Is Ripley in Netflix all shot in black and white?

Viewers of Ripley, the latest Netflix thriller drama to delight fans, are wondering if the entire series is set in black and white after tuning in. Here's what you need to know about this dark series. 

Ripley is a brand-new series on Netflix based on the best-selling novel, The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith which was released on Thursday, April 4th, 2024. While fans are already devouring the eight-part series, there is one question that keeps cropping up for fans - is this entire series in black and white?

Is Netflix's Ripley shot entirely in black and white?

The short answer is yes. This isn't a Wizard of Oz-type story that's set to burst into technicolour at some point, but instead, a film with a dark film noir feel that's filmed entirely in black and white. The director and some of the cast members of the series have shed some light on why this creative decision was made and what the impact of this decision has made of the filming of the series.

Why is Netflix's Ripley black and white?

"The edition of the Ripley book I had on my desk had an evocative black-and-white photograph on the cover," Creator of the series, Steve Zaillian, told Vanity Fair when asked about why he didn't choose to shoot the film in colour.  "As I was writing, I held that image in my mind. Black and white fits this story - and it’s gorgeous."

Speaking to IndieWire, he explained further that he felt that black and white felt more honest to the book and added a more sinister feel that was more inline with the themes of the book. "When Patricia wrote it, if she imagined a movie being made from it back then, it would be in black and white," he said. "The cover of that book that I had was in black-and-white, so as I was reading it, it was in my mind to be that way."

"I also felt that this story - the one that she told, the one that I wanted to tell - was quite sinister and quite dark,” he added. “I just couldn’t imagine that taking place in a beautiful Italian setting with bright blue skies and colourful outfits and things like that," he added.

Andrew Scott, who plays Tom Ripley in the series also spoke about how the black-and-white cinematography informs the pacing of the series. "Knowing that the black-and-white nature of cinematography marries in some way with the pacing and the tone of the show, also means that it allows us as actors just to be," he said.

Andrew added that the series is much longer than other film adaptations and therefore has a slower pace which is more like the original novel. "I think the great achievement of this version of the story is how it teaches the audience to watch the show," he said.

"We live in an age of television - not just television but in social media - where you have to say everything really quickly, and you have to say it in 15 characters or less, and you have to get on with it, people have a great obsession with that. But when you’re reading a novel, you can take real pleasure in the description of something over five or six pages. What I love is that sometimes the pacing can actually be very quick, but sometimes we can be really immersed in something. I think that’s a real, real pleasure for the audience," he said.