The Talented Mr. Ripley

Anthony Minghella changed the ending when he adapted Patricia Highsmith. In the novel Ripley is never caught: he keeps the money, settles into comfort, and Highsmith carried him through four further books. The film has him strangle Peter aboard the liner to Greece. The trigger is Meredith Logue, played by Cate Blanchett, a character written for the film and absent from the novel. Minghella expanded her as he watched Blanchett work, so the knot that closes the story is tied to her. Matt Damon dropped about 13.5 kilos and learned piano; Jude Law put weight on, took up the saxophone and broke a rib filming the murder. Leonardo DiCaprio had turned the role down, and Law refused at first, not wanting to play a pretty boy. Apart from the New York opening, all of it was shot in Italy: Positano, Ischia and Procida for the invented Mongibello, Anzio for San Remo, plus Rome and Venice. The Academy nominated the film five times, none converted: Jude Law for supporting actor, plus art direction, costume design, original score and adapted screenplay. A good fit if you already know what Ripley has done and want suspense from when the impersonation cracks, not whether he is caught. Not for you if you want the cool, unpunished finish the novel gives him.