After I noticed the primary black-and-white nonetheless of Andrew Scott in and as “Ripley,” I used to be bought — and I do know I’m not alone.
The 47-year-old actor may look like an sudden option to step into the footwear of Tom Ripley, however for anybody following his profession, it couldn’t have been a extra excellent casting or welcome deal with. From the very first moments, Steve Zaillian’s “Ripley” is a type of tasks that hinges totally upon its lead actor, a automobile for Mr. Ripley’s abilities that buoys sharp route, creative selections, and luxurious cinematography in its wake.
As for casting the person final seen on TV as Sizzling Priest within the position of a identified sociopath (although Scott and Zaillian dislike labeling their antihero), we should flip to Tumblr. With Instagram in its infancy and TikTok nonetheless years away, Twitter and Tumblr have been the arenas for Andrew Scott appreciation when “Sherlock” premiered in 2010, with Scott’s magnificent tackle the villain Moriarty. He turned a calculated antagonist right into a pressure of charisma, a recreation of cat-and-mouse into an irresistible assembly of the minds with scene accomplice Benedict Cumberbatch. There was fangirling, oh sure, and there was what would later be referred to as thirst — however above all there was a formidable expertise unleashed upon the display screen and an viewers hungry for extra.
At that time, Scott had been performing for the reason that ’90s, throughout movie and TV and together with brief movies and TV motion pictures. He was established amongst his friends within the UK and Eire, particularly in theatre, and appeared in critically acclaimed and award-nominated tasks, even when they didn’t essentially crack the mainstream. One in every of his largest appearances Stateside pre-“Sherlock” was in “Band of Brothers.”
Scott might not have been the title on most of our minds to play “Fleabag”s Sizzling Priest, however what luck that he was on the prime of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s record and joined his previous buddy for the six-episode season. The position earned him a Critics Alternative Award and one other spike in on-line ubiquity as Sizzling Priest lust ran rampant. Right here was a personality wildly faraway from Moriarty, from “Spectre,” from “King Lear” (to call a number of the surprises he delivered in between), a God-fearing man with too tender a spot for a sinning girl (and canned gin-and-tonic).
It’s straightforward to speak about “Sherlock” and “Fleabag,” two of Scott’s most prolific roles — that too in tv, main as much as “Ripley” — however what labored about each roles, to Scott’s profit as a lot because the exhibits themselves, was that the inventive workforce knew how one can make the most of him. Scott’s greatest performances don’t lean into a specific character trait or style, however into the potent magnetism that makes him such an impressed Tom Ripley. Whether or not he’s killing folks or loving folks (as a Father), he performs a person who hypnotizes these round him, for higher or worse.
Tom Ripley is a person of many names in Hollywood, with a number of actors enjoying the half over many many years. Matt Damon’s take is likely to be the very best identified; a person of immense ease and attraction, who flashes a smile and wins over not solely Dickey (Jude Legislation) however Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), Meredith (Cate Blanchett), and Peter (Jack Davenport). Scott’s Ripley doesn’t do this. He ingratiates himself to Dickey (Johnny Flynn) however by no means with the brotherly heat depicted within the movie; and whereas Marge (Dakota Fanning) tolerates his presence, she mistrusts him from the beginning. However whilst she and Freddie (Eliot Sumner) distrust Tom, they will’t keep away from him. Their suspicion is a type of fascination, an extension of the deeper urge to unpack and perceive this individual. Even once they know Tom is manipulating them, they’re transfixed — similar to Scott’s viewers.
Scott advised IndieWire in 2023 that he’s all the time been conscientious concerning the elements he performs, turning down main alternatives if it means preserving his inventive objective of not staying in a single lane.“ In case you don’t wish to be perceived continually with one thing, you then say ‘No,’ and don’t work for a short while,” Scott mentioned. “It’s not even essentially that you just’d be promoting out, however you simply go, ‘I performed that already.’ Do what’s of worth and what’s of worth to me.”
With “Ripley,” the actor as soon as once more ratifies his eye for character, and provides an entry to his working record of wonders one can work with a manufacturing that understands its not-so-secret weapon (also called his filmography). Like Ripley himself, his subsequent transfer received’t be predictable — however the outcomes will certainly depart his admirers breathless.
“Ripley” is now streaming on Netflix.