Matt Damon Says He 'Had Trouble' Watching Andrew Scott's Ripley Two Decades After Starring in 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' (original) (raw)

Matt Damon (left) and Andrew Scott (right). Photo:

Dave Benett/Getty; Dominique Charriau/WireImage

Don’t expect to see Matt Damon reprise his role as Mr. Ripley anytime soon.

In a recent interview with IndieWire, the Jason Bourne actor, 53, reminisced on making the 1999 thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The iconic character was recently revived for a Netflix series starring Andrew Scott, and both projects succeed the 1955 novel. With the latest remake in mind, Damon revealed whether he would ever be interested in resisting the character someday.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You know, I associate the one that we did so much with Anthony Minghella, who’s passed away now, that I don’t know.”

He added, “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.”

Matt Damon (left), Andrew Scott (right).

Netflix; Moviestore/Shutterstock

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Netflix released the black-and-white limited series in April. Set in Italy, the story follows an American man named Tom Ripley who develops a murderous obsession with expat Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn).

“What I predicted I would once do, I am doing already in this very book,” Highsmith once wrote in her diary. “That is, showing the unequivocal triumph of evil over good, and rejoicing in it. I shall make my readers rejoice in it too.”

The eight episodes showed the Fleabag star as a sinister, off-putting man who is tasked by Dickie’s father to bring him back from his attempt at becoming a painter in Italy. Once there, Ripley develops an unrequited desire for Dickie, which his girlfriend Marge (Dakota Fanning), and friend Freddie (Eliot Sumner) instantly dislike.

Andrew Scott (left) and Dakota Fanning (right).

Frazer Harrison/Getty

Unlike Damon's late 90s film, the new Ripley sees Scott diving into darker territory that only barely hints at what he went on to do. Part of The Talented Mr. Ripley author Patricia Highsmith’s gift was her ability to make the viewer like Ripley, who is at his core a deeply unsettling man, and both Damon and Scott have been credited for portraying this well.

“What I predicted I would once do, I am doing already in this very book,” she wrote in her diary. “That is, showing the unequivocal triumph of evil over good, and rejoicing in it. I shall make my readers rejoice in it too.”

Ripley is now streaming on Netflix.