Currently riding high at the UK box office in slapstick comedy "Johnny English", John Malkovich is playing it for laughs with a distinctly darker edge in "Ripley's Game", adapted from the novel by Patricia Highsmith.
Were you familiar with Patricia Highsmith's books?
I'm very familiar with the books. I almost directed "The Talented Mr Ripley", the original novel of the series, and was in negotiations for the rights of "Plein Soleil". That too was to direct.
There's a marked change in the Ripley you portray from Matt Damon's take in "The Talented Mr Ripley"...
In the first series of books Ripley could be read as a profoundly repressed homosexual. In the later books he's married to this poodle-like French woman who goes sailing off the Greek isles. So how did that happen? I think the unseen thing about Patricia Highsmith's series is she wasn't afraid to reinvent him, and he just sort of changed with the wind.
Apart from violence, of course, how much is this character like you?
I don't think, personally, I'm much like any character I ever played, including 'John Malkovich' (in "Being John Malkovich"). I don't really see the resemblance at all. It's more a frequency you transmit than something that you fundamentally are.
What do you think people's attraction to the character of Ripley is?
One of the things they like is his ability to act clearly in his perceived self-interest with not a jot of conscience. It makes life very simple, in a way. If someone finds out about some scam you're doing, well, just kill them.
The black humour is the key to character in the film...
Yeah, I always thought it would have to be funny, or no one would watch it. So certainly we worked as hard as we could to try and add those elements, which weren't super strong features of the script.
SPOILER: What I think is funny about Ripley, for instance, is right before he fills the entire bathroom of the train with corpses, he notices that he's smoking in a non-smoking carriage and thinks 'how rude' of himself. Strangling three people to death and blowing one of their brains out doesn't bother him at all. But appearing to be rude enough to smoke in a non-smoking carriage upsets him.
