Yahoo Movies Fatal Attraction's Alex Forrest wasn't a 'villain' says Glenn Close, she was mentally ill
She is known as one of Hollywood's most dangerous villains - a psychopathic stalker whose terrifying antics made Fatal Attraction a box office hit.
But if audiences today had their say, Alex Forrest would be viewed in a very different light according to the actress who played the infamous "bunny boiler".
Glenn Close, who played the spurned woman seeking revenge, claims her character was wrongly portrayed as a villain because mental illness was misunderstood at the time.
"I was not playing the greatest villain of all time I was playing a human being who was in crisis," she said.
Fatal Attraction, which received six Oscar nominations, saw career woman Alex turn into a crazed stalker after a one–night stand with a married businessman - played by Michael Douglas - who refuses to leave his family.
The film gave rise to the phrase "bunny boiler" after one particularly infamous scene in which Alex boils the pet rabbit of her lover's daughter. It ends with Alex being shot dead by her lover's wife.
But Close, 71, who is promoting her latest film The Wife, said it would be "fascinating" to retell the 1980s thriller from Alex's perspective.
"When that [film] was made, mental illness was not talked about at all basically," she said in an interview with the BBC.
"I think it would be fascinating to tell the exact same story from Alex Forrest's point of view. Because she was not as she's been labelled - one of the great villains of all time - she was fascinating, but you didn't know the 'why' of her behaviour.
"It's in revealing the 'why' of her behaviour that I think would be very interesting to people, because I was not playing the greatest villain of all time I was playing a human being who was in crisis."
Asked whether she was considering remaking the film, the American actress said "I think I might - why not?"
Dearden has previously stated he viewed Alex as a lonely woman searching for love - but was forced by Hollywood executives to rewrite the ending.
"Because it was a thriller and because it was America, where the family is sacrosanct, they wanted the family saved and a happy ending," he said.
"That could only really be accomplished by turning Alex Forrest into a monster who deserved her fate.
"The single biggest cheer the film got in the previews was when Dan's wife called and said, 'This is Beth Gallagher. If you ever come near my family again, I'll kill you.'
"That's what prompted the analyst who conducted the focus groups to say, 'You have to kill Alex Forrest, and it has to be the wife that does it'."
