Fatal Attraction | 1987
- Locations |
- New York;
- New York State
- DIRECTOR |
- Adrian Lyne
Discover where Eighties classic Fatal Attraction was filmed around New York City and in Westchester County in Upstate New York.
The terrifying consequences of a casual hook-up struck a chord in the Eighties as Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) discovers that Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) is not a woman to be thoughtlessly discarded.
Director Adrian Lyne grounds the potentially melodramatic storyline with plenty of authentic detail and the decision to film on real locations, including interiors. A studio set was only needed for the climax with that messily overflowing bath.
The swanky Upper West Side apartment of the Gallagher family is 817 West End Avenue, between West 99th and West 100th Streets.
It’s a a book launch for ’Samurai Self Help’ that Dan first claps eyes on Alex. This is being held at Mr Chow of New York, 324 East 57th Street, Midtown East, a branch of the upscale Beverly Hills restaurant and still going strong
The fictitious publishers 'Robbins & Hart', where the two cross paths again at a meeting, was the office of real publishing house Harper and Row, 10 East 53rd Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues.
Sheltering from a downpour following the meeting, Dan and Alex go for a drink at La Goulue, a favourite restaurant of director Adrian Lyne, at 28 East 70th Street, between Madison and Park Avenues – which now houses a boutique. Don’t despair – you can still dine at La Goulue which has relocated to to 29 East 61st Street.
The interior of Alex's warehouse apartment is complicated. The interior is 675 Hudson Street in the Red Triangle Building between 13th and 14th Streets (which was also home to Ed Harris in The Hours), but the lift in which they make out is actually around the corner at 400 West 14th Street.
And the famous exterior is nearby 17 Little West 12th Street. The road is still cobbled but the sides of meat and the smoking braziers are long gone. Gentrification has seen the area filled with smart boutiques.
After their sink-rattling shagathon, the pair still have the energy to go dancing at Club Broadway, a famous Latin dance venue on the Upper West Side at 2551 Broadway between 95th and 96th Streets, from 1983 to 1996. Sadly the building was demolished in 2019 and the block redeveloped.
The Gallagher family moves to an out-of-town home in New York State. This is a conflation of two houses, the exterior being 135 Mianus River Road, Bedford, just east of I-684 in Westchester County. The house was once the estate of Broadway producer Irene Selznick.
Although the place was perfect from outside, it didn’t have the layout needed for the plot, so the interior was filmed in 227 Guard Hill Road, Mount Kisco, a couple of miles west.
The increasingly unhinged Alex abducts the Gallaghers’ daughter Ellen (Ellen Latzen) from school and takes her for a trip to Playland Park, Playland Parkway, Rye, on New York State’s East Coast. Yes, that’s the place where grown-up Josh (Tom Hanks) got his wish reversed in Penny Marshall’s 1988 Big. Here they ride the Dragon Coaster, built in 1929 and still operational.
There was more filming around Mount Kisco as Beth Gallagher (Anne Archer) drives around its streets frantically searching for Ellen, until she crashes into another vehicle at Main Street and South Moger Avenue. She’s taken for treatment to Westchester Medical Center, in Valhalla, a few miles to the southwest.
The local police station is the real thing, inside and out. It’s Mount Kisco Town Hall, 104 Main Street. The entrance seen in the film is the rear, facing the car park.
If you’re in Mount Kisco, the grand mansion at 81 Main Street was featured in Milos Forman’s 1981 period epic Ragtime.
