After starring alongside Paul Mescal in the fantasy drama “All of Us Strangers,” Andrew Scott is set to take the role of Tom Ripley for Netflix’s series “Ripley.” The eight-part thriller will premiere on April 4th on the platform, as the streamer announced in the new teaser (to watch below).
The series also stars Johnny Flynn (Emma,One Life) and Dakota Fanning (Vienna and The Fantomes, The Equalizer 3). Flynn will play millionaire Dickie Greenleaf, while Fanning appears as Dickie’s girlfriend, Marge Sherwood.
Written and directed by Oscar-winner Steven Zaillian, the series is the most recent adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s bestselling novel 1955’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. The story’s most famous adaptation is the 1999’s film of the same name starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law.
Zaillian teases his new version of the story
Just as the movie, in the series Ripley, grifter scraping by in early ’60s New York, is hired by a wealthy benefactor to convince his vagabond son Dickie Greenleaf to return home from Italy. But Tom quickly becomes enchanted by the glamor of Dickie’s lifestyle and does everything to ensure his place alongside him.
Zaillian told Vanity Fair in December that the series, which he also executive produces, will allow him to be “more faithful to the story, tone, and subtleties of Highsmith’s work,” adding that he tried to “approach my adaptation in a way I imagined she might herself.”
Meanwhile, Scott told theoutlet that playing Ripley was “mentally and physically really hard,” as he always aims “to love and advocate for your characters […] You don’t play the opinions, the previous attitudes that people might have about Tom Ripley.”
He added: “You have to throw all those out, try not to listen to them, and go, ‘Okay, well, I have to have the courage to create our own version and my own understanding of the character.’”
What are other adaptations of The Talented Mr. Ripley?
Before the movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley” in 1999, the novel had been turned into the 1960 film “Purple Moon,” where Alain Delon played the character Tom. In 2009, BBC Radio 4 brought all five Ripley novels to life, featuring Ian Hart as Tom.
Meanwhile, other Ripley’s novels that made it to the big screen include “Ripley’s Game,” which was adapted under the title “The American Friend” (1977) with Dennis Hopper. In 2002, it was adapted under its original title with John Malkovich. “Ripley Under Ground” became a film in 2005 with Barry Pepper in the lead role.