Robert Elswit

Steven Zaillian, responsible for directing and writing the screenplay for all eight episodes in the new Netflix series Ripley, resists exploiting sensationalism or indulging melodrama, Zaillian denies Tom Ripley an appealing, charismatic personality, even to his victims. It’s just that Ripley’s manipulative strategies, combined with his indifference to shame or humane behavior, facilitate his perverted ways. Devoid of any social graces, con man Ripley relies on the goodness of others and their inability to imagine his depravity, even when details don’t add up.

The idiom “Everything old is new again…” can be applied to writer/director Steven Zaillian’s sensational new noir Netflix series Ripley, based on Patricia Highsmith’s pulpy, best-selling novels. Sociopathic antihero Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) is a down-on-his-luck grifter in 1961 New York who is hired by wealthy shipping magnate to travel to Italy to try to convince his prodigal son Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) to return home. Tom’s acceptance of this lucrative job opens the door to a labyrinthine life of crime. As soon as he arrives in the picturesque coastal village of Atrani, he begins to ingratiate himself with entitled Dickie, much to the annoyance of his resentful girl-friend Marge Sherwood (Dakota Fanning), who is suspicious from the getgo. “I’m not someone who takes advantage of people,” Tom claims when, in fact, that’s exactly who he is.