Dakota Fanning (The Alienist, Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood) has joined Showtime’s Ripley opposite Golden Globe nominee Andrew Scott (Fleabag, Sherlock) who will be playing the titular role as Tom Ripley in the series adaptation, according to TVLine. The drama series is based on Patricia Highsmith’s five novels following the character of Tom Ripley: The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley, and Ripley Under Water.
Fanning is set to play Marge Sherwood, an American living in Italy who suspects that Tom’s affability hides darker motives. Johnny Flynn (Emma., Stardust) has also been cast as Dickie Greenleaf.
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Ripley follows Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York. When Tom is hired by a wealthy businessman to travel to Italy and to try to convince the man’s vagabond son to return home, his acceptance of the job “is the first step into a complex life of deceit.”
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“Dakota Fanning is the perfect choice to play the deliciously complicated Marge opposite Andrew Scott’s Tom Ripley,” said Amy Israel, Showtime’s executive vice president of scripted programming. “She’s an actor that brings smarts and vulnerability to every part, with so much bubbling beneath the surface. We can’t wait to see her sink her teeth into this role in Steve Zaillian’s Ripley.”
The series comes from Oscar winner Steven Zaillian (The Night Of, The Irishman, Gangs of New York). Zaillian will use the five novels from Highsmith “as a road map to show Ripley’s progression from con artist to serial killer.”
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Ripley is co-produced by Showtime and Endemol Shine North America in association with Entertainment 360 and Filmrights. Scott will produce the project. Zaillian, Garret Basch, Guymon Casady, Ben Forkner, Sharon Levy, Philip Keep, and Charlie Corwin will executive produce. Production on the series is expected to begin later this year in Italy.
In 1999, Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley was adapted into a movie starring Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, alongside Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge Sherwood and Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf. The Oscar-nominated feature was written and directed by Anthony Minghella.
(Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)
