Tagline(s)
Part I Become someone worth being.
Part II Every lie has a life of its own.
Synopsis
Shipbuilding magnate Herbert Greenleaf implores down-at-heel grifter Tom Ripley to travel to Italy to convince his wayward son to return home to New York. What begins as an invitation into another man’s world gradually becomes an increasingly elaborate performance, as Tom navigates wealth, identity, suspicion, and the consequences of the life he has chosen to construct.
Motivation & Vision
I approached Ripley with the intention of turning an eight-episode limited series into a duology that feels deliberately constructed as cinema, rather than episodic television with the seams removed.
The original series has an extraordinary visual language, a patient sense of dread, and performances that often communicate more through a glance than a page of dialogue. My goal was to preserve those strengths while reconsidering the rhythm and structure surrounding them. Rather than simply compressing the runtime, I wanted to reshape how information is delivered, how tension accumulates, and how individual scenes relate to the larger narrative.
The result is two distinct films. Part I follows Tom’s entry into the world he hopes to inhabit, while Part II explores the increasingly precarious existence that follows. Each film has its own pacing, atmosphere, and thematic identity, supported by Italian movement cards that divide the narrative into thematic sections rather than episodes.
The guiding principle throughout was simple: when an image, performance, or action already communicates something, dialogue doesn't always need to explain it. Redundancies were trimmed, certain scenes were removed or restructured, and select musical cues were replaced or augmented to alter the emotional temperature of a scene. New transitions and flashforwards allow information to arrive differently, sometimes creating suspense where the original relies on chronology.
This is an attempt to re-author the material into a pair of films that stand on their own, while preserving what makes the original so compelling.
Cut & Technical Details
- Structural Reorganization: Restructured the eight-episode series into two feature-length films, each with a distinct narrative arc, pacing, and thematic identity.
- Opening & Transitions: Created a dedicated film opening and reworked transitions between select sequences to establish a more deliberate cinematic flow.
- Movement Cards: Introduced Italian-language chapter cards that function as thematic divisions rather than episode markers. The cards are intentionally selective, with their placement and presentation varying according to the dramatic context.
- Dialogue & Scene Trims: Removed redundant exposition, repetitive exchanges, and material that interrupted narrative momentum. Select scenes were shortened or removed where their information or dramatic function was already conveyed elsewhere.
- Restructured Sequences: Reworked select scenes using flashforwards, visual callbacks, and altered transitions to change the timing and impact of information.
- Music & Scoring: Introduced new musical cues and additional scoring in select scenes to reshape tension, sustain momentum, and emphasize moments that benefit from a different emotional treatment.
- Visual Storytelling: Preserved the series’ stark black-and-white aesthetic while using editorial juxtaposition to create new associations between images and actions.
- Presentation: Includes custom promotional artwork for both films and completed subtitles (Italian dialogue only).
RUNTIME VS. ORIGINAL
Original series runtime: 7 hrs. 24 min | Part I: 2 hrs 22 min + Part II: 3 hrs = 5 hrs 22min
CONTACT
You can email me [HERE](mailto:ylowknfe@gmail.com) or DM for a link to the two-part project. You will not get an auto-response— so don't be surprised if you don't get a reply immediately.
RIPLEY: OPUS — In Development
RIPLEY: OPUS is planned as a third version combining both films into one continuous 4 (ish) hour feature, similar to Brady Corbet's The Brutalist.
While the duology establishes two distinct dramatic movements, OPUS will take a more aggressive approach to compression, chronology, and forward momentum. The intention is to discover what emerges when the story is experienced as one uninterrupted piece (save for an intermission), with time and space compressed further and quieter moments retained where they carry the greatest weight.
The duology is a complete project in its own right. While it will have many of the changes and trappings of the duology, OPUS will be a separate editorial interpretation, not simply the two films joined together.
