Peak gay villainy: 20 titillating facts about ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’

The 1999 thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley—directed by Anthony Minghella and adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name—tells the sordid tale of Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), a queer con man who befriends rich couple Dickie (Jude Law) and Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) in Italy as part of a scam before *spoiler alert for a 25-year-old movie* killing Dickie and assuming his identity. 

The critically acclaimed film (which also stars Cate Blanchett and Philip Seymour Hoffman) was a hit for its excellent performances and sexy turns by Law and Damon. And it’s about to have another moment with Netflix’s upcoming eight-episode limited series adaptation Ripley starring queer actor Andrew Scott—who’s barely finished wiping the sweat from his brow after All Of Us Strangers. 

With the movie celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, here are 20 fascinating facts about The Talented Mr. Ripley.

1. Early test screenings were surprisingly negative.

According to Vanity Fair, an early cut of the film left audiences scratching their heads when Ripley kills Dickie, so Minghella recut the opening to include more Hitchockian vibes and a song by Gabriel Yared sung with Sinéad O’Connor, “Lullaby For Cain.”

2. Other directors were considered for the project.

Roman Polanski, Mike Nichols, and Bernardo Bertolucci were all offered the film, but Minghella ultimately ran with it.

3. The role of Tom Ripley was originally offered to a soon-to-be massive star.

Vanity Fair reports that Leonardo DiCaprio rejected the role—right before catapulting to superstar status with the release of Titanic.

4. Outdoor filming in Italy was difficult because Damon was a huge star.

”Matt is able to deal with his public very gracefully, which was difficult when we were shooting because there were thousands of screaming tourists who became our audience,” Cate Blanchett told Entertainment Weekly in 1999.

5. Law was relatively unknown before the movie.

Though his character is killed partway through the film, Law’s stunning good looks and great performance got the majority of the buzz for Mr. Ripley, including an Oscar nomination.

6. Paltrow wasn’t allowed to read the source material because it depicts the female characters in a harsh light.

“I wasn’t allowed to read the book,” Paltrow told Entertainment Weekly. “Anthony [Minghella] forbid me.”

7. The movie is gayer than the book!

Since the book was published in 1955, the movie goes a little more modern and has Ripley constantly eyeing up Dickey. In one scene, he even tries to get into the bath with his buddy!

8. Marketing for the movie emphasized its gay sensibility.

Damon even appeared in a cover story for The Advocate.

9. The famous “My Funny Valentine” scene was a late addition to the script.

Ripley and Dickie’s intense and sensual duet was added to the script six weeks before shooting, after Minghella saw a live performance of the song “Tu Vuò Fà L’Americano.”

10. The actors learned to play instruments for the film.

Law learned to play the saxophone, while Damon learned to play piano, according to E! Online.

11. Damon and Law hurt themselves (and each other) during the deadly fight scene on the boat.

Law told Yahoo, “We busted each other up badly on that: I did his rib in, he did my rib in, and I gave him a bruise around the neck.”

12. Minghella was adamant that Ripley’s sexual orientation not be the reason for his deadly actions.

He told The New York Times in 1999: “I’m desperate that no one infer a connection between his actions in the film and his sexuality…But it’s a sorry state of affairs if you can only write about a homosexual character who behaves well—that’s another kind of tyranny.”

13. Damon agreed that the character was not evil because of his sexuality.

He told The Advocate, “If you go into the theater thinking he’s a ‘gay serial killer’ and not a tormented, sensitive human being—then you may as well stay home.”

14. The film garnered five Oscar nominations.

The Talented Mr. Ripley didn’t win any Oscars, but it was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Law); Best Adapted Screenplay (Minghella); Best Original Score (Gabriel Yared); Best Art Direction (Roy Walker and Bruno Cesari); and Best Costume Design (Ann Roth and Gary Jones).

15. The movie inspired one of the worst movies of all time.

According to actor and writer Greg Sestero, his friend Tommy Wiseau was inspired to make his schlocky masterpiece, The Room, after seeing The Talented Mr. Ripley. “The movie had bludgeoned him to within an inch of his emotional life,” Sestero wrote in The Disaster Artist. Wiseau went on to self-fund, write, direct and star in The Room, a disastrously bad movie that has garnered a huge cult following.

16. Highsmith is responsible for another major gay film, as well.

Her sapphic novel The Price Of Salt, written under the pseudonym Claire Morgan, was adapted into Carol in 2015 and starred Ripley’s Cate Blanchett.

17. Tom Ripley stars in a total of five novels by Highsmith.

In addition to 1955 The Talented Mr. Ripley novel, the character appears in Ripley Under Ground (’70), Ripley’s Game (’74), The Boy Who Followed Ripley (’80), and Ripley Under Water (’91).

18. The movie is not the first adaptation of Ripley.

The 1960 French film Purple Noon, directed by René Clément, stars Alain Delon as Mr. Ripley as is loosely based on Highsmith’s original novel.

19. Ripley Under Ground and Ripley’s Game have also been adapted into films.

Ripley’s Game, released in 2002, starred John Malkovich. The 2005 film Ripley Under Ground was directed by Roger Spottiswoode and included Alan Cumming, Willem Dafoe, Tom Wilkinson and Barry Pepper in the cast. The films are unrelated, save for the title character.

20. While Saltburn shares many thematic similarities with The Talented Mr. Ripley, director Emerald Fennell says it was not one of her inspirations.

She told Radio Times: “Do you know what? It actually wasn’t really [something I was thinking about]…I mean, obviously Highsmith is one of my absolute favorites, but I think that I was sort of looking more at that British Country House tradition of The Go-Between and that sort of very specific British… sort of Joseph Losey world, where class and power and sex all kind of collide in one specific place.”

Related:

8 queer movie villains we actually kinda love

Is it wrong for queer villains to be this cool?