Why Glenn Close?

the IMDB trivia section for this film says

"Faye Dunaway, Mia Farrow and Anjelica Huston were originally considered for the role of Alex Forrest, but they never auditioned for the part. Barbara Hershey, Miranda Richardson and Debra Winger were the first choices to play Alex Forrest who auditioned for the part. Glenn Close was actually the fourth choice for the role of Alex Forrest."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093010/trivia

and from Close's IMDB page
"Was the fourth choice to play the role of Alex in Fatal Attraction (1987). The first choices were Debra Winger, Barbara Hershey, and Miranda Richardson. (Sharon Stone also auditioned for this role, but was passed over)."
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000335/bio

according to this, half of the leading female actresses at the time had a crack at it:
"Who was considered for Fatal Attraction?"
http://www.notstarring.com/movies/fatal-attraction

"The Glenn Close role turned down by Linda Hamilton, Barbara Hershey, Amy Irving, Kelly McGillis, Demi Moore, Annie Potts, Isabelle Rossellini, Meryl Streep, Debra Winger, Mary Steenburgen"
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2191383-not-starring-this-will-surprise-you

I don't understand why you don't like Glenn Close as a choice. Sexual attraction is not necessarily about beauty... it's often something unexplainable and fascinating about a person. And Glenn is certainly fascinating in this film. Also, she's the opposite of Dan's wife, which might have tempted him.

She was/is an excellent actress and played the part perfectly.

And second of all, and this is just my GUESS...Dan didn't want to develop any deep feelings for her, fall in love with her, feel yearning for her, or anything like that. He just wanted some fun and then to end it, and go back to his life the way it was, yes? How easy do you think that would be for him to do, if Alex looked like an absolutely gorgeous model? Wouldn't that just possibly complicate things for him and make it harder for him to leave her? Think about it...how easy would it have been for him to completely walk away from an absolutely gorgeous woman who badly wanted him? So I'd say, yes he did want hot sex but he also wanted the whole thing to be easy without anything complicating things. Perhaps someone as beautiful as a model would have complicated things too much for him. Also, yes Dan was attractive but maybe he didn't have any supermodels hitting on him. He took what was available at that moment. Things don't always have to be perfect in order for someone to have a good time. I'd say, remember, there are other things that come into play, like him being able to just break away easily from her and not start craving her, and also what is unattractive to you may be attractive to him. Maybe he liked her blonde hair, for one, because it was so different from his wife's hair, and he was in the mood for something different.

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/21721968

Mmmm....Glenn Close is extraordinary in FATAL ATTRACTION. She almost didn't get the part because no one thought she was sexy enough to play a 1-night stand. And by mainstream movie standards for big budget movies, she isn't. But that actually makes her better for the part, because you can sense her character's a woman who's been rejected, who hasn't had everything handed to her in life, who hasn't necessarily had it easy.

They wanted Isabelle Adjani for it, initially. Sooooooooooooooooo many actresses auditioned for that role!!

Interestingly, the cinematographer thought one thing that would make the character of Alex mysterious and interesting is if you rarely got a good look at her face straight on. The way it's shot, there's usually a hank of hair falling into her face, or she's in 3/4 profile, or there's lighting keeping half her face in shadow....techniques that keep you from cleanly seeing her full on. It's not done in every single shot, but that was the visual concept.

This also might have helped Close's appearance, because straight on, she's not a traditionally super attractive woman (in movie star terms)

—Anonymous

reply 12 a day ago

She's only called on to act crazy in the movie, so not the most demanding acting was required. Her character seemed pretty off from the second she appeared on screen, to me.

I was wondering also, because his wife is a smoke show. All I can say is she was chosen because she can act.

" There must've been dozens of other beautiful actresses who could've played this part."

Maybe not quite as well. Not many.

Every single time I have watched this film, I have that exact thought.

I Never liked Glenn Close in this film, but I couldn't for the life of me understand how they made her the bad guy and not Michael and how easily he could get away with Beating up a woman, mostly because he was white.