Helen Mirren and Alden Ehrenreich on Playing Tom Ripley and His Creator Patricia Highsmith

For their new film A Talent for Murder

Dame Helen Mirren loves knives.

That was my favorite takeaway when I recently spoke with the Academy Award winner for her new film A Talent for Murder, which she stars in alongside Alden Ehrenreich (Weapons, Solo: A Star Wars Story).

Directed by Anton Corbijn, the film is an adaptation of the 2014 Joanna Murray-Smith play Switzerland, which focuses on a fictional story about real-life author Patricia Highsmith. Highsmith, who died in 1995, is best remembered for creating the con-man serial killer character Tom Ripley, the main character in The Talented Mr. Ripley and four additional novels by Highsmith. In real life, Highsmith was regarded as a mysterious and controversial figure, and while Mirren’s performance is based on the real Highsmith, the film portrays a fictionalized version of the author who meets a young man named Edward Ridgeway (Ehrenreich) from a New York publishing house trying to get her to write her sixth Ripley book. Ehrenreich also plays Tom Ripley himself as the film chronicles the dual narrative of Highsmith and the publisher, as well as the Ripley story they are crafting.

Highsmith is portrayed as rather eccentric in the film (as she was in real life), which includes the author having a love for knives and guns. Ridgeway even gifts her a knife early in the story, which Highsmith uses at various times throughout the film. So, when Mirren and Ehrenreich joined Polygon for an interview, my first question was how comfortable she was with wielding the knife.

“I loved it,” Mirren laughed. “The knives, the gun, there’s nothing like a good prop, you know. We actors, we love our props.”

Ehrenreich then chimed in and asked Mirren “Don’t you have knives? Don’t you also collect them?”

“I do love knives. Yes, I do. I don't exactly collect them,” answered Mirren. “I went to school in a convent in England and I used to take the bus. Opposite the bus stop, there was this knife shop — you know, those shops that have knives and scissors and things. I used to just love standing there, looking at all these beautiful knives. I do find knives very beautiful — the handle, the balance, the steel — I am fascinated with knives.”

Why Helen Mirren wanted to play Patricia Highsmith

The opportunity to use a knife was not what convinced her to portray Highsmith in A Talent for Murder.

“What was motivating for me was a great script, honestly — a great page-turning script and the interest of playing a character like Patricia Highsmith” said Mirren.

As for how she prepared for the part, Mirren said she did watch some interviews with the reclusive Highsmith, but “there's very little, unfortunately.”

“Thank God for YouTube. YouTube is an amazing resource for actors preparing almost anything. There were little tiny bits of a protracted interview that she did for British television, but she was on her best behavior. And there's another little, fascinating clip of her later in her life — around the time that I play her — and that was invaluable.”

How Alden Ehrenreich prepared to play Tom Ripley

The character of Tom Riply has been played by several actors in the past in various adaptations of Highsmith’s work. Matt Damon’s portrayal in the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley may be the most famous in recent history, but Riply was also played by the likes of Dennis Hopper, John Malkovich, and several others. Given that, I asked Ehrenreich if he went back to any previous portrayals of Ripley for his own take on the character.

“The only one I went and watched again was Purple Noon,” said Ehrenreich, pointing to the 1960 film which contained the first onscreen portrayal of Tom Ripley, as played by Alain Delon. “When I was researching this, that was the one that Highsmith really loved, so I wanted to see, ‘Okay well if, if the Alain Delon version was sort of what she had in her head, and the version of Ripley I'm playing in this is certainly through Highsmith's imagination,’ so I was curious about seeing that.”

“And he’s just so good-looking,” Ehrenreich said of Alain Delon

Helen Mirren agrees: “So beautiful. He’s so gorgeous, yes.”

A Talent for Murder is in theaters now.