Get the latest gossip

Black and White Visuals in ‘Ripley,’ ‘Feud’ and ‘Sugar’ Create ‘Otherworldly’ Settings Perfect for Gritty Murders and Glitzy Balls


The cinematographers behind "Ripley," "Feud" and "Sugar" discuss shooting in black-and-white photography for the TV series.

Black and white serves this narrative purpose well as Tom’s desire for the life of rich playboy Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) becomes more twisted and violent — and that’s exactly what writer/director Steven Zaillian and cinematographer Robert Elswit intended. In the series, Capote’s (Tom Hollander) famous 1966 masquerade event was documented by Albert and David Maysles, the filmmaking duo behind other films such as “Grey Gardens.” The episode’s perspective is almost exclusively through their camera’s lens, anchoring it in a specific cultural moment. In “Ripley,” Zaillian spent months scouting locations in Atrani and across Italy that similarly added interesting visual textures like cobblestones, aged walls and landscapes to each shot.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Variety