Alyssa Jirrels (‘Fatal Attraction’): ‘I was a completely different actor afterward’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

No one had to tell Alyssa Jirrels that she was going to be part of an iconic title when she won the role of daughter Ellen Gallagher in the Paramount+ limited series reboot of “Fatal Attraction.” The 1987 psychological thriller feature on which it’s based that starred Michael Douglas, Glenn Close and Anne Archer become a cultural phenomenon, an iconic cautionary tale about the dangers of extramarital affairs. It took in $157 million domestically and $320 million at the international box office, scaring the living hell out of every married man who saw it. And while Jirrels’ character stayed a little girl for the entirety of that film, the actress still felt the angst inherent in taking a step up in class and being the comparative neophyte in a cast of screen veterans.  “It was definitely like a boot camp and kind of an initiation,” she says. “This was the first time I had a (significant) standard I’d set for myself, and the first opportunity I’d had to meet that standard.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.

It wasn’t that Jirrels hadn’t worked plenty in her young life. At 22, she had already been a recurring player in the Jason Katims-produced Amazon series “As We See It” and had a healthy role in the Netflix YA comedy series “Boo, Bitch” while also playing the lead in the feature “This is the Year.” But being part of such a high-profile project as “Fatal Attraction” elevated her into a different league. Here she was, in a cast headed by Lizzy Caplan, Joshua Jackson and Amanda Peet. “It was an intense experience,” she stresses. “A lot of it was really gratifying, and I was a completely different actor afterward. It was basically a bunch of (actors) who have been doing this for so many years – and me. I had immense amounts of anxiety and questions going in.”

The all-new “Fatal Attraction” iteration stars Jackson as Dan, the husband who has the ill-fated affair, Peet as his wife Beth and Caplan as Alex, the other woman with attachment issues who winds up getting killed in the bargain. The Paramount+ press material describes the reboot as a reimagining that “explores the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes toward strong women, personality disorders and coercive control.” (There’s a mouthful.) The new version kicks off 15 years after Dan was convicted of killing Alex and has just been paroled from prison, looking to reconnect with his wife and a daughter who was just eight years old when he was locked up and is now 23.

It was the daughter Jirrels is now playing as a young woman whose bunny was boiled by Alex. “She was kind of off to the side in the original movie,” Jirrels points out, “so I had nothing really to be intimidated by in terms of performance. I just had the excellent material to be intimidated by.” The adult version of Ellen whom she’s now playing has endured 15 years of a father being incarcerated, “and now it’s about the trauma she’s endured from childhood through adulthood. It was really my first attempt at trying to carry out the arc of a character. She was an incredible character to try to figure out, and for me that was definitely what the process was – trying to get my head wrapped around what was going on in hers.”

Jirrels chose not to see the original film before the shoot began so as not to be influenced by any of the performances and storyline. She emerged grateful to be working alongside the pros she was blessed to be co-starring with “because they’ve all been doing this since they were my age. Josh approached me on the first day we worked together and said, ‘Everything that could possibly happen to you on a set has happened to me.’ I felt very seen by everyone, which was really valuable and wonderful. And it seemed to me that Josh, Amanda and Lizzy all got deep joy from their work, which I loved to see. They all had a level of ease that was really beautiful.”

“Fatal Attraction” streams on Paramount+, with the last two episodes premiering on May 28.