This year he earned a Golden Globe nomination for his compelling work as a man who encounters the ghosts of his parents in Andrew Haugh’s Strangers. But for the Irishman Andrew Scott, that was one of many recognitions, including another nomination for the same award as best supporting actor for playing the priest in the comedy series Fleabag, for which he won the Critics Choice, and the Bafta in the same category for playing Jim Moriarty in the British Sherlock. But if something was missing in his career to become the man of the moment, it is his leading role in Ripley, the eight-episode miniseries that arrives on Netflix on Thursday the 4th and in which, from the hand of Steve Zaillian, Oscar winner for the script of Schindler’s List, has given new life to the iconic con artist created by Patricia Highsmith and previously portrayed on film by Alain Delon, Dennis Hopper, Matt Damon, John Malkovich and Barry Pepper.
How difficult was it to forget about Matt Damon as Tom Ripley when working on the series?
It wasn’t a problem. Obviously that’s a movie that people love and I’m one of its biggest fans. I love the performances of everyone who participated. Therefore, that was one of our concerns, because when people hear about this project, the first thing they ask is if it is a remake, and what sense does it make to remake something that already had a very successful version. But from the beginning I knew that was exactly what Steven Zaillian, our writer and director, wanted to avoid. There have been several adaptations of this story over the years, but Steven had a very peculiar vision from the day he read the novel many years ago. The opportunity to tell it in a miniseries was a very interesting dynamic for him. For example, he was convinced that it had to be filmed in black and white.
Because it says?
Because that was the starting point to explain to the audience how they should see it, which is very similar to how we would read a novel, which does not take us two hours. We read it over a certain period of time, which allows us to pay attention to certain aspects. Sometimes it is the plot and other times it is the characters that catch our attention. In the miniseries, we have the opportunity to share some time with them and see how mine thinks and makes mistakes. As with all great literary characters, Tom Ripley has a certain reputation as a psychopath or serial killer. But those appreciations never interested me. I don’t see him as a natural serial killer. I think he is someone who is very fallible and does what he doesn’t have to do. We see how he makes mistakes in real time, but at the same time we can see that he has a natural talent for deceiving. The truth is that the first time I spoke with Steve I put aside my concern about previous interpretations. And I’m sure the same will happen to viewers when they see the unique look we have at this story.
Don’t you see him as a psychopath either?
No, I always had a lot of resistance to diagnosing the character with a very specific psychiatric definition. I think the reason why he has endured over time and has become an icon is because he continues to generate many doubts in us. We find it fascinating, terrifying and uncomfortable because we don’t have much information about it. What Tom tells about him is not very reliable. One cannot be very sure what his nationality is, his age or his sexual orientation.
Have you ever encountered a real-life Tom Ripley?
It’s something I get asked often. But I think what attracts us to the character is not whether we know someone like him, but what part of Tom Ripley we carry inside. That’s what Patricia Highsmith achieved in her novel, because we side with this man who does a lot of bad things, because he is someone who has been ignored by society and who has many talents. He is a con artist, a true con artist, who resorts to tricks to make a living. But he is ignored, and he does not have access to any of the things that the other characters in the story enjoy, such as art, music, and beauty. When ignored people discover that something like this exists, they find within themselves the fury that they have always carried inside. In the story there is a very interesting and subtle message, which is that everyone has the right to enjoy beauty and art. It’s not just for the rich.
How did you get into Tom Ripley’s head?
I do not practice the theory of the method. But it was a challenge because ideologically we are very different, although you always have to find some connection with the characters you play. I’ve only murdered four people… Seriously, when you’re filming for a year, the macabre scenes only take a little while. Most of them were domestic moments, in which they talked about unrequited love or loneliness. The complicated thing for me was the energy that the whole process required, because there was a good dose of action scenes. Plus, Tom is in 95 percent of the scenes in an eight-hour series, and that requires a tremendous amount of acting. I had to be available all the time. It was like this for a year, without rest. In psychological terms, I played a very lonely character, who is far from home and has to deal with the language barrier. It was a great privilege, but it was also a challenge.
Would you at least say that Tom Ripley is a villain?
Although they have every right to say that it is, but I don’t see it that way. He seems like a very complex person to me, and to say that he is a villain is to simplify him. I certainly think he’s an antihero. As I said, I think the great achievement of the story, which is palpable in the miniseries, is that as a viewer you want someone we shouldn’t support to do well. We want you to get your way. And that’s because we see ourselves as Tom Ripley. The idea was for the audience to discover what it’s like to be someone like him. We all have our share of darkness, and in some ways we are a mystery to ourselves, even if we are not necessarily murderers. It’s funny, because of all the characters I’ve played, this is the one that raises the most questions from the audience. And I love that, because questions about his sexual orientation or his nationality will never be answered. We will never know.
