Showtime(R) Orders Drama Series "Ripley" with Andrew Scott in Title Role

SHOWTIME ORDERS DRAMA SERIES 'RIPLEY' WITH ANDREW SCOTT IN TITLE ROLE

Oscar^® Winner Steven Zaillian To Write And Direct All Eight Episodes

Of Series Based On Patricia Highsmith Novels

 

Photo: Michael Buckner/SHOWTIME

LOS ANGELES – September 25, 2019 – SHOWTIME has ordered the first eight-episode season of the ongoing drama series RIPLEY, based on Patricia Highsmith’s bestselling quintet of Tom Ripley novels. BAFTA^® Award winner Andrew Scott (Fleabag, Sherlock) will star in the title role of Tom Ripley. Oscar and Golden Globe^® winner and Emmy^® nominee Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List, The Night Of) will write and direct the entire first season. The announcement was made today by Gary Levine and Jana Winograde, Presidents of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc.

In the series, Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son to return home. Tom's acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder.

“We are so thrilled to have the supremely talented filmmaker, Steve Zaillian, adapt the singular saga of Tom Ripley from Patricia Highsmith’s novels as an ongoing series for SHOWTIME,” said Levine. “With Andrew Scott, whose charisma knows no bounds, inhabiting the iconic lead role, we feel confident that this will be a special one.”

Before his memorable performance in Fleabag as the Priest, Scott won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Moriarty in Sherlock and the British Film Independent Award for his work in CBS Films’ Pride. His other film and TV credits include His Dark Materials, Black Mirror, Spectre, King Lear, The Hour, Foyle’s War, John Adams, and Lennon Naked. Scott is also an Olivier Award-winning theatre actor. His most recent work in the United Kingdom includes Present Laughter at The Old Vic, Hamlet (for which he won the Critics Circle Award and was nominated for an Olivier Award and The Evening Standard Award) and Birdland.

Zaillian won Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA screenplay awards for Schnidler’s List and was also nominated for all three honors for his work on Moneyball. He has received two other Oscar nominations, for Gangs of New York and Awakenings, as well as BAFTA noms for Gangs of New York and American Gangster. In addition, he received Emmy nominations in both writing and directing and won the DGA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for The Night Of, which he executive produced and which also received an Outstanding Limited Series nomination. Zaillian also directed and wrote the screenplays for A Civil Action and Searching for Bobby Fischer. His writing credits also include The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Interpreter, Hannibal, Clear and Present Danger and The Falcon and the Snowman.

RIPLEY is co-produced by SHOWTIME and Endemol Shine North America in association with Entertainment 360 and FILMRIGHTS. Executive producers are Steven Zaillian, Garrett Basch, Guymon Casady, Ben Forkner, Sharon Levy and Philipp Keel of Diogenes. Scott will serve as a producer on the series.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME^®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL^™ and FLIX^®, and also offers SHOWTIME ON DEMAND^®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL^™ ON DEMAND and FLIX ON DEMAND^®, and the network's authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME^®. Showtime Digital Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SNI, operates the stand-alone streaming service SHOWTIME^®. SHOWTIME is currently available to subscribers via cable, DBS, and telco providers, and as a stand-alone streaming service through Amazon, Apple^®, Google, LG Smart TVs, Oculus Go, Roku^®, Samsung Smart TVs and Xbox One. Consumers can also subscribe to SHOWTIME via Amazon’s Prime Video Channels, Apple TV Channels, AT&T TV Now, FuboTV, Hulu, The Roku Channel, Sling TV, Sony PlayStation^™ Vue, and YouTube TV. Viewers can also watch on computers at Showtime.com. SNI also manages Pop TV, a CBS network, and owns and operates Smithsonian Networks^™, which offers Smithsonian Channel^™ and Smithsonian Channel Plus™. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV. For more information, go to www.SHO.com.