In Ripley, Netflix’s dazzling eight-part adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s landmark 1955 crime novel The Proficient Mr. Ripley, (*20*) method to (*20*) materials is extra emotionally chilly and intentionally paced than in (*20*) 1999 film adaptation. Anchored by a bravura efficiency by Andrew Scott, (*20*) sequence — nominated for 13 Emmys — was written and directed by veteran screenwriter Steven Zaillian (Oscar winner for Schindler’s Checklist). Zaillian joins THR for a dialog about this bold undertaking’s journey to (*20*) small display screen.
What impressed you to remake one thing that had already been tackled to nice success by Hollywood?
Twenty years had passed by since (*20*) 1999 film. I felt that there was a approach of doing this in an extended format that will hopefully seize (*20*) feeling that I had once I first learn (*20*) ebook.
Was there an essence to (*20*) ebook that you simply felt had not been captured in (*20*) movie?
It was (*20*) feeling of attending to know these characters in such element and spending that a lot time with them you could’t do in a two-hour film. I used to be very drawn to (*20*) technique of how Ripley went about doing his schemes. Specifically in (*20*) ebook, there have been these two lengthy sequences as he struggles to determine the best way to do away with two our bodies. You possibly can’t try this in a movie. That may take up half (*20*) movie.
The primary homicide scene nearly goes right into a slapstick space the place so many issues go improper for him. Is that immediately from (*20*) ebook?
It was lengthy in (*20*) ebook. He does fall out of (*20*) boat in (*20*) ebook. I don’t know if I’d say slapstick, however to me it was essential to point out that this isn’t knowledgeable killer. He’s not carried out this earlier than. It’s not premeditated. He doesn’t assume issues via on this approach. It was enjoyable to jot down and it was enjoyable to shoot.
You definitely relay how a lot of a ache in (*20*) ass coping with a useless physique is — how heavy it’s and the way onerous it’s to cover one.
Andrew was terrific with it. He actually did do all that stuff. It was onerous. Each time Ripley tries one thing and it doesn’t work, he stops and he thinks, “OK — how can I do it?” These moments had been essential to me to point out.
Let’s speak about Andrew Scott. It’s an unbelievable efficiency. Was his age — 47 — a consideration in any respect?
I needed someone older. I didn’t perceive what (*20*) large deal could be that some man’s son ran off to Europe at 25. That’s (*20*) story of each 25-year-old at the moment. And so Tom Ripley would logically be (*20*) identical age as Dickie Greenleaf [played by Johnny Flynn]. If he’s older, he’s extra determined. They’re each determined. Ripley has been at this longer. He and Dickie have been round lengthy sufficient to know that they’re failures.
Visually, it’s simply so, so lovely. I hope you bought some kind of commendation from (*20*) Italian vacationer board for this factor. Might you speak a bit about how sumptuously you shot this and the way lengthy it took to arrange these photographs?
We had quite a lot of time to shoot, which was nice. We shot for 170 days. I feel that’s greater than 20 days an episode, which is quite a bit for a sequence. I did wish to method it like a film — I imply, with (*20*) care that you simply soak up a film and with (*20*) time that you simply take. I needed [crew] who, like me, had spent their careers doing films versus tv. And by way of (*20*) look, I had at all times imagined it in black and white. It rooted us in (*20*) time interval. It jogged my memory of movies from (*20*) time interval.
One other efficiency I actually cherished was by Eliot Sumner, who added one thing so new and completely different and nice to (*20*) a part of Freddie Miles.
I used to be despondent casting that half as a result of I had checked out 200 actors, and I discovered that almost all of them, I suppose as a result of they had been influenced by (*20*) 1999 film, had been doing sort of a take on Philip Seymour Hoffman. I didn’t wish to try this. And a tape got here in someday from someone I didn’t acknowledge named Eliot Sumner, and it was such a distinct take on it that I used to be simply sort of spellbound by it. I simply cherished (*20*) audition.
Talking of scene stealing, let’s speak about that cat watching Ripley drag a physique down (*20*) stairs. Was that an actual cat?
That was an actual cat, and a Maine Coon cat from Rome. It was truly (*20*) second cat; (*20*) first cat I reluctantly needed to fireplace. However this cat was so chill and simply had a glance on his face of realizing all the pieces that was going on. And I’ve to offer quite a lot of credit score to our second unit director of images, whose identify is Predrag Dubravcic. He shot all these issues with (*20*) cat. He had (*20*) endurance of a saint and did a improbable job with it.
