Andrew Scott has proved himself to be one of TV’s most versatile actors in recent years, from the Hot Priest in Fleabag to Jim Moriarty in Sherlock.
Starring as the cunning titular character in the miniseries based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, the role required Andrew to tap into his darker side – while also pulling off a pretty demanding linguistic challenge on top of that.
Speaking on a recent episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, the actor revealed that about 15% of his screen time required him to speak authentic Italian, which he confessed was “genuinely terrifying” because an authentic portrayal of the character would mean he’s “good at speaking Italian”.
“So, I’m an Irishman that’s playing an American speaking Italian, but I’m also an Irishman playing an American imitating another American, speaking Italian,” he explained.
“It’s a lot,” he said, adding that it’s for “one’s own pride” to ensure he got it right.
The All Of Us Strangers actor’s admission echoed comments he recently shared with HuffPost UK, revealing that the language aspect was definitely “scary”.
“It’s making me nervous thinking that,” he joked, before reminding himself that “it’s over” now.
“I love the fact that, of course, Tom is so talented that he would be good at speaking in Italy. So that was an added pressure.”
Critics praised Andrew’s take on Tom Ripley as “mesmerising”, “phenomenal” and “transcendent”, while others hailed the series as “one of the best shows Netflix has ever done”.
But while the Spectre actor still has plenty to share about his latest role, the Irish star recently had some rather blunt words for fans still hung up on Fleabag.