A familiar American goes to Italy to live his best life in the bloody Netflix series 'Ripley'

NEW YORK (AP) — It's time to take another trip to Italy, to the charming, cobblestoned streets of the Amalfi Coast, sipping coffee at cafes and looking for the la dolce vita. And it just wouldn't be fun without our favorite serial killer, right?

Tom Ripley is back for another turn at wearing dressing gowns and having Champagne on the terrace in “Ripley,” a thrilling new Netflix series based on the enduring character created by novelist Patricia Highsmith in “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” It premieres April 4.

“The idea that we know we’re not supposed to like him, but we do want to see him get away with it is very interesting. What’s it say about us?” asks Steven Zaillian, who created, directed and wrote the eight-episode adaptation.

Andrew Scott steps up to play Ripley, a scrappy check fraudster in grimy New York who is hired to locate a rich dilettante in Italy, but kills him and then impersonates him, leading to more murders and scams.

“Like with any sort of iconic literary character like that, people have very strong opinions — he’s a psychopath, he’s a serial killer,” says Scott. “Part of the challenge was how do you make an audience feel like what it’s like to be Tom Ripley, rather than what is usually done, which is to want to feel like to be a victim of Tom Ripley.”

The eight-hour canvas allows viewers time to watch him figure out how to get out of jams in real time, like a murder he commits in his apartment in the fifth episode. He needs to find the victim’s car, clean up the crime scene, move the body and make it all seem like an alcohol-induced accident.

“I think because we sort of see every little step of how he figures things out and does things that we take part in them,” says Zaillian. “He often doesn’t know what he should do next, and neither do we. And so we become part of the process in that way.”

Scott, known for his stage work, the Emmy-winning “Fleabag” and recent film “All of Us Strangers,” says it may take some viewers raised on TikTok a little while to adjust to a more sedate, deliberate storytelling pace — one in which characters climb staircases, look at waves and make small talk. There is time to watch where an ashtray is bought before it's later used to bludgeon someone to death.

“You have to teach the audience how to watch it to a certain degree,” he says. “There’s certain times the pacing is really quite fast and there’s certain times where you think this would take time and you have to stay with the agony and the thrill and the tension when things aren’t going right. That’s the way life is.”

Zaillian, an Oscar winner for the screenplay of “Schindler’s List,” refused a suggestion to update Highsmith's book series and is careful to keep everything very early 1960s, even filming it all in black and white, like “Schindler’s List.”

“It puts us in that time period effortlessly and immediately. But more than that, I did not want what I would call a color postcard sort of Italy for this story, with sunny blue skies and lots of colorful outfits. That was not something I saw in my mind when I read the book and not something that I wanted to do in the show,” he says.

If other TV shows are dialogue-driven, “Ripley” is more interested in the spaces between dialogue. It's all about suspicious looks, wary interactions and putting on a brave face with police inspectors and hotel clerks.

“I was so excited by getting to communicate so much with micro-movements in the face and a look — that thing where you can read someone’s thoughts through their eyes,” says Dakota Fanning, who plays the suspicious girlfriend of the rich dilettante Dickie Greenleaf.

Zaillian is faithful to Highsmith's novels but adds some of himself into the series, like making Ripley a fan of Italian painter Caravaggio, who worked with intense and unsettling realism and was also a killer.

“I found as I was writing it there’s actually a connection between him and Caravaggio. They were both these sort of rascals and both ended up killing somebody. So it sort of grew from a personal moment that I had into a motif and then kind of into an aspect of his character,” he says.

Like Caravaggio, the series is grounded in realism, from the rusty showerheads and the gritty, screeching subways of New York to the crumbling walls and pigeon poop-streaked statues in Italy. Cleaning up blood takes what seems like hours.

Ripley, who over the years has been portrayed by, among others, Matt Damon, John Malkovich, Ian Hart and Dennis Hopper, is played understated by Scott as a killer who makes mistakes, improvises and must double back to correct errors.

Zaillian thought of Scott for the role very early in the casting process, aware of his work in “Fleabag” and as Moriarty on the BBC series "Sherlock." He was smitten.

“I just found him really sort of watchable,” Zaillian says. “I knew that since we spend so much time with somebody alone — there’s a lot of scenes where it’s just us and him — that he has to be watchable. We have to be able to see him think and express himself in a way that lets us know what he’s thinking. And I found that Andrew was able to do that.”

Johnny Flynn, who plays the golden boy Greenleaf, says filming in Italy took him to some of the most beautiful places on the planet but ones that got darker as the summer tourists left and the sun got lower, perfect for a noirish vibe. He and the cast were also reminded that many small Italian towns built on cliffs have many, many steps.

"We were just out of breath all the time," he says, laughing.

Which is what can be said for lots of people who meet Ripley.

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Johnny Flynn, from left, Andrew Scott, and Dakota Fanning pose for a portrait to promote the television miniseries "Ripley" on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

Dakota Fanning poses for a portrait to promote the television miniseries "Ripley" on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

Dakota Fanning poses for a portrait to promote the television miniseries "Ripley" on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley in a scene from "Ripley." (Netflix via AP)

Johnny Flynn poses for a portrait to promote the television miniseries "Ripley" on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Johnny Flynn in a scene from "Ripley." (Netflix via AP)

Andrew Scott poses for a portrait to promote the television miniseries "Ripley" on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Dakota Fanning in a scene from "Ripley." (Netflix via AP)

Andrew Scott poses for a portrait to promote the television miniseries "Ripley" on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley in a scene from "Ripley." (Netflix via AP)

Johnny Flynn, from left, Andrew Scott, and Dakota Fanning pose for a portrait to promote the television miniseries "Ripley" on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Jerry Seinfeld has been responsible for more movies than you think.

Yes, he co-wrote and lent his voice to 2007's “Bee Movie." But before that, “Seinfeld” — where going to the movies, with or without the aid of Moviefone, was nearly as regular a destination as the coffee shop — gave birth to dozens of (fake) films. “Rochelle, Rochelle." “Prognosis Negative.” “Sack Lunch."

But nearly three decades after Seinfeld was, in one episode, cajoled into bootlegging “Death Blow," he has finally made his first film. Seinfeld directed, co-wrote and stars in “Unfrosted,” a star-studded comedy about the invention of the Pop-Tart premiering May 3 on Netflix.

The film, which co-stars Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Hugh Grant and others, is an outlandish, “Mad Men”-inspired ‘60s-set satire in which Kellogg’s and Post Cereal are engaged in a cutthroat race to “upend America’s breakfast table.”

“When you see any scene of it you go, ‘What is that?’ And I was very happy about that,” Seinfeld said in a recent interview. “I like that you look at it and go, ‘I don’t know what this is.’”

For Seinfeld, who has resolutely stuck to stand-up since “Seinfeld" ended in 1998, it's a rare post-sitcom project, joining a short and sporadic list including the short-lived reality series “The Marriage Ref” and the popular streaming show "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”

“Unfrosted," though, returns Seinfeld to one of his abiding passions. Remember all those cereal boxes in his apartment on “Seinfeld"? The Pop-Tart is a particular fascination, though. In his 2020 comedy special “23 Hours to Kill,” it formed an extended bit beginning with the childhood memory: “When they invented the Pop-Tart, the back of my head blew right off."

For Seinfeld, the Pop-Tart has an almost mythical quality. A movie about Oreos or Milk Duds or even Junior Mints wouldn't work, he says. But the Pop-Tart is different.

“A lot of it is the word. It’s a funny word," says Seinfeld. “I heard Mattel is trying to do a Hot Wheels movie. That could work. Certain things really got us when we were kids, you know?”

In a wide-ranging interview, Seinfeld discussed subjects large and small.

SEINFELD: The idea occurred right in that moment. I said, “Hey, let’s talk about the finale right now.” We had been talking about it all day because it was their finale. We were just talking about series finales all day. And I was saying that “Mad Men” was my favorite and I thought “The Sopranos” one was great, and obviously ours was what it was.

SEINFELD: Well, I think what we said in that scene. We thought, “Yeah, that would have been better.” (Laughs) It’s very hard to remember. The emotional state I was in after nine years was a little ragged. Maybe we weren’t thinking quite clearly. The idea of doing that on his show — the math of it is really amazing. To do that, two people have to have two successful long-running sitcoms and they have to be playing themselves, with a 25-year separation. When I was driving home that night on the 10 in LA, my head was exploding because of the math of what just happened — to set something up in ’98 and pay it off in ’23. For a joke person like me, I felt like I landed on the moon.

SEINFELD: It was all (“Seinfeld" writer) Spike Feresten’s idea. I did not want to do it. I did not think it would work. What’s a movie about inventing the Pop-Tart? That’s not funny. And (“Seinfeld” writer) Andy Robin came up with the idea that it’s “The Right Stuff.” And I went, “Oh, that’s funny.”

SEINFELD: Yes, “Oppenheimer.” I think it’s a fun game if anyone wants to play — how many movies we stole from. Obviously, “The Godfather,” obviously “The Right Stuff.” At one point, I was going to say, “I’ll bury you under the ground, Eli,” from “There Will Be Blood.” And we weren’t even going to explain it. The character’s name wasn’t Eli.

SEINFELD: I probably just said that to make that point. But I do love Pop-Tarts. I had one yesterday. We were doing a social media piece with Jimmy Fallon and Meghan Trainor. I took a bite and I went, “This is fantastic.” What I like about it is the man-made quality of it. I love great objects that fit in your hand in a nice way. A pack of cigarettes is one of the greatest things you can put in your hand. It just feels great. Dice feel great. I like a nice spoon. I like things. (Laughs)

SEINFELD: Yeah, but we were started long before that. I was a little disappointed that I suddenly became part of a trend but there was nothing we could do about it.

SEINFELD: For me, I love men in suits talking about something stupid, like cereal and puffs and sprinkles.

SEINFELD: I started a bit the other night about your kitchen sponge on the sink looking up at you going: “I don’t know how much more you think I have. I was done two months ago.” Now it’s just growing and growing into a monologue of your kitchen sponge telling you, “Let me go! Let me die a rectangle, not in pieces.” When I lock on to something like that, I just want to see how far I can go with it, how long will they let me talk about this.

SEINFELD: No.

SEINFELD: Very much. This is my “Fabelmans.” Because I’m not interested in my life. I’m interested in eating.

SEINFELD: I don’t have the fluency. Your comedic thing, whatever it is, it only works on certain things. My thing only works on these dumb things.

SEINFELD: I’ve discussed this at length with my friend Joel Hodgson (“Mystery Science 3000”) and he’s incredibly articulate on this subject, which is: The throw-away culture of our childhood was not throw-away to us. We deeply love these things and they were meaningful in their meaninglessness.

SEINFELD: My attitude, I think, was more talking to comedians. I think comedians, if they want to survive throughout their life doing this, they have to pay close attention to the laughs. No less value in what he’s doing, but I would worry about how long would this last for in your life. But, yeah, that’s a good point. We were both right, just different.

SEINFELD: To the end. To the very end.

SEINFELD: Yeah. The only hard part of my life is the other things. People do ask me about slowing down and I go, “The work part of my life is not stand-up. It’s all the other things.” Stand-up is an incredible, pure experience. Surfing is the great regret of my life that I never really got good at that. I did it for two weeks one time many years ago. But if you were a surfer, you would never stop doing it. That’s what stand-up is for me. Feeling that energy, that natural life-force energy under you and around you, I never get tired of that.

SEINFELD: No, I’m not. I’m not sure of it as a comedy form for me right now. I would love to think of something else, if I even wanted to do it — which I don’t right now. Like, “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” the subtext of that is: I’m really sick of talk shows on TV. That’s why I did that. And let me show you why. We don’t want to see them sitting on a couch anymore. The people who are doing it aren’t having any fun doing it. That was my anti-talk show. So I would want to do an anti-stand-up special if I did one. I envy, sometimes, these little Italian artisans who don’t really care if anybody knows who they are or what they do. And stand-up can be like that. Any writing work is very lonely work. Stand-up, in a way, is kind of a private, lonely world. I’m going to Dayton, Ohio, on Friday. No one’s going to know what happened there. I’m very attracted to that. I’m more attracted to that than, “Hey everyone, I made a movie.” My way, if I had my choice, is that I would like to do this work very quietly and privately.

SEINFELD: That’s possible. But it never felt like me. Larry and I, when we first started to do the show thought: This will be a really fun, little boutique thing that will just get our people that like this kind of quirky, off-beat thing, and that would be cool. What it became was never on our radar. Then, suddenly, you’re a big wave surfer. I think it was tougher on Larry than for me. Because you feel the pressure. I never minded the pressure.

SEINFELD: That age around 10 to 12, they seem to find it. They have no idea what it is at first. (Laughs) I think the credit all really goes to Jason (Alexander), Michael (Richards) and Julia (Louis-Dreyfus) — what they did with those characters, the color that they found in all of those characters. Larry and I, we were just doing these silly conversations, but they made it so accessible. They deserve the credit for the success of the show.

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

This image released by Netflix shows Amy Schumer, facing camera from left, Max Greenfield, Melissa McCarthy and Jerry Seinfeld in a scene from "Unfrosted." (John P. Johnson/Netflix via AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Christian Slater, left, and Jerry Seinfeld in a scene from "Unfrosted." (John P. Johnson/Netflix via AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Melissa McCarthy, from left, Jerry Seinfeld and Jim Gaffigan in a scene from "Unfrosted." (Netflix via AP)

Jerry Seinfeld poses for a portrait to promote the film "Unfrosted" on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Victoria Will/Invision/AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Jim Gaffigan, from left, Jerry Seinfeld, Fred Armisen, seated, and Melissa McCarthy in a scene from "Unfrosted." (John P. Johnson/Netflix via AP)

Jerry Seinfeld poses for a portrait to promote the film "Unfrosted" on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Victoria Will/Invision/AP)

Jerry Seinfeld poses for a portrait to promote the film "Unfrosted" on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Victoria Will/Invision/AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Jerry Seinfeld, from left, Adrian Martinez, Jack McBrayer, Thomas Lennon, Bobby Moynihan and James Marsden in a scene from "Unfrosted." (John P. Johnson/Netflix via AP)

Jerry Seinfeld poses for a portrait to promote the film "Unfrosted" on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Victoria Will/Invision/AP)