Ripley: Andrew Scott teases ‘opaque’ character as new trailer drops
"It’s like holding water. He is very hard to hold onto," Andrew Scott has told Attitude exclusively
We’ve got more on Andrew Scott’s upcoming thriller series, Ripley, thanks to a new trailer and also some more images.
The All of Us Strangers actor stars as Tom Ripley in the Netflix series based on Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels. In the new official trailer for the series, Ripley is the subject on everyone’s lips.
There is suspicion, deceit, as well as intrigue. Little is known of Ripley, something which irks Dakota Fanning’s character, Marge Sherwood. Marge is the girlfriend of Dickie (Johnny Flynn) whom Ripley is sent to Italy to bring home for a wealthy businessman.
“Tom is one of those people who takes advantage of people,” says Marge. “He’s taking advantage of Dickie,” she then adds, before we see her and Ripley in what appears to be a tense standoff. All the while an investigation is underway after a corpse is found and Ripley is missing…
Speaking to Attitude for the March/April issue, Scott touched on the series. He told Attitude the series will be “very close to the book” compared to the 1999 film The Talented Mr Ripley. “We see Tom Ripley an awful lot on his own. He’s a loner character,” Scott then added. “And what I love about this version of it is that we get to spend a bit more time with him before he meets the other characters, and to see a little bit where he might come from. He’s such an opaque character. It’s like holding water. He is very hard to hold onto.”
Scott also shared that the mystery at the heart of the series attracted him to the role. “There’s something in the very essence of that character that’s mysterious, so it’s to try and hold onto that and keep the audience questioning. It’s a really interesting thing, it’s like, ‘Who do we believe? Do we believe what he says?’ He’s an expert at changing in order to further whatever he needs in any given moment, so he’s not a reliable hero by any chance, by any stretch of the imagination. The scripts were absolutely extraordinarily written, so I hope people like it.”
The character’s sexuality has long been debated. Highsmith herself has said, “I don’t think Ripley is gay”. In 2021, Scott told Interview magazine: “I think he’s a queer character, in the sense that he’s very other’.”
Ripley will be streaming from 4 April 2024.