Saw this awhile back actually, maybe even over a month or so, but just noticed it was on my queue of blog entries that haven’t been published yet. This movie was excellent. Philip Seymore Hoffman gave an excellent performance, though it was confusing to tell what Capote was really feeling, though I’m pretty sure that was part of the amazing performance he put up.
Official Site
IMDb: 7.8/10 (10,845 votes)
Yahoo! Movies: The Critics: A- / Yahoo! Users: B+
Rotten Tomatoes: RATING: FRESH / READING: 91%
Apple Trailer
Amazon.com DVD
Amazon.com Soundtrack
Spoilers: (Show)
Story is pretty straightforward. It’s the story of Truman Capote and how he came about writing In Cold Blood. What was amazing was the performance by the actors and how they were able to express the confusion and inner turmoil so well.
At times, you think Capote was only helping the killers to get his story. Other times, you feel that Capote is really trying to help them from the bottom of his heart. I think Capote himself didn’t know what he was trying to do and to actually see the men hung in front of his face must’ve been devastating.
One of the interesting facts was that Harper Lee (author of To Kill a Mockingbird) was Capote’s research assistance for this book. From Wikipedia: Capote was a lifelong friend of Monroeville neighbor Harper Lee and was the inspiration for the character of Dill in her best-seller To Kill a Mockingbird. Capote frequently implied that he himself had written a considerable portion of her novel; some even say he ghosted the entire novel. At least one person — Pearl Kazin Bell, an editor at Harper’s — has gone on record as believing his assertions were true. It is widely asserted, however, that Capote would likely have been much more aggressive in claiming credit for the novel’s Pulitzer Prize had he been the real author. Capote never achieved a Pulitzer for his own work. His persona was far more flamboyant than hers and their writing styles reflect this difference. New evidence, in the form of a July 9, 1959 letter from Capote to his aunt indicates, however, that Lee did indeed write the entire book herself and that any claims to the contrary are false.
