The works of Patricia Highsmith were revived not too long ago with an adaptation of arguably her most famous novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Previously made into a movie starring Matt Damon and Jude Law, the new version was a limited series headlined by Andrew Scott. While the show ended with a tease of more, Netflix hasn’t announced another season. This year was particularly eventful for fans of Highsmith’s writing, but for wholly unexpected reasons. She appeared as a character in not one but two films, and now, one of them is all set to debut on the PVOD market.
The movie in question will be followed by The Murderous Miss Highsmith, which imagines the writer’s life as a horror movie. Highsmith is played by Shailene Woodley in the upcoming film. Meanwhile, Helen Mirren plays Highsmith in a recently released thriller directed by Anton Corbijn. The film follows a young man who travels to Europe to convince Highsmith to write another installment in the Ripley series, but with sinister consequences.
Alden Ehrenreich plays the fan, while Olivia Cooke appears in a supporting role. The movie premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this year and was subsequently released in theaters on October 23. The film didn’t enjoy a wide release, peaking at 874 theaters in its first week. Having grossed roughly $1.1 million at the domestic box office so far, the film’s theater count has been reduced to 34.
Collider Exclusive · Villain Personality Quiz Which Criminal Mastermind Would Be Your Nemesis? Lecter · Joker · Moriarty · Chigurh
Four of the finest criminal minds ever put on screen. One of them would look at you and see something worth their time. Eight questions decide which one comes for you, why they picked you, and what they would want when they arrived.
🍷Lecter
🃏Joker
♟️Moriarty
🪙Chigurh
01
What would a criminal mastermind notice about you first? Great villains choose their opponents carefully. Something about you got their attention.
02
How do they make first contact? The introduction tells you everything about what is coming next.
03
What do you actually believe about right and wrong? Every nemesis is really an argument about the thing you believe most.
04
What finally gets under your skin? Everybody has a pressure point. Finding yours is the whole plan.
05
They have made their move. How do you fight back? This is the part of the film where the audience finds out who you are.
06
What would they use against you? A good villain never brings a weapon you have not already handed them.
07
What do they actually want from you? The money is never the point. Something else always is.
08
How does it end between the two of you? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who comes for you.
The Case File Is Complete Your Nemesis Is…
Four criminal masterminds. One of them was always going to be yours.
Here is who comes for you, why they picked you out of everyone available, and what they want from
the encounter.
The Silence of the Lambs · Hannibal · 1991–2002
Hannibal Lecter
Your nemesis does not want to beat you. He wants to know you
completely, and he is patient enough to wait for it. The frightening part is how good the
conversation is.
Lecter is the most dangerous kind of opponent: the one who finds you interesting. He
never raises his voice, because he has never needed to.
You keep a great deal to yourself and you are careful about what you show. That reserve
is exactly the door he would knock on.
The films understood something other thrillers missed. The horror is not the violence.
It is being perfectly understood by the wrong person.
He would be unfailingly polite about all of it. That is the worst part.
Batman · The Dark Knight · 1989–2019
The Joker
Your nemesis is not after money, territory or revenge. He is
after a demonstration, and you are the person he has chosen to prove his point on.
The Joker only picks opponents who believe in something. Your decency is not a defence
against him. It is the entire reason he showed up.
He has no plan you can predict and nothing you can take away, which removes every tool
you would normally reach for.
His whole argument is that you are one bad day away from being him, and you would spend
the rest of your life proving him wrong.
He would call it a magic trick. You would call it the worst night of your life.
Sherlock Holmes · The Final Problem · Since 1893
Moriarty
Your nemesis respects you, which sounds flattering until you work
out what it means. He chose you because nobody else was worth his time.
Moriarty is the original criminal mastermind, the template every later one borrows from:
a mind the equal of the hero’s, pointed the wrong way.
You enjoy being the cleverest person in the room. He is counting on exactly that, and he
has already built the room.
This is the rare nemesis who would be genuinely disappointed if you lost badly. He needs
the game to be worth playing.
It ends the way these things always end. Two people, one problem, and only one way down.
No Country for Old Men · 2007
Anton Chigurh
Your nemesis has no personal interest in you whatsoever, and that
is precisely what makes him unsurvivable. You are not a rival. You are a stop on the way.
Chigurh does not negotiate, gloat or explain. He arrives, he asks one question, and the
answer was decided long before you opened your mouth.
You trust yourself to handle things. He is the one problem in the world that has no
interest in how capable you are.
No Country for Old Men rewrote the screen villain by removing the thing audiences
quietly rely on: the sense that talking might work.
Call it. He will wait.
Here’s When You Can Watch the Thriller at Home
We’re talking, of course, about A Talent for Murder. The movie received positive reviews and now holds a “Certified Fresh” 78% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The site’s consensus reads, “Helen Mirren and Alden Ehrenreich make for a fittingly diabolical pair in A Talent for Murder, which playfully dispenses with the facts of Patricia Highsmith’s legacy to have some slippery fun with her renowned fiction.” The film will debut on the PVOD market on November 17.
Also releasing on the same day are Christopher Nolan‘s blockbuster epic The Odyssey, which received a customary six-month theatrical window and grossed $1.8 billion worldwide, and the action film The Beast, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Joel Kinnaman. Mirren was recently seen in the second season of the blockbuster Paramount+ series MobLand, which has been renewed for a third installment. You can watch A Talent for Murder at home this week and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date
October 23, 2026
Runtime
106 minutes
Director
Anton Corbijn
Writers
Joanna Murray-Smith
Producers
Andrea Occhipinti, Andrew Mason, Gabrielle Tana, Karl Spoerri, Marc Furmie, Troy Lum, Michael Glassman, Jim Robison, Luke Randolph, Kurt Martin
