Today brings joy to enthusiasts of Patricia Highsmith and Dame Helen Mirren alike. The trailer for Anton Corbijn’s new Ripley-adjacent feature, A Taste for Murder, is finally here.
The film stars Alden Ehrenreich, Olivia Cooke, and a nearly unrecognizable Helen Mirren. The story centers on a determined agent who travels to the Swiss hinterlands to persuade Highsmith to pen one final entry in her renowned Ripley series. Yet, as is typical in Highsmith’s world, events take a sinister turn.
Have a look at the trailer.
A Talent for Murder serves as an adaptation of Joanna Murray-Smith’s 2014 stage play, Switzerland.
In Switzerland, Highsmith is portrayed as a recluse in the Alpine depths, vigilantly safeguarding a cache of weapons and secrets accrued over a long career of crafting mysteries.
The play was staged in Bristol, Sydney, and Los Angeles, and Murray-Smith is adapting her own script for the screen version.
This project enters a long tradition of Ripley adaptations. A cadre of international filmmakers—René Clément, Wim Wenders, and Anthony Minghella among them—have tackled Tom Ripley and his author. The nefarious con man most recently appeared on screen in a Netflix adaptation led by Andrew Scott. Yet we remain purists when it comes to source material.
What stands firm is the prospect that centering on Highsmith could inject new energy into a narrative that has long revolved around its magnetic central cipher. And naturally, we are eager to discover what Dame Helen’s interpretation brings to the role.
The movie is set for theatrical release on October 23.
