NEW YORK – Andrew Scott plays one of pop culture’s most notorious con men in the new Netflix series “Ripley.” But off-screen, the Irish actor is usually fooled.
“I was the victim of many scams,” Scott recalls with a sigh, sitting on a couch in his secluded office in Union Square. Once, “A woman took me to the street to say that she couldn’t take the train because her son had an accident.” , I gave you my phone number. How stupid!”
He didn’t realize he had been tricked until late that night. “She called me at 2 a.m., drunk and laughing, demanding more money. She was really good at acting!”
Andrew Scott’s ‘Ripley’ is ‘more sinister’ than Matt Damon and Jude Law’s movie
“Ripley” (released Thursday) is a 1999 Oscar-nominated film starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gwyneth Paltrow, based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” was made into The story is about a man named Tom Ripley (Scott) who is hired by a shipping magnate to travel to Italy and convince his son Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) to return to America.
Posing as an old college friend, Tom quickly infiltrates Dickie’s inner circle and enjoys a lavish lifestyle. However, Dickie’s girlfriend, Marge Sherwood (Dakota Fanning), has suspicions about their new friend after Dickie mysteriously disappears and Tom is questioned about cheating.
This eight-part thriller is written and directed by Steven Zaillian (The Irishman). Unlike last year’s “Saltburn,” a gorgeous, steamy film remade for Gen Z, Zaillian says she wanted to make something less “beautiful” and more “evil.” The slow-burn show is shot entirely in black and white, and the characters age from his mid-20s to his late 30s.
Reading the book, “I was like, ‘What do you mean, Dickie has to go home?’ He’s on vacation after college,” Zaillian says. “I didn’t find that very believable, at least given the way we think about 25-year-olds today.” He also said that while the characters, who are over 40, are lazily writing and drawing, , it’s “a little more hopeless or pathetic” to see him spending most of his days just drinking and lounging on the beach.
To play Tom, Zaillian says it was important to find an actor who could “often act without lines and who would help you understand Tom’s feelings.” Enter Scott, 47, best known for his charming turns in “Fleabag” and “All of Us Strangers.” The Emmy nominee was surprised he was even considered for the role.
“I was like, ‘What part of my murderous nature are you aware of?'” Scott jokes. He read all eight scripts during one transatlantic flight and said, “I was fascinated by it. Having that much space with Tom and the other characters makes the big, bloody events less important.” Many of the other scenes are actually quite domestic, with darkly comic interactions that demonstrate Highsmith’s wit.
Netflix show leans into Tom Ripley’s character’s ‘queerness’
The essence of “Ripley” is a strange story. (After all, what gay man wouldn’t like a straight man?) The show depicts the jealousy and tension between Tom and Marge.
“I spend more time with those two characters than I do with Dickie or Tom,” Scott says. “They greet each other with tight smiles and hate what’s inside each other.”
Highsmith denied that Tom was gay, stating in a 1988 interview that Tom merely “admired the good looks of other men” and that in later novels he was married to a woman. Ta. But the ’90s film embraces the homoeroticism of the story, with Damon’s Tom at one point suggesting they get in the bathtub with Law’s Dickie.
“Whereas the movie leans more towards Tom’s gayness, this show leans more towards his queerness in the sense that he’s probably other,” Scott says. “I was very reluctant to diagnose Tom, given the many facets of his personality: his nationality, his age, his sexuality. Because I have a lot of questions about it.”
The show precludes any intimacy. (Horrifyingly, Tom’s most tender moments are with his victims.) Instead, we find Tom hiding bodies, covering his tracks, and occasionally stumbling into his own web of lies. They find thrills in meticulous work.
“He’s not a natural killer. He gets a little sick when there’s blood,” Scott said. “I think[Highsmith’s]great accomplishment was that she made the audience feel what it was like to be him. You think, ‘What would I do in his shoes?’ . The strange and great joy of it is that you want him to get away with it. ”
That element of its roots is part of what makes “Ripley” so disturbing. Scott, who promotes the show, said he is often asked if he has ever met someone like Tom.
“I think the more interesting question is, ‘How Tom Ripley-like are you?'”
