The Netflix adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley bears some differences to the novel.
On the whole, the new Netflix series Ripley is incredibly faithful to the novel The Talented Mr Ripley by legendary thriller writer Patricia Highsmith.
The series adapts the first of Highsmith’s novels and utilises its longer form of eight episodes to provide detail and colour (not literally, of course, given the black-and-white cinematography) to the story.
Speaking to Netflix about the decision to tackle the story in this format, writer-director Steven Zaillian revealed: “I’ve been a fan of Patricia Highsmith’s books for a long time. She wrote five about her most notorious character, Tom Ripley. When the chance came to tell the first Ripley novel in long-form, rather than just the two hours of a feature, I took it.
“I felt I could get closer to the rhythms of her tale and Tom’s character this way. She sometimes describes events in real-time and in great detail, which is quite effective in linking us to Tom Ripley and somehow making us complicit in his crimes, and the longer form allowed me to do this visually.”
There are, naturally, some changes between the book and the series in adapting the story, however.
So, here are the most notable elements that stick out as different to the iconic source material in Ripley.
**Spoiler warning for Ripley and novel The Talented Mr Ripley**
6 Ripley changes made by Netflix from the book The Talented Mr Ripley
1 . Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf’s ages
In the novel, Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf are both post-grads and 25 years old, meaning they’re both still quite youthful and have not long left college life.
In the series, both characters are referred to as being in their 30s, while actor Andrew Scott is a youthful-looking 47 and Johnny Flynn is 41.
This does somewhat change the dynamics a bit more as both characters in the book seem more like “bright-young things” from the US who are living a relaxed life in the US, as opposed to appearing more as grounded adults with middle-aged sensibilities.
2. Freddie Miles
In the novel The Talented Mr Ripley, Freddie Miles is an American playwright who is a redhead, overweight, and rather brash. He certainly is skeptical of Ripley but not outwardly rude or offensive. Ripley kills Miles out of absolute necessity to protect his secret and even feels some regret that it had to go that way.
In the series, Freddy Miles has a much different presentation, with Elliot Sumner’s chiselled looks, and is also a quieter and more sedate figure, but is even more openly suspicious, displaying contempt and rudeness towards Ripley.
This brash rivalry with Ripley also contributes to Miles’s death and even adds an element of a crime of passion to Ripley furiously killing him.
3. Character name changes
The most notable change is the name of Inspector Pietro Ravini. He is only a lieutenant in the novel and is called Tetente (lieutenant) Roverini.
Elsewhere, Freddie’s friend Max Yoder in the series was named Van Houston in the novel The Talented Mr Ripley.
5. Character omissions
Some smaller characters from the novel are absent from the series.
The most notable of these has to be Cleo Dobelle, a platonic female friend of Tom’s from New York who is a painter and with whom he shares a genuine friendship.
Tom continues to write to Cleo even after he has abandoned America for a new life in Europe.
Another absence is the British expat Peter Smith-Kingsley, who Tom meets in Venice and even briefly imagines attaching himself to in a similar vein to what he did with Dickie, but decides against it.
The 1999 film memorably expanded Peter’s role into a full-blown love interest and victim of Ripley, but he does not appear even in his small book role here.
5. Locations
The series is primarily set in Atrani, which is not the location of the novel, which is the fictional location of Mongibello.
Zaillian told Netflix that the primary reason for this was due to the increased gentrification of the Amalfi Coast and how some locations could no longer represent their historical appearance from the 1950s/1960s.
The writer-director revealed: “Early on, we drove the length of the Amalfi Coast, from Salerno to Sorrento, looking for the town we imagined Dickie Greenleaf settled in. Most have been too modernized or gentrified for a story taking place in 1960, but there was one we came upon — a village of about 800 people called Atrani — that we found perfect.”
6. The ending
The book The Talented Mr Ripley ends not only with Tom Ripley getting away with his crimes but also marvellously conning the Greenleafs into believing a fake will that leaves Dickie’s fortunes and status as the family heir to Tom.
Tom, now openly his true identity, leaves Venice with his newfound fortune and heads off to Greece as he had always hoped and planned and even envisioned with Dickie by his side once upon a time.
Yet, despite his success, his fears of someday being caught out appear ever relevant as he often daydreams of being intercepted by police.
In the series, Ripley is successful, but not quite to the extent of the book, and ends up making friends with criminal Reeves Minot (John Malkovich), who is present in the second novel, Ripley Under Ground.
Minot provides Ripley with a false identity as Timothy Fanshaw and Tom plans to reside in Venice and is a collector of art.
Yet, in the final scene, a delivery of Marge Sherwood’s published book to Inspector Ravini sees the detective realise he was duped when he previously met ‘Dickie Greenleaf” – leaving an open ending to a potential downfall for Tom.
However, given Tom’s new identity, this just got a whole lot harder for the authorities…
Ripley will arrive on Netflix on Thursday 4th April. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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