‘Ripley’ Showrunner on Whether He Feels There’s Still More Story to Tell
Apr 7, 2024
[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Ripley.]
The Big Picture
The Netflix series ‘Ripley’ is about a grifter hired to track down the son of a wealthy family in the 1960s, which turns into a tale of deceit and murder.
Tom Ripley, played by Andrew Scott, is a complex, captivating con man who is so much more than just a villain.
The show explores the suspicions of those around Tom Ripley, including Marge Sherwood and Inspector Pietro Ravini.
From writer/director Steven Zaillian and based on the work of author Patricia Highsmith, the eight-episode Netflix series Ripley takes a deep dive into lone wolf grifter Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott), living in New York in the early 1960s as he’s hired to travel to Italy to convince Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) to give up his wayward lifestyle and return home to his wealthy family. Instead of fulfilling that request, Tom works his way into Dickie’s life, but as they spend more time together, it raises red flags for Dickie’s girlfriend, Marge Sherwood (Dakota Fanning). But much like anyone else who grows increasingly suspicious about what Tom is up to, including Inspector Pietro Ravini (Maurizio Lombardi), finding evidence to prove the incidents of deceit, fraud and murder that he’s clearly responsible for is an elusive task that just may prove impossible to achieve.
Ripley is a fascinating character study of a complex, solitary con man wanting a life other than his own. The beauty of the black and white cinematography paired with the sinister nature of Tom Ripley’s journey is a compelling blend that enhances the storytelling. During this interview with Collider, showrunner Zaillian talked about expanding how much of Tom Ripley’s story he was able to explore within a TV series instead of a movie, whether he thinks there could be more episodes, and what made Scott the perfect actor for this iteration of Tom Ripley, while co-stars Fanning and Lombardi talked about their favorite moments with Scott, what makes Marge so suspicious of Tom, and how Inspector Ravini wants to catch his man.
Ripley A grifter named Ripley living in New York during the 1960s is hired by a wealthy man to begin a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder.
‘Ripley’ Showrunner Steven Zaillian Got to Dig Deeper Into the Story For a TV Series
Image via Netflix
Collider: Steven, what did you feel could be done in this long-form storytelling that couldn’t be done in previous film versions of this story?
STEVEN ZAILLIAN: I think any story could be told in two hours, and it has been done. It’s what I’m familiar with doing. In terms of most of my career, I’ve done movies. On television shows, in this particular case, I felt that this character was complicated enough and interesting enough that it would support an eight-hour presentation in installments of this story. And it allowed me to get into things in the book that the movies didn’t have time for. It was obvious, the things that they would cut for the sake of time, including [Inspector Ravini]. His character is rather perfunctory, I guess I would say, in the films, but I love his character. I love the cat and mouse that he plays with Tom Ripley. That was something that I loved being able to spend time on.
Related ‘Ripley’ Review: Andrew Scott Dazzles in Netflix’s Gorgeous Noir Thriller The series based on Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels also stars Dakota Fanning and Johnny Flynn.
Dakota, what is it about Marge that makes her one of the only people that doubts Tom Ripley, and what did you most enjoy about how that shaped their relationship?
DAKOTA FANNING: I enjoyed everything about how that shaped their relationship, and I was thrilled to be one of the only characters that doesn’t trust him from the beginning and sees him for who he is. The way I’ve thought about it, and it’s even been more recently that I’ve been thinking about it, is that we learned some things about Marge. She’s from Minnesota. She’s a small town girl. This could even be her first time out of the country. She doesn’t come from the same background as Dickie Greenleaf. And Tom, obviously, doesn’t come from the same background as Dickie Greenleaf. And so, I weirdly think they almost see a similarity in each other, and that allows them to see each other for who they really are and just completely distrust one another from the start. That’s a part of it, but more simply, for whatever reason, she just doesn’t like the look of him. She just doesn’t trust him. It’s also a little bit of that, too. And you see how that changes and shifts and grows and shrinks, over the course of the series. Andrew [Scott] and I just had the best time getting to do those scenes with each other, where you can tell that they just hope the other one drops dead, honestly. It was super fun for us because we get along so well.
Related ‘Ripley’ Cast and Character Guide: Who Stars in the Netflix Adaptation? Andrew Scott leads the stellar ensemble in a reimagining of ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley.’
Maurizio, how did you view this inspector? Is he someone who’s onto Tom Ripley, or does he treat everyone as if they’re a suspect?
MAURIZIO LOMBARDI: I will catch Tom, but it’s not easy. In fact, one time in front of Tom, I say, “Are you kidding me? You are the killer, maybe, no?” I’m adamant to catch him. For me, it’s a little bit frustrating because I have the killer in front of me, but I can’t catch him.
ZAILLIAN: He can have whatever feelings he has about it, but he does need some sort of proof, and he doesn’t really have that. Tom is a great liar, and he’s great at covering his tracks, so it’s difficult.
LOMBARDI: When we talk about the boat full of blood, it’s like, “Really? Come on. You’re kidding me.”
ZAILLIAN: He’s very suspicious, obviously.
LOMBARDI: We just haven’t the proof to catch him.
ZAILLIAN: The irony is that he thinks Dickie did it because he’s posing as him at that moment.
Andrew Scott is the “Real Deal” as Tom Ripley in the Netflix Series
Steven, what did you see in Andrew Scott that made him your Tom Ripley? Was it any of his previous projects that specifically made you feel like you could play all the layers to this character?
ZAILLIAN: Yeah. I was a big fan of Fleabag. I thought he was fantastic in it. I had heard him in the movie Locke. I hadn’t seen him in Locke because he didn’t appear. He was just a voice on the phone. But he made a complete character just with his voice, which I thought was kind of extraordinary. And then, there was his Moriarty. Between those things, I just thought, “He’s the real deal, and it’s gonna take somebody like that to do this.”
Dakota and Maurizio, what were your favorite moments with Andrew Scott? What is the moment between the two of you that really stands out the most?
FANNING: We had a very giddy night on a gondola together in Venice at two in the morning when we were just slap-happy. There’s this one moment that I can’t tell you, where we laughing about something, and we were just laughing so hard and it was so cold. It was the middle of the night, and we were on this gondola. In this line of work, that’s the only way you could find yourself in that particular position. I think we both are very similar in the way that we work, in that we need the light to balance the dark, and we need the play and the joy and the laughs and all of that. So, I think we were able to give that to one another, when things were challenging or a long day. We were able to always find some humor in it all, which is sometimes the only thing you can do.
LOMBARDI: I don’t remember what I said in the scene, but I remember his eyes. I thought, “Oh, my God, he’s such a great actor. He’s unbelievable.” That moment is very clear to me.
ZAILLIAN: They have some wonderful moments in their scenes together because they both know what the other one is thinking. Ravini is thinking, “You’re probably the guy.” And Tom is thinking, “I see that you think I’m the guy, but there’s no way you can prove it.” They have these little looks between them that are wonderful.
LOMBARDI: We played one shot for 20 minutes. [Steve] said cut after 20 minutes. It was a very long scene and a very long shot. It was incredible and beautiful.
Related The 10 Best Dakota Fanning Movies, According to Rotten Tomatoes Dakota Fanning’s movie career spans over two decades beginning at the age of seven!
Dakota, how do you feel about where the season ends? Is Tom Ripley ever truly knowable, and is it okay to leave the audience with a sense that there may never be a way to fully know the truth of this man?
FANNING: That’s something I think about, just in life. Is anyone ever knowable? You can know someone intimately, in and out, but people can always surprise you. I don’t know if anyone’s ever truly knowable. You can only really be knowable to yourself. I’m fascinated by thinking about that, just as a human being. And then, in terms of the character, I think the audience gets as clear of a window into Tom Ripley as you can, in this series. You see, moment to moment, his thought process, and how he does what he does, and the execution of everything, and the effort, but he’s also not a professional. He’s doing all these things how we would do these things. It’s all messy and it’s not perfect. You can relate, which is a weird word. You get taken down this road with Tom and you get to understand him as much as you can. But I don’t know if you can ever really know anyone, truly. Tom Ripley is no different.
Will There Be Any More Episodes of ‘Ripley’?
Image via Netflix
Steven, would you want to do more episodes of this, or do you feel like you’ve told the story you wanted to tell in the way that you wanted to tell it?
ZAILLIAN: There are other books and they’re really good. I would do it again if I was able to, but by that I mean, do I have another five years to do it? I’d have to think about that aspect of it. But in terms of the character continuing, yes, I think there’s a lot more with Tom Ripley. Tom Ripley goes through a lot of changes over the course of the five books, and they’re all interesting, so, yeah, absolutely. And there have been movies made about the other books, too. So, given the right circumstances, yes.
Ripley is available to stream on Netflix. Check out the trailer:
Watch on Netflix
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