On December 25, 1999, The Talented Mr. Ripley graced theaters, marking a landmark moment in cinematic history. Based on Patricia Highsmith’s gripping novel, the film was brought to life by director Anthony Minghella and featured an all-star cast including Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cate Blanchett, and Jack Davenport.
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A critical and commercial hit, the movie earned five Oscar nominations and became a classic in its own right. However, The Talented Mr. Ripley wasn’t the first adaptation of Highsmith’s novel; it was originally brought to the screen in 1960 as Purple Moon, starring Alain Delon.
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The Talented Mr. Ripley didn’t just give us a thrilling tale—it gifted us one of Jude Law’s most swoon-worthy looks. With his sun-kissed blonde waves and a smirk that could melt gelato faster than an Italian summer, he wasn’t just acting; he was posing. Jude Law cemented his ’90s heartthrob status and scored an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Honestly, who could resist that tantalizing gaze? Certainly not us, and probably not the Academy either.
jude law in the talented mr. ripley is genuinely one of the most beautiful an actor has ever looked in a movie… pic.twitter.com/rT0EyPUkpJ https://t.co/GQnMWh0p3c
— chu (@THEHORRORGOTH) December 30, 2024
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The Talented Mr. Ripley also brought in Matt Damon into the mix to play the titular role after having just cemented his name in Hollywood with Good Will Hunting for which he won a Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards along with eight other nominations for the film. Who knew neon green shorts paired with glasses would make us all swoon when he walked into the screen 25 years ago!
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Fast forward to 2024, and Netflix has reimagined the story once more with Andrew Scott taking on the lead role in the series adaptation Ripley. The premise of the new mini TV series reads:
“A grifter named Ripley living in New York during the 1960s is hired by a wealthy man to bring his vagabond son home from Italy.”
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You can stream Ripley on Netflix and The Talented Mr. Ripley on Prime Video or Apple TV.