At a first screening of the Netflix series starring Andrew Scott, creator Steve Zaillian explained how he adapted Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel into eight episodes.
When it came to telling his side of the story, Ripley showrunner Steve Zaillian had a clear North Star: look to the text. Despite the omnipresence of Anthony Minghella's 1999 film adaptation, Zaillian drew primarily on Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley to create the series' eight episodes.
“You can't read a novel in two hours“Zaillian said at an early screening of the Netflix show in New York.”It takes eight, ten, twelve hours and I felt that I wanted to recreate in series form the rhythm and beauty of the narrative of that book“.
The novel also inspired the show's black-and-white aesthetic, because, as Zaillian pointed out, in 1955 movies were all black-and-white. “When Patricia wrote it, if she had imagined it being made into a movie at the time, it would have been in black and white“, he said. “The cover of that book I had was black and white, so when I was reading it I had in mind that it was like that“.
“I also felt that this story – the one she was telling, the one I wanted to tell – was quite sinister and quite dark“, he added. “I couldn't imagine it taking place in a beautiful Italian setting with blue skies and colorful clothes and things like that“the showrunner said.
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Ripley stars Andrew Scott (who plays the protagonist), Johnny Flynn, Dakota Fanning and Eliot Sumner. Flynn will play Richard “Dickie” Greenleaf, Herbert's rich and spoiled son who has fled to Italy and becomes Tom's target, while Fanning will play Marjorie “Marge” Sherwood, Dickie's closest friend and romantic interest. Sumner will play a friend of Dickie's who soon becomes suspicious of Tom's intentions. Ripley debuts April 4 on Netflix.