‘Fatal Attraction’: How Minimalist Art, Horse Figurines and Messy Cupboards Reflected Alex’s State of Mind

Fatal Attraction production designer Nina Ruscios visual challenge was taking on an iconic movie, paying homage to it and finding a way to put her creative stamp on it by taking it into 2023.

In the eight-part Paramount+ series, Joshua Jackson stars as Dan Gallagher with Lizzy Caplan as Alex Forrest, roles originated by Michael Douglas and Glenn Close in the original film. And while its not a remake, the creative team stressed, its an expanded adaptation that provides more insight into Alexs behavior after an affair with a married man drives her to obsession. The series covers Alexs struggles with her mental health, but its also an erotic thriller.

To tap into Ruscios behavior and show her state of mind, Ruscio paid close attention to Alexs apartment. In contrast, Dans world was rooted in the courtroom.

Here the production designer breaks down her ideas behind each set.

The Apartment

Alexs apartment in Fatal Attraction Michael Moriatis/Paramount+ There are so many specific retro elements of the film that I kissed onto, particularly in Alexs apartment and setting it in Downtown Los Angeles. That was really critical to the sistering of the original film in New York, and the idea that you could be in a deep rugged urban environment.

That felt raw and appropriate to place Alex in. And also placing Dan in the court system, and emphasizing the normalcy of all that, in contrast to the slightly heightened reality.

Alex is composing and curating her life. She is very much a victim and a creation of her own imagination. As a storyteller, that felt critical to me to set her in an environment where her imagery was larger than life.

Alex has had burdens and shes made choices that cripple her. Her move to L.A. is to start with a clean slate. Part of her story is presenting herself to the world as if shes capable, put together and controlled. Couple with the idea of purity of the white from the original film. Those two things worked psychologically. Shes matching her imposter syndrome. Shes trying to be present, as if shes got her life completely together, when in fact, all she can do is keep things from unraveling.

Inside the cupboards, everything is chaotic.

There are select objects such as postcards that she loved from her childhood, and horse figurines that are also part of her childhood. Those things are displayed that could be exposed to part of her personality. Theres restricted art in her loft, black and white, not triggering. Its more about the texture and the surfaces that come through the hopeful vista of Los Angeles.

Her appliances are retro. We kept things calm and that was a lot of the anchoring aesthetics in the apartment. Shauna Aronson was our set decorator on this. If she was to let anyone into her life, they would have to only see what she wanted to expose.

Alexs loft is based on the idea that she lives on top of the Palace Theatre. The reason that story is powerful is because its the fantasy of romance. She wishes she could be a heroine. Shes living on top of a building from the 20s and theres a history to the space. And with the loft, in the 80s, that was the coolest place you could imagine living in no matter who you were. You wanted to live in a loft and it was undiscovered territory because it felt like you were pioneering. And she is a pioneer in a way, coming from Seattle to L.A. The retro appliances such as the old stove, are subtle touches that make sense economically.

Fatal Attraction in the courtroom Michael Moriatis/Paramount+ The Courtroom The normalcy of the court world was key. I stand on the shoulders of a zillion people who have designed courtrooms. Those courtrooms need to be ubiquitous and need never trigger you to feel that youre not in a real place. But those municipal spaces also come from a history of aesthetics that can be really beautiful.

We tried to do was create this normalcy of an environment of a municipal space. Theres marble, tile and stuff thats in heritage buildings.

Dan can step back into that visual world 15 years later, or 40 years earlier, and it would still be the same visual world because those worlds dont change.

We wanted it to be luxurious for the eye, but never to make you feel that you were in any place except for a municipal space. So, its an amalgam of aesthetics from different parts of the country that, I think make that space feel very much like youve been there before, and youll go there again.

Inside the courtroom hallways, theres a frieze all along the upper hallway. We custom-made tiles in all of the palettes from 15 years ago. When youre looking at it, it feels normal, but we used it to teach everyone about the palette of the time period.

Gary Perez as Rolando Cabral and Joshua Jackson as Dan Gallagher in Fatal Attraction episode 7, season 1 streaming on Paramount+, 2022. Photo Credit: Michael Moriatis/Paramount+ Michael Moriatis/Paramount+