying sister. A year after her death, she is stuck. In grief, anger and self-loathing as well as a “somewhere” in which she is continually undone by both the limitless sky and what she perceives as the stifling community. Into her stagnated state bounces Joel (an amazing Jeff Hiller), an old classmate from show choir who slowly forces Sam to step out from her miserable comfort zone and embrace at least the possibility of happiness.
And when I say slowly, I mean slllooowwwllly; there has not been a show so willing to settle in like a grandpa in a Barcalounger on a sleepy Sunday afternoon since Sundance’s wonderful “Rectify.” There is plenty of drama in “Somebody Somewhere”; Season 1 included storylines dealing with Sam’s mother MJ’s (Jane Brody) alcoholism; her father Ed’s (the late great Mike Hagerty) increasing inability to work the family farm; her sister Tricia’s (Mary Catherin Garrison) discovery that her husband was cheating on her with her best friend and business partner, Charity (Heidi Johanningmeir); plus the lives of Sam’s growing circle of friends (including and especially Murray Hill’s delightful Professor Doctor Fred Rococo). At one point, there’s a literal tornado (because, you know, Kansas). Still, the show, whose second season premiered Sunday, steeps itself in the small moments and the deeply internal work of accepting oneself enough to receive love when it is offered. —Mary McNamara
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Alexandra Cunningham was a teenager when “Fatal Attraction,” the erotic thriller starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas, hit the theaters in 1987. And while she couldn’t tell you with certainty whether she watched the movie on the big screen, it nevertheless became committed to memory as though she had because the controversy it ignited turned it into a cultural phenomenon. These days, she is revisiting the tale as the showrunner of the Paramount+ TV adaptation, anchored by Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan. Cunningham, who previously helmed the “Dirty John” anthology series, stopped by Screen Gab to discuss her approach to tackling the story through a modern lens, the ties the touchstone film had on her true crime adaption of the Betty Broderick case, and why “I Hate Suzie” is the show she thinks you should watch. —Yvonne Villarreal
What made you think this story could be a good TV show now?
Lizzy Caplan has pointed out that whether you’re re-watching or coming to it fresh, it’s literally not possible anymore to experience “Fatal Attraction” the way anyone did when it came out. Because we’ve changed too much as an audience and a culture, and so many of the questions we ask now as a matter of course, about motives and psychology and privilege and representation ... weren’t being asked at all at that time. The original film has stayed relevant for so long where so many other properties haven’t at least partially because it’s still so primal in what it says about men and women and relationships and power dynamics. But it also offered an amazing chance to say some new things within an iconic framework.
You’ve said that part of what sparked your thinking of how to tackle this TV adaptation was Glenn Close saying it would be interesting to tell the exact same story, but from Alex’s point of view. What did that entail? And what do you hope those additions achieve?
When you have eight or 10 or 13 hours as opposed to two, you get to delve much more deeply into what came before the scene and what came after, what was motivating people’s choices, who they were before the story you already know began. What trying to do that in Alex’s case entailed for me, given the demands of this kind of heightened storytelling and what people expect from something with the title “Fatal Attraction” even if they’ve never seen the movie, was spending as much time as possible showing you who Alex is in her own context, not just in relation to Dan. And in doing so, hopefully making more room for empathy. What I hope that achieves most importantly is to make at least some people not want to shout “Kill the bitch!” at the screen this time around. As an audience, that might not have been our finest moment.
The performances in the film by Michael Douglas and Glenn Close are so well known and live on in public consciousness. What did you need from your two leads, Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson, in taking on characters made famous by other actors to tell this story?
Willingness? It’s intimidating enough to take on a reboot of something when the source material didn’t have a seismic effect on culture — and when so much of that effect was a direct result of the two amazing, totally committed lead performances. I don’t mean to take anything away from the movie when I say it’s possible to imagine a differently cast version of it not having anywhere near the same impact or longevity. Maybe it’s because when I started out in this business I was planning to be a casting director that I feel that way. But also I was talking to a pretty well-known actor whose resume has a lot of big swings whose reaction was, “Could never have taken that part because: Michael Douglas.” Which is fair!
How did coming off of something like “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story,” a true crime adaptation touching on similar themes as it relates to female rage and the stereotype of women being desperate and crazy, inform your approach here?
One of the reasons I wanted to write about Betty Broderick in the first place, 30-odd years after I first heard about her case, was to get to reexamine the prevailing opinions [of] her of the time in the light of changing attitudes and minds. In the way that Jordan Peele’s Lorena Bobbitt docuseries shed light on the actual issues in that case that were obscured by the tabloid nature of the media coverage. “Crazy bitch.” In Betty’s case, throw in “fat” for good measure. “Men better quake in their shorts.”
In the writers room for “Betty,” “Fatal Attraction” unsurprisingly came up more than once. But mostly not actually for the reasons you’d think. More because the movie came out in 1987 and Betty’s ex-husband, whom she murdered in 1989, [was named] Dan, and though they definitely wouldn’t have seen it together, there’s no way they didn’t see it. And Betty had an extremely dark and sometimes inappropriate sense of humor, so there’s no way she didn’t at least once tell him she wasn’t gonna be ignored, Dan.
Two stories, one true, one fictional, but an essential theme in common, at least in my opinion. A woman who can’t control herself fascinates and disgusts people. ... A woman who won’t terrifies them.
Alex Forrest has often been described as “deranged” and “unhinged” and “psychotic.” How would you describe her?
To me those words have always described Alex Forrest’s actions, but not who she is. Alex Forrest is a lonely person in pain. Someone terrified of abandonment, someone craving connection but incapable of sustaining it. Rage or jealousy or terror in and of themselves aren’t enough to drive a person to drastic behavior — there needs to be a foundation in someone for those emotions to take root and fester and warp. And that foundation gets laid by genetics and neurology and formative experiences and emotional interactions and treatment at the hands of others, and what all those things do to your soul.
What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?
“I Hate Suzie,” co-created by Lucy Prebble, a genius playwright who also writes on “Succession,” and Billie Piper, a hands-down icon who also stars as Suzie. Available in the U.S. on HBO Max. Two seasons, 11 episodes. Suzie is a well-known actress whose life spirals after her phone is hacked and the tabloid press prints compromising photos of her, but that doesn’t even begin to describe the insane ecstasy of the show. It’s hilarious and agonizing and insightful and sweet and scary and sad and contains one of the best performances that’s ever been given anywhere in any medium. You’re welcome.
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Recommendations from Screen Gab readers
“Borrego” (Netflix) succeeds as a timely, targeted crime-action film that shows the viewer how and where fentanyl enters our country and the devastating effects the trade has on all its participants. Tracking the story of a remote desert sheriff, his daughter and a visiting botanist who become intertwined with deadly drug traffickers in the harsh California desert along the U.S.-Mexican border, it is both a story of personal redemption and of crime and punishment. Fast-paced action is enhanced by beautiful scenery; a memorable score; a clever, well-written script; and relatable, human characters who engage the viewer and force us to confront the unanticipated, often deadly effects of our nation’s drug addiction.
Tom Reavey Jr.,
Las Cruces, N.M.
What’s next
Listings coordinator Matt Cooper highlights the TV shows and streaming movies to keep an eye on
Fri., April 28
“Citadel” (Prime Video): All is fair in love and espionage in this new spy drama starring “Bodyguard’s” Richard Madden and “Quantico’s” Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
“Classmates” (Tubi): A computer mix-up creates unforeseen consequences for two college students in this 2023 thriller. With Anjelica Bette Fellini.
“Clock” (Hulu): A childless career woman takes part in a clinical trial in this 2023 psychological thriller. “Glee’s” Dianna Agron stars.
“Frog and Toad” (Apple TV+): The amphibious BFFs hop to it in this new animated series based on the children’s books.
“From Black” (Shudder): A woman whose son vanished years earlier gets an offer she can’t refuse in this 2023 terror tale. Anna Camp stars.
“King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch” (Netflix): This new series tracks the action at a high-end auction house specializing in sports memorabilia.
“Peter Pan & Wendy” (Disney+): J. M. Barrie’s fantastical tale is retold yet again in this live-action 2023 adventure. With Alexander Molony and Ever Anderson.
“Warner Bros. 100 Years” (HBO Max): And … action! The venerable movie studio takes a look back in this new docuseries.
“Great Performances: Now Hear This” (KOCE, 9 p.m.): Host Scott Yoo heads for the Iberian Peninsula in the new episode “Albéniz: Portraits of Spain.”
“International Jazz Day From the United Nations” (KOCE, 10 p.m.): Herbie Hancock and singer Lizz Wright are featured in the annual special.
“Charles: In His Own Words” (Nat Geo, 10 p.m.): Charles of House Windsor is profiled in this new special.
Sat., April 29
“Moonage Daydream” (HBO, 8 p.m.): The late, great rock music icon David Bowie is remembered in this visually and sonically ravishing 2022 documentary directed by Brett Morgen.
“Hearts in the Game” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.): A publicist gets to first base with a major league pitcher in this new TV movie. With Erin Cahill.
“Road Trip Hostage” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.): A woman is waylaid en route to her sister’s wedding in this new thriller. With Natalie Hall.
Sun., April 30
“Fatal Attraction” (Paramount+): Lizzy Caplan (“Masters of Sex”) and “The Affair’s” Joshua Jackson steam things up in this new drama based on Adrian Lyne’s 1987 erotic thriller.
“Time100: The World’s Most Influential People” (ABC, 7 p.m.): Jennifer Coolidge, Disney’s Bob Iger and Broadway’s Lea Michele make this year’s list.
“Earth Focus Presents” (KCET, 8 p.m.): The documentary “2040: The Regeneration” imagines a not-too-distant future where humanity actually did something about climate change.
“Tom Jones” (KOCE, 9 p.m.): It’s not unusual for “Masterpiece” to adapt a classic like Henry Fielding’s 18th century novel into a new miniseries. With Solly McLeod.
“Stone Cold Takes on America” (A&E, 10 p.m.): Pro wrestling’s “Stone Cold” Steve Austin seeks adventures outside of the ring in this new reality series.
Mon., May 1
“Bad Axe” (AMC+): An immigrant-owned, family-run restaurant in rural Michigan attempts to weather the pandemic in filmmaker David Siev’s 2022 documentary.
“Casa Grande” (Freevee): Scenes from the class struggle play out in this new bilingual drama about a wealthy Northern California family and the migrant workers in its employ.
“E! Live From the Red Carpet — Met Gala 2023” (E!, 6 p.m.): See who wears what and how when the elite meet at the annual shindig in NYC.
“White House Plumbers” (HBO, 9 p.m.): Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of President Nixon’s cronies? This new fact-based drama knows. Woody Harrelson stars.
“A Small Light” (Nat Geo, 9 and 10:15 p.m.; also Lifetime): This new drama salutes Miep Gies, the young Dutch woman who helped Anne Frank’s family hide from the Nazis during WWII. Bel Powley stars.
“The Kardashians: Billion Dollar Dynasty” (E!, 9:30 p.m.): This new two-part documentary gets all up in the reality TV family’s businesses.
“Independent Lens” (KOCE, 10 p.m.): The poignant documentary “Matter of Mind: My ALS” profiles three people while coping with the debilitating neuromuscular disease.
“The Daily Show” (Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.; also Tuesday-Thursday): “Daily Show” correspondent Dulcé Sloan slips into the anchor’s chair as this week’s guest host.
Tue., May 2
“Jimmy O. Yang: Guess How Much?” (Prime Video): The comic and “Crazy Rich Asians” co-star cracks wise in his latest stand-up special.
“King Charles, the Boy Who Walked Alone” (Paramount+): Friends, ex-lovers and others spill the tea about the new British monarch in this special.
“1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed” (HBO, 9 p.m): Kids say the darndest things about race, culture, ethnicity and family in this new docuspecial from W. Kamau Bell.
“MTV Couples Retreat” (MTV, 9 p.m.): The therapy sessions will continue until morale improves in new episodes of the reality series.
Wed., May 3
“Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All” (Disney+): The chart-topping English singer-songwriter reflects on his life and career in this new four-part series.
“Jewish Matchmaking” (Netflix): Many are called, but all are chosen in this new reality series hosted by dating expert Aleeza Ben Shalom.
“Nature” (KOCE, 8 p.m.): David Attenborough lends an ear to creatures great and small in the new episode “Attenborough’s Wonder of Song.”
“The Goldbergs” (ABC, 8:30 p.m.): The family sitcom set in 1980s Philadelphia ends its run after 10 seasons. With Wendi McLendon-Covey.
“Nova” (KOCE, 9 p.m.): Efforts to protect a certain sea creature of the cetacean persuasion are examined in “Saving the Right Whale.”
“A Million Little Things” (ABC, 10 p.m.): The Boston-set relationship drama also presents its series finale. With David Giuntoli.
“Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories With David Rubenstein” (KOCE, 10 p.m.): The Hollywood sign is ready for its close-up in this new episode.
Thu., May 4
“Bupkis” (Peacock): “SNL’s” Pete Davidson stars in the role he was born to play — himself — in this new semi-autobiographical sitcom.
“The Other Two” (HBO Max): Siblings continue to pursue the fame that so cruelly eludes them as the comedy returns for Season 3.
“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” (Netflix): She keeps her Moët et Chandon in her pretty cabinet in this new prequel to the Regency-era romantic drama. India Amarteifio stars.
“Sanctuary” (Netflix): A kid from the wrong side of the tracks makes a splash in the world of sumo wrestling in this imported drama.
“Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures” (Disney+) Set during the High Republic era, this new animated series is. Feature Yoda as a character, it does.
“Flipping 101 w/Tarek El Moussa” and “Fix My Flip” (HGTV, 8 and 9 p.m.): These two home renovation series return with new episodes.
“(Re)solved” (Vice, 9 p.m.): A new episode of the docuseries reexamines the death of music icon Prince in 2016.
“Secrets of the Royal Palaces” (KOCE, 9:30 p.m.): The Palace of Versailles outside Paris is the next stop in this new episode.
“True Crime Obsession” (Vice, 11 p.m.): The explosion of ripped-from-the-headlines docs, podcasts, etc. is explored in this new special.
“Unicorn: Warriors Eternal” (Adult Swim, midnight and 12:30 a.m.): Steampunk, sci-fi and fantasy converge in this new animated series from “Primal’s” Genndy Tartakovsky.
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