Andrew Scott stars in a new adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley for Netflix – here’s the trailer to prove it.
Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley series has enjoyed a storied history on screens big and small, with adaptations including 1960 French film Purple Noon starring Alain Delain and Anthony Minghella’s big budget 1999 version of The Talented Mr Ripley starring Matt Damon.
Perhaps the most intriguing take on the material was when Wim Wenders cast Dennis Hopper as Ripley for his 1974 film The American Friend.
The latest adaptation, which was originally produced for Showtime but is now premiering on Netflix, is called, appropriately enough, Ripley, and it is filmed in black and white.
It appears to be a passion project for Schindler’s List scribe Steven Zaillian, who serves as writer, showrunner, director and executive producer.
Talking to Vanity Fair last month about his decision to film in black and white, Zallian explained that “the edition of the Ripley book I had on my desk had an evocative black and white photograph on the cover. As I was writing, I held that image in my mind. Black and white fits this story—and it’s gorgeous”.
The synopsis reads as follows:
Based on Patricia Highsmith’s bestselling Tom Ripley novels, the series follows Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son Dickie Greenleaf to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder. Dakota Fanning plays Marge Sherwood, an American living in Italy who suspects darker motives underlie Tom’s affability.
Scott stars as the title character, alongside Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood, Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf. Also featuring in the cast are Eliot Sumner and John Malkovich, who previously played Ripley in Liliana Cavani’s 2002 film Ripley’s Game
Scott’s latest film sees him star opposite a BAFTA nominated Paul Mescal in Andrew Haigh’s All Of Us Strangers, which is released in UK cinemas on Friday.
Ripley will stream on Netflix from the 4th April.
Watch the teaser trailer below:
