Fatal Attraction Pt 1: Everything AND the Kitchen Sink

Three-Part Mini-Series
Every once in a blue moon we'll take a movie and baton pass it around the team and really dive in. This time Nathaniel's going solo. But if you like this approach to investigate a movie we've gone long and deep before on the following films: Rebecca (1940), West Side Story (1961), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), Rosemary's Baby (1968), Cabaret (1972), Silence of the Lambs (1991), Thelma & Louise (1991), Aladdin (1992), and  A League of Their Own (1992) -Editor

by Nathaniel R

Did you know/remember that Fatal Attraction was released in Paramount's 75th year? I did not but it's a detail that feels somehow right. Founded in 1912, the second oldest of Hollywood's few surviving major studios (Universal predates it) celebrated its diamond anniversary in zeitgeist style with one of its all time most profitable and leggiest hits. The Adrian Lyne thriller, which we'll discuss in three installments, was the second highest grossing film of 1987 and left the kind of cultural footprint that most movies can only dream of; it kept people talking for months on end, it ignited Hollywood's late eighties /early nineties erotic thriller craze, it made Glenn Close into a superstar by casting her against type (this detail is mostly forgotten but we'll get there), indirectly helped Michael Douglas win his Wall Street Best Actor Oscar, and took a B genre film all the way to the Oscars with six nominations.

While box office success and Oscar success (objective, mostly) has never automatically correlated with quality (subjective, mostly), you did once-upon-a-time have a much greater chance of the former by doubling down on latter. Which is just what Fatal Attraction did. All these years later, it really holds up as an example of Hollywood making grade A art with a B genre. So let's see why in scene-by-scene form...

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Happy Birthday Glenn Close!

Photo via Glenn Close's Instagram (she's great at social media!)

The great and still Oscar-less Glenn Close is 78 today. If seven is a good luck number than we wish her two more years of good luck towards landing Oscar nomination #9. I bring Glenn up because I promised a longtime reader a retrospective on Fatal Attraction (1987) so long ago that he probably knows how she feels still waiting for that naked gold man for what has been an inexcusably long time. Given that it's Glenn's birthday and given the long-ass wait, I felt compelled to commit publicly to discussing this movie this upcoming weekend scene-by-scene style  like we haven't done since just before the pandemic (only I'll do this one solo). It's such a great thriller and it really holds up. 

Anyway, before we dive into Glenn's most zeitgeisty moment, let's have a chat about her Oscar history...

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Best Actress in the 80s: An Alternative Oscar History

by Cláudio Alves

With one win and five additional nods, Meryl Streep was the Best Actress queen of the 1980s. Will she be similarly dominant in my ideal Oscars ballots? Come find out.

Nathaniel has shared some of his annual top ten lists from the 1980s in honor of the site's special theme for November. Now, it's time for me to present some lists of my own. Rather than my favorites from each year, let's consider one of the readership's favorite Oscar races, instead – Best Actress. Only, instead of the Academy's choices, you get to appreciate or disparage my picks. From 1980 to 1989, I compiled what my ballots would look like, selecting these dream nominees from the pool of eligible films for each year. This is another glimpse into my personal Academy Awards, that gigantic spreadsheet, with bonus honorable mentions, ineligible performance shout-outs, and some titles still on my watchlist, waiting to be seen…

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What If... Glenn Close had won?

by Cláudio Alves

Glenn Close in THE DELIVERANCE (2024) Lee Daniels | © Netflix

Oscar obsessives everywhere know the dark and winding road of 'what if' like the back of their hand. What if my favorite had won? How would that change things down the line? What's the domino effect in Oscar history? What about film history? It can be a fun exercise, but it's also a shortcut to madness if you're not careful about it. That's especially true when considering one of those Academy Award sad sacks, the unlucky few who've earned multiple nominations yet never get the gold. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride - the Deborah Kerrs and Peter O'Tooles of the world. Or, for a more contemporary example, the Glenn Closes.

Speaking of that Oscar-less titan, her new movie is now in theaters and will soon arrive on Netflix. As we wait for Lee Daniels' The Deliverance to hit streaming, let's celebrate Close with some awards lunacy. Let's reflect on what would have happened if she had been victorious in one of those eight bids for gold…

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: The Stepford Wives (2004)

by Christopher James

You never forget your first. My first Kidman - The Stepford Wives.

Is the movie good? I will always have a soft spot for it, but it does not fully work. There are glimpses of a great movie, thanks in large part to genuine laugh-out-loud joke lines in Paul Rudnick’s script. Not many people would recommend this as a first Kidman viewing, but it perfectly illustrates one of the qualities that I think makes her one of our greatest actresses - fearless commitment to one’s character. I take that back. The introduction of Joanna Eberhart is a perfect introduction to Nicole Kidman...

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