As far as TV and movie adaptations go, Steven Zaillian ’s limited series “Ripley” is fairly faithful to Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels . In particular, the writer/director was keen to capture the sinister and dark tone of Highsmith’s portrayal of Tom Ripley ( Andrew Scott ), a conman who proves capable of two murders, and lies with the skill of a sociopath. To further explore this aspect of the character, Zaillian did introduce one particularly bold stroke of his own: The 16th-century Italian painter Caravaggio.
“The Caravaggio references are not in the book,” said Zaillian, while on IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast . “That’s based on when I first went to Italy [in the early ‘80s]. That’s when I discovered Caravaggio and I was fascinated with his paintings.
And then did the same thing [as Tom in “Ripley”], I started reading about his life.” As Zaillian sat down to write the “ Ripley ” scripts, it felt natural to have his Tom — similarly on his first trip to Italy, living with a wannabe painter Dickie (Johnny Flynn) — to be introduced to Caravaggio. On a day trip to Naples in Episode 2, Tom is captivated by Caravaggio’s “Madonna and Child.
” Dickie informs him, “He painted it when he was 36, the year after he murdered a man in Rome.” “And then gradually, I saw opportunities to keep referring back to the paintings,” said Zaillian. “Having him become interested in the paintings, and seeing a connection between these two murdere.