#The Alternate Fatal Attraction Ending We Didn’t Get To See

The original scripted ending had a tragic fate for Alex. After she has boiled the family bunny and kidnapped Dan’s daughter, causing Beth to end up hospitalized after a car accident, Dan goes to her apartment to confront her. He almost chokes her to death in rage, but manages to control himself and let her go. In return, she tries to stab him with a large kitchen knife, but Dan manages to disarm her. He puts the knife down on the counter and leaves.

Back home with Beth and his daughter, detectives arrive to tell Dan that Alex has been murdered and he’s the number one suspect. He denies it, but they haul him away. Beth frantically tries to find their lawyer’s number, and discovers a tape from Alex where she threatens to kill herself. Realizing it will get her husband off the hook, Beth takes the tape to the police.

We then go to flashback and see Alex sitting on her bathroom floor with the knife, listening to “Madame Butterfly.” She draws the blade across her throat and collapses out of frame, bleeding to death. The end.

This lonely death for Alex makes us sympathize with her, even though she is trying to frame Dan for her murder. We assume Dan will be exonerated for the murder, but he still looks like a complete POS for how he treated her. Such a bummer of an ending didn’t work with test audiences, though. According to studio executive Ned Tannen: 

“They want us to terminate the b**** with extreme prejudice.”

Realizing that the audience wanted to see Alex receive punishment (that is, more punishment than ending her own life), the cast and crew went back for a three-week reshoot.

Glenn Close was not happy at all…