Matt Damon Addresses Potentially Revisiting Tom Ripley Role After Difficulty Watching 2024 Netflix Series

Summary Matt Damon is hesitant about reprising his role as Ripley due to his strong emotional connection to the original movie.

The Talented Mr. Ripley is Damon's favorite film that he's made, and it holds deep personal significance for him.

Damon finds it difficult to watch the new adaptation, Netflix's Ripley, despite rave reviews.

Matt Damon addresses potentially revisiting his role from The Talented Mr. Ripley after experiencing difficulty watching the new Netflix series. Damon starred in the 1999 film, directed by Anthony Minghella and based on Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel, as the titular talented Tom Ripley, a charismatic yet troubled young man who becomes involved in a perilous web of deception and murder after a wealthy businessman hires him to bring his son back from Italy. Netflix's new limited series, Ripley, is based on the same novel and stars Andrew Scott as the titular character.

During a recent interview with IndieWire ahead of The Talented Mr. Ripley's 25th anniversary later this year, Damon was asked if he would ever return to the role of Ripley, and he responded, "I don’t know." The actor also found it difficult to watch the new Netflix series because of his strong emotional connection to the original movie. Read his full comments below:

I don’t know. You know, I associate the one that we did so much with Anthony Minghella, who’s passed away now, that I don’t know. I even had trouble watching the new one, as beautiful as it was and as great as everybody was. It was hard at first for me to sink back into it just because I have so many great memories, but they’re all wrapped up in these personal feelings about the experience.

Why The Talented Mr. Ripley Means So Much To Matt Damon

& Will He Ever Return To The Role?

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It's understandable that Damon is unable to engage with the new adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley considering how much the original movie means to him. After gaining prominence in 1997 with Good Will Hunting, The Talented Mr. Ripley was responsible for establishing Damon as a leading man in 1999, leading to roles in the Bourne franchise, the Ocean's trilogy, and many more. To this day, The Talented Mr. Ripley stands out as perhaps Damon's most unsettling and darkly twisted performance.

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Damon has said that The Talented Mr. Ripley is his favorite film that he has ever made, indicating how special it is to him. According to the actor, the experience is also deeply intertwined with memories of working with director Anthony Minghella, who passed away in 2008, making the movie all that much more emotional for him. In turn, he has trouble engaging with the new adaptation, despite how good it is. Ripley's reviews rave about Scott's reptilian-like performance and writer-director Steven Zaillian's rich reinterpretation of the source material.

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Considering how much it means to him, Damon is hesitant about returning to the role of Ripley. However, it's unclear if the opportunity has ever presented itself. Highsmith wrote about the character of Tom Ripley in four subsequent books – Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley, and Ripley Under Water – comprising what is known as the Ripliad series. Any of these novels could hypothetically be adapted to the screen starring Damon, though he will likely find it equally difficult to revisit the character as he does watching the new adaptation.

Source: IndieWire