Great Character: Truman Capote (“Capote”)
This month’s theme: Great Philip Seymour Hoffman characters. Today: Guest poster Jason Cuthbert looks at Truman Capote from the 2005 movie Capote, screenplay by Dan Futterman (screenplay), book by Gerald Clarke.
The very first time actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was up for an Academy Award, in 2005’s Capote, he grabbed the Oscar prize — along with the Golden Globe, the BAFTA and the Screen Actors Guild Award while he was at it. For his transformation into the famed writer Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany’s), Philip Seymour Hoffman was directed by a fellow former NYU classmate, Bennett Miller (Moneyball), from a book by Gerald Clarke and a screenplay adapted by Dan Futterman. Truman Capote spread his colorful version of the written word in diverse capacities, such as The New Yorker magazine, screenplays (Beat the Devil), Broadway plays (House of Flowers), short stories (La Cote Basque), and novels — with In Cold Blood being the last long form story he managed to complete and Capote being the story behind that story.
Capote from IMDB:
Truman Capote, during his research for his book In Cold Blood, an account of the murder of a Kansas family, the writer develops a close relationship with Perry Smith, one of the killers.
Moral ambiguity is explored and expressed in Hoffman’s exuberant characterization of Capote’s flamboyant persona. As an openly homosexual man during the 1950’s and 1960’s, decades before legal same-sex marriage and publicly gay mainstream celebrities, Truman Capote was brave, comfortable in his own skin and talented. But along with his vibrant way with words came a drive to thrive that saw few ethical boundaries.
TRUMAN CAPOTE: Sometimes when I think of how good my book is going to be, I can’t breathe.
Capote struggled between having a present romantic partner, and contemplating his romantic desires for his interview subject, convicted murderer Perry Smith. To complicate matters even further, Capote’s connection with Perry inflates into the appearance of an actual friendship in Perry’s eyes, beyond the work at hand.
TRUMAN CAPOTE: It’s as if Perry and I grew up in the same house. And one day he stood up and went out the back door, while I went out the front.
The overlapping perception of caring about Perry and exploiting him begin to become strains on Capote’s psyche that don’t quite rinse out in the wash. Empathy tugs at Capote’s heart while opportunity yanks Capote’s mind in an opposing direction. Whether genuine or not, there becomes an element of dependency that Capote establishes in his complex relationship with Perry during the interviews he conducts to compose the prose found in In Cold Blood. Even the book’s provocative title is intentionally kept a secret from Perry, as it clearly was of no benefit to his ongoing court cases.
TRUMAN CAPOTE: If I leave here without understanding you, the world will see you as a monster. Always. And I don’t want that.
This captivating character study retains its depth from this balancing act of Capote’s moral support for Perry, coupled with his extended disappearances from him. The legitimacy of Perry and Truman’s friendship begins to truly reveal itself as Truman finds himself near completion of his novel In Cold Blood, but waiting on Perry to relinquish the bloody details of the actual murder in order to construct the stories final ending. Capote loses his patience, and seems also prepared to lose Perry’s respect in the process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHaebFoW9UA
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s vital and alive portrayal of Capote’s ego indulgences, fears, manipulations, exaggerations and internal guilt force his body language into these diverse dimensions like clay in a pottery master’s palms. As Truman Capote struggles to complete In Cold Blood, a literary project that prompts his publisher to say: “This book will change how people write,” the questions that the story stimulates make matters even more engaging. “Does Capote owe anything to Perry in the first place?” “Did Perry deserve some truth and transparency about Truman’s intentions?” “Was Truman willing to gamble his social life and friendships in order to complete his work?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdBxXQmvc0s
Truman’s ethical dilemmas stemming from the creation of In Cold Blood were apparently intense enough to keep him from completing another novel. Capote is a classic tale of not only being careful of what you wish for, but also being careful of what extreme’s you are willing to undergo to get your wishes granted.
TRUMAN CAPOTE: More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.
For his magnetic social super powers and the examination of Capote’s guilt trips that lead to dark destinations — Truman Capote is a fascinatingly GREAT CHARACTER.
In February, we remember Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Thank you, Jason, for this post. Please join us in Comments to discuss Hoffman’s superlative performance in the movie Capote.
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