Why Matt Damon 'had trouble' watching the Ripley miniseries: 'It was hard'

Matt Damon isn’t quite ready to head back to 1960s Italy for a binge of Andrew Scott’s Ripley series.

Now that the latest adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s bestselling novel has arrived, Damon is reflecting on his own tenure as the villainous protagonist, Tom Ripley, in 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley. During a recent interview with IndieWire, the actor seemed unsure when asked if he would ever reprise his role as the chameleonic con artist.

"I don’t know,” Damon answered. “I associate the one that we did so much with Anthony Minghella, who’s passed away now, that I don’t know.”

He admitted, “I even had trouble watching the new one, as beautiful as it was and as great as everybody was.”

Hemled by Oscar winner Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List, The Night Of), the Netflix series tells the familiar story of a scammer scraping by in early-'60s New York until he falls into a world of opulence that changes everything, leading him to pave a new path colored by deceit, fraud, darkness, and, of course, murder.

This latest iteration of Tom Ripley’s story stars Scott in the titular role, accompanied by Johnny Flynn as wayward elite Dickie Greenleaf and Dakota Fanning as the suspicious Marge Sherwood.

Reflecting on his experience with the show, Damon said, “It was hard at first for me to sink back into it just because I have so many great memories, but they’re all wrapped up in these personal feelings about the experience.”

Damon starred alongside Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Cate Blanchett in the 1999 movie. Minghella, who additionally helmed such films as Truly Madly Deeply, The English Patient, and Cold Mountain, died from a hemorrhage in 2008. He was 54.

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Law, who earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Dickie, expressed his enthusiasm for the Netflix series when it arrived back in April. At the same time, he admitted to having a complicated emotional reaction of his own.

"Like any great source material, it's really rewarding and interesting to watch something from a new perspective, a new angle,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “Steve Zaillian's, in many ways, couldn't be further from Anthony's. It's very interesting to see what scenes and threads still come to the surface, even if they are very different stylistically and in their pacing."

He added, “I haven't watched the one I'm in in many, many years. So, it was funny how many of the scenes are similar and kicked up so many memories in my mind. And how well I knew it. I kept thinking, 'Oh God, I remember this.' Down to the name of Dickie's maid, Ermelinda. I always remember saying, 'Ermelinda, Ermelinda.' There was an emotional level, too, to revisiting those characters."