‘Ripley’ casts Andrew Scott as the antihero played by Matt Damon in the film: ‘I don’t think he’s bad’

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‘Fleabag’s ‘Father Cat’ stars in a new series that premieres this Thursday (4) as the murderous scammer from Patricia Highsmith’s books: ‘there’s a bit of Tom Ripley in all of us’. In the series, “Ripley”, actor Andrew Scott tries to leave behind his days of fame as “Father Cat” from the second season of “Fleabag” to take on a more malicious, deceitful and – even, why not? – assassin. In this new adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s book, 25 years after the success of the film “The Talented Ripley” with young Matt Damon and Jude Law, the protagonist maintains his charm while committing fraud, stealing identities and even killing one or another person. Which doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. At least that’s what Scott himself says, in an interview with g1. Watch the video above. “I will say that I don’t think he’s evil. Evil is an extreme word, by definition. Sometimes I think that when we call Tom evil, or psychopath, or sociopath, or monster, any of that, I think it allows us to say: ‘well, this has nothing to do with me, because I’m not bad’.” With eight episodes, the series premieres all at once this Thursday (4) on Netflix – with beautiful black and white photography. Andrew Scott in a scene from ‘Ripley’ Disclosure I love Dickie “Ripley” retells a story more similar to the book than the film – even though its setting takes place in the early 1960s, and not in the middle of the previous decade as in original work. In the series, Tom Ripley (Scott) is a low-level conman who survives on small scams in New York. He gets his big break when he is recruited by a tycoon to convince his son (singer Johnny Flynn) artist – playboy – to return from Italy, where he has been living for the last few years without any hint of work or ambitions. His obsession with Dickie is just the beginning of a plot full of lies, money, suspicions and encounters with the police. “There’s a little bit of Tom Ripley in all of us – in some ways. Maybe not that extreme – but we’re vulnerable and we’re weird and we make mistakes and we also have kind of a darkness and a fierceness inside us,” he says. “That’s what I think which is so disconcerting about the character and why we actually root for him to come out on top in the end. That’s Patricia Highsmith’s greatest achievement and I think it’s something that Steven Zaillian, our director, really accomplished. . You think, ‘What’s up, what’s up. Don’t get caught. Don’t get caught.'” Dakota Fanning, Johnny Flynn and Andrew Scott in a scene from ‘Ripley’ Disclosure In the same game Tom’s appearance generates strong suspicion in Dickie’s girlfriend, Marge (Dakota Fanning). Provocative and suspicious, she is a very different version of the sweet and naive one played by Gwyneth Paltrow 25 years ago. “This Marge, in this version, is really someone who is trying to catch Tom at his game all the time. They have this great relationship. She is a huge irritation to him”, says the actress. At 30 years old, the American is best known for her childish performances in films such as “A Lesson in Love” (2001) and “War of the Worlds” (2005). “I don’t even think she thinks he’s bad. I think she just thinks he’s a liar, you know? She doesn’t trust him and she can’t figure out what he’s up to. That’s kind of how all the other characters feel about Tom. . They kind of can’t understand what’s wrong.” Dakota Fanning and Johnny Flynn in a scene from ‘Ripley’ Disclosure The many Toms Ripleys “Ripley” began with Zaillian, an Oscar-winning director and screenwriter for the screenplay for “Schindler’s List” (1993), who directs and writes all of his eight episodes. Development began in 2019, but recordings only took place in 2021, in Italy, postponed due to the pandemic. The production may be one of the first series to adapt the first of Highsmith’s five books featuring the conman – but the character has been played by countless great actors since 1955, the year the first story was released. Among them are Alain Delon in “The Sun as a Witness” (1960), Denis Hopper in “The American Friend” (1977), even John Malkovich, who starred in “The Return of the Talented Ripley” (2002), a sequel to the film by Damon. Scott, of course, entered the pop culture canon for his performance as the priest – popularly nicknamed “Father Cat”, since the character himself has no name – in the second season of “Fleabag”, the protagonist’s love interest. Andrew Scott and Phoebe Waller-Bridge in a scene from ‘Fleabag’ Disclosure Previously, he had already become known to many as the great villain of the series “Sherlock”, the Machiavellian Moriarty, who faced the equally brilliant detective played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Even so, the Irishman was disappointed with his participation as one of the antagonists in “007 against Spectre” (2015). In order to avoid being branded as a villain, Scott sought out different characters, such as the celebrated protagonist of “All of Us Unknown” (2023) – perhaps one of the biggest royal snubs at the 2024 Oscars. Why, then, return to a moral character? dubious, which many would consider truly evil? “I don’t think they’re bad or good. There’s something questionable, at least, about each of them. You think, ‘That person is prim. This one’s spoiled. This one’s sinister.’ All the characters have something that makes them very ‘actable’.” Andrew Scott in a scene from ‘Ripley’

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