In , Netflix’s dazzling eight-part adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s landmark 1955 crime novel , the approach to the material is more emotionally cold and deliberately paced than in the 1999 movie adaptation. Anchored by a bravura performance by , the series — nominated for 13 Emmys — was written and directed by veteran screenwriter Steven Zaillian (Oscar winner for ). Zaillian joins for a conversation about this ambitious project’s journey to the small screen.
Twenty years had gone by since the 1999 movie. I felt that there was a way of doing this in a longer format that would hopefully capture the feeling that I had when I first read the book. It was the feeling of getting to know these characters in such detail and spending that much time with them that you can’t do in a two-hour movie.
I was very drawn to the process of how Ripley went about doing his schemes. In particular in the book, there were these two long sequences as he struggles to figure out how to get rid of two bodies. You can’t do that in a film.
That would take up half the film. It was long in the book. He does fall out of the boat in the book.
I don’t know if I’d say slapstick, but to me it was important to show that this is not a professional killer. He’s not done this before. It’s not premeditated.
He doesn’t think things through in this way. It was fun to write and it was fun to shoot. Andrew was terrific with it.
He really did do all that stuff. It was hard. Every time Ripley tr.