Inside the Stunning, Devious Cinematography of Netflix's 'Ripley'

Ripley is an unusual show for many reasons, but chief among them might be its astounding visual command. All eight episodes of Netflix’s limited series, adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s iconic novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, are directed by writer and creator Steven Zaillian, and they’re all lensed by cinematographer Robert Elswit. This singular vision gives Ripley both an impressive aesthetic cohesion and a radical kind of ambition. The camerawork and lighting are playful, risky, curious, and endlessly surprising—not to mention rather gorgeous.

Neither Elswit nor Zaillian has done much work in TV outside of their previous collaboration, the Emmy-winning HBO hit The Night Of. (Elswit is known for lensing films helmed by Paul Thomas Anderson, including his Oscar-winning work on There Will Be Blood, while Zaillian is a five-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter, winning once for Schindler’s List.) Their Ripley follows the events of the book more closely than Anthony Minghella’s Oscar-nominated 1999 film, The Talented Mr. Ripley—in part because it has nearly eight hours of storytelling space. We meet Andrew Scott’s enigmatic grifter in ’50s New York before he’s tapped to find the wealthy scion Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) and his girlfriend, Marge (Dakota Fanning), as they live out an escapist fantasy on the sun-dappled beaches of Italy. What follows is a dizzying saga of lust, murder, impersonation, and deception, all captured in radiant black-and-white. 

“I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have this high contrast film-noir style,” Zaillian says. “We didn’t want to do anything that was familiar to us… I didn’t want to make a pretty travelogue.”

With the show now streaming on Netflix, Zaillian and Elswit joined Vanity Fair for a comprehensive breakdown of Ripley’s visual storytelling. The pair pulled over a dozen shots and frames from Ripley that reflect some of their major goals and themes behind the camera, which contribute to its singular and immersive feel. These images and conversation cover all eight episodes, so while plot details are kept to a minimum, light spoilers follow.

Film Noir Lighting