Believe It or Not

Why ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'' almost wasn't made. Gwyneth
Paltrow and Cate Blanchett explain that their new movie was
a tough sell.

by Liane Bonin
EW daily news
December 24, 1999, 6:00 a.m.


The Oscar hype is already building for Matt Damon and Gwyneth
Paltrow's ''The Talented Mr. Ripley,'' but the industry's love
for the thriller wasn't always so strong. ''The whole process
of getting the movie made was difficult because the film
breaks a lot of the rules that you expect from studio
filmmaking,'' explains producer Sydney Pollack. ''First of
all, you've got Matt Damon, the young girls' heartthrob, and
he doesn't kiss a girl or end up with Gwyneth Paltrow, but
ends up falling in love with a guy and murdering him. It was
tough every step of the way.''

Even before production began, filmmakers who had optioned
other books in the ''Ripley'' series, by author Patricia
Highsmith, began kicking up a fuss. ''They tried to block us
by saying they were going to film their versions first,'' says
Pollack. And then wooing strong female actors to the project
proved to be a challenge for director Anthony Minghella (''The
English Patient'') because of the book's harsh view of its
female characters. ''I wasn't allowed to read the book,'' says
Gwyneth Paltrow. ''Anthony forbid me.''

Although Minghella fleshed out Paltrow's character, Marge, a
free-spirited aspiring novelist, it still took some effort for
the actress to find her heart. ''I liked Marge. I thought she
was sweet, but I thought she was lighter (in the script),''
Paltrow says. ''I didn't realize she was so fantastic and deep
and warm and complicated until I began shooting the film, which
is a testament to my own stupidity.''

Once filming started, the complications continued -- especially
when Matt Damon's star power created chaos on the set. ''Matt
is able to deal with his public very gracefully, which was
difficult when we were shooting because there were thousands of
screaming tourists who became our audience,'' says costar Cate
Blanchett. ''It was like doing street theater. The Italians all
thought he was Leonardo DiCaprio, but when they found out he
wasn't they didn't really care and kept screaming.''