Original-Cin Q&A: Ripley Helmer Steven Zaillian on Why Moral Ambiguity Works in Black and White
The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 best selling novel - gets the small screen treatment in Ripley, an eight-part Netflix series in glorious black and white.
The project was brought to life by writer/director Steven Zaillian (writer of Moneyball and The Irishman) with star Andrew Scott, who’s best known to some as Moriarty in the BBC series Sherlock.
Scott plays Tom Ripley, a conman who is hired by a wealthy man to find his son in Italy, which leads Ripley into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder. The series also features Johnny Flynn and Dakota Fanning.
Bonnie Laufer had a quick chat with Steven Zaillian and Italian actor Maurizio Lombardi, who plays Inspector Pietro Ravini, the detective on Ripley’s trail.
Ripley begins streaming on Netflix April 4.
CLICK HERE to read Karen Gordon’s review of Ripley.
ORIGINAL-CIN: Steven what a stunning series. What inspired you to revisit the book and remake it in black-and white, knowing that you would be turning it into a series?
STEVEN ZAILLIAN: That was the inspiration, both telling it in black-and-white and the idea that I could get into this novel in a way that allowed me to tell parts of the story in a way that I felt you couldn't do in a two hour framework of a movie.
Back when Patricia Highsmith wrote it in 1955, most movies were in black-and-white. So I think if it was made then, it would have been in black-and-white and maybe she even imagined it in black-and-white.
Director Steven Zaillian
I never really saw it as a kind of a pretty colorful technicolor story. It's a very dark and dangerous story and I think black-and-white lends itself to that.
O-C: Maurizio, I was fascinated by Inspector Rivini, the way he sits there with his cigarette and asks for permission to smoke. Intimidating and mysterious. When you have the source material like a book do you go back and read it or do you just depend on Steven’s writing?
MAURIZIO LOMBARDI: When you have a good script, especially one as good as Steven's, you have what is essential to act. So for me, it's so easy. In fact, Steve gave me some freedom with this character and let me find my way with him.
I did some research, but Steve and I found him together. I really enjoyed playing the Inspector in this series, it was truly a beautiful experience.
O-C: We of course have to discuss Andrew Scott. Not only is he a producer on the series, but he is absolutely riveting as Tom Ripley. Why do you think he was the person to play this complicated role?
ZAILLIAN: Well, number one, he's a great actor. (Laughs)
LOMBARDI: That’s an understatement!
ZAILLIAN: Being such a great actor was the prerequisite. He’s also very watchable. He spends a lot of time by himself in the story.
He's actually very happy to spend time by himself, and that's the character. (Tom Ripley) is not a people person. People say that he's a social climber but he's really not a social climber. He likes to live comfortably, but he doesn't really like people. He likes to be so comfortable with himself sitting around painting, having some wine, going to a museum. That's his life.
So I knew that you're going to have to watch this guy do things all by himself a lot in this story and I find Andrew just very watchable. I can see what he's thinking as he's just sitting around.
O-C: Maurizio, I loved watching the dynamic between you and Andrew. It really was such a clever game of cat and mouse - not really knowing who exactly is the cat and who is the mouse.
LOMBARDI: It was fun to play opposite Andrew and it's interesting to see that dynamic play out.
I appreciated the way he played with me in the scenes. It was like working with a tennis pro, bouncing ideas off of each other. There was an equilibrium, where we were both so stubborn and vain. But at the same time both characters thought they were one up on the other.