Oscar-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian and star Andrew Scott break down Netflix’s sweeping black-and-white drama.
A version of this article originally appeared inEntertainment Weekly’s Awardist Emmys Kickoff special print issue.
Killer con artist Tom Ripley knows how to reinvent himself.
Andrew Scott in ‘Ripley’.NETFLIX
“Yeah, that was foolish, right?
Its a good movie,” the showrunner tellsEntertainment Weeklyof adapting the beloved story again.
I could get into aspects of the story and characters in a different way in an eight-hour version."
Johnny Flynn and Dakota Fanning in ‘Ripley’.Netflix
Below, Zaillian and Scott dissect how they artfully reinvented the infamous conman.
“Andrew was my first choice,” the showrunner reveals.
Its quite the challenge."
Eliot Sumner in ‘Ripley’.Netflix
“I thought it wise not to,” Scott admits.
“There was a question of, ‘Will this work?’
It was filmed with an idea of, ‘This could go either way.'”
“The story was more sinister than that.
“There weren’t reams of tourists around,” Scott says.
But Scott faced his own Italian obstacle long before filming began.
As if that wasnt difficult enough, Scott wanted to add another layer to his performance.
“Dickie Greenleaf’s Italian would be slightly different to Tom Ripley’s Italian.
And I had a great Italian teacher.”
Its actually how youre somehow still rooting for him to succeed, even when hes violently killing innocent people.
“So I didn’t purposely attempt to get sympathy or empathy for him.
“I just really understood the sense of loneliness.
“And that requires the audiences time.
Hes not a professional killer, and he’s not particularly good at it.
It was important to show that he doesn’t plan anything out.”
“Sometimes I imagine the cat to be Patricia Highsmith herself,” he says.
“But that’s just my crazy imagination.”
“And it’s a dark place,” he adds.
“I’ve been thinking of it as a limited series.
But I’ll never say never to anything.”
Sounds like something Tom Ripley would say.
Check out more of Scott’s interview with host Gerrad Hall onThe Awardistpodcast, below.
