Philip Seymour Hoffman was born to play this role. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I’m already predicting … “and for best actor in a leading role, Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote”.
I’ve only been listening to high praise for PSH on NPR for the last couple of days for this role.
I think he is one of those unappreciated actors and I hope he gets the accolades he deserves.
I take it this is a bio-flick? I hope they throw in some stuff about his work on “Murder By Death”
I think you mean “In Cold Blood” and, yes, the movie is basically entirely about that chapter of his life.
I don’t think it’s a full-on bio-pic like Ray, but mainly focuses on his “In Cold Blood” reporting.
PSH has been one of my favorite actors for a long time. I suspect he’ll get at least a nomination for this role. . .it’s the kind of stuff they love.
BTW, “Murder By Death” is also good, but it’s a goofball comedy from the 1970’s, not a true crime story exploiting two murderers.
well, no, I did mean Murder by Death
I know Capote’s great work is In Cold Blood
I just hope they don’t leave out his foray into comedy. It need only be one scene, but it should be included
What might I have seen PSH in? The name doesn’t ring a bell
Oh, right. He was the manor owner or whatever you’d call him.
From what I’ve heard, “Capote” is basically just about his investigation, but maybe they do some back-story or post-story.
PSH was in Boogie Nights, Happiness, Along Came Polly, The Big Lebowski. He was the lead in Love, Liza and Owning Mahowney. Among other things.
He’s done comedy and drama equally well.
oh THAT guy.
I like him
He was also in The Talented Mr Ripley
Same here. I read it’s about the period of time from roughly 1962 to 1964, before he became famous.
I saw a photo on IMDB - great makeup job on PSH - http://tinyurl.com/csyhk
Truman Capote was already famous. His novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s had been made into a major motion picture, and he was already a regular guest on the television talk shows as an eccentric raconteur.
Who knows? With Julianne Moore possibly getting her 5th nomination for The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (which seems like pure Oscar bait), and Don Cheadle with an outside chance at scoring a Supporting nomination for Crash, 2005 might be a Boogie Nights mini-sweep!
Hate to screw up the thread by actually having seen] the movie… 
Saw this last night. PSL is phenomenal, he really is. Katherine Keener (and why the hell is she nothing more than a vaguely familiar name to me) is also excellent – and the guy who plays Perry Smith is also great. The whole cast is wonderful.
And the movie is very, very, intense.
It took me about ten minutes to say anything other than “Yikes,” and another half hour after that to say anything coherent.
Does anybody know when this movie is going wide release? I’ve been dying to see it, have even considered going to Atlanta (3 hours away) to see it, but it seems destined to never play the provinces.
Ditto Sampiro’s question. What’s the holdup? I can’t wait for this movie to go nationwide.
twickster, is it playing in Philly? I might be able to swing a two-hour drive to see Capote, but driving over four hours each way to NYC for a movie seems a bit much (though I must admit I’ve been considering it).
Just to cut in -
The movie was filmed here and one of my buddies from acting class plays the jury foreman.
Just a proud pegger shout out!
Carry on!
I’d just like to chime in to say I’ve seen it as well and also think Mr. Hoffman does a remarkable job. He does a great job in the first 3/4 but the final 1/4 is simply phenomenal. He’s really head and shoulders about any other actor this year.
Incidentally, the wide release date is November 18.
I’ll see it and I’m looking forward to it, but I have to admit I’m starting to get tired of biopics.
I’m not. I’m a non-fiction/biography lover. Real people are always more interesting than fictional characters to me, even if biographers/filmmakers have to take liberties. I also think it’s harder to portray a real-life character than someone someone made up, so I don’t mind biopic portrayals getting major awards…
and Hoffman deserves every award out there. He took a character who was a caricature and made him a living, breathing human being with depth and feelings. I was horrified by Capote, and how he lied to and manipulated people, but I cared about him too.
Having grown up in Kansas, and living just a couple of miles away from the Kansas State Prison in Lansing, the events of In Cold Blood were very much a part of my upbringing. I was 3 years old when the Clutter family was murdered. I don’t remember it of course, but my parents told me it had everybody in Kansas freaked out. I was 9 when Smith and Hickock were hanged at the prison that I passed by every single day and that was only a few blocks from my school. I was 10 when the novel came out, but my parents wouldn’t let me read it right away. When I did, Capote’s In Cold Blood soon became my favorite book (followed a few years later by The French Connection. Yes, I was a weird child, why do you ask?). The movie was the first “grown up” movie I saw in the theater and I was fascinated by it too.
So, anyway, besides being a very good movie, Capote filled in some holes in my In Cold Blood knowledge. I never knew any of these background details, such as that Capote got to know the killers well, especially Smith, and I never knew that Harper Lee was Capote’s friend and assistant (and I never knew that Harper Lee’s first name is Nelle - btw, I loved the running joke of everyone getting the name of her book wrong before it was published. Today, it’s hard to imagine anyone messing up the name of “To Kill A Mockingbird.”)
Oh man, she’s (Catherine, btw) been excellent in everything she’s done. You need to see
Living In Oblivion (the first time I saw her)
Walking And Talking
Box of Moon Light
The Real Blonde
Out of Sight
Your Friends & Neighbors
Being John Malkovich
Lovely & Amazing
The Ballad of Jack and Rose
The Interpreter
The 40 Year Old Virgin
(she’s been in others that I haven’t seen yet, like Full Frontal, Simpatico, 8MM, If These Walls Could Talk, S1m0ne, Boys and a few others.)
I’ve heard some reviewers commenting on the movie. Something puzzles me. They’ve hinted that Capote needed Smith and Hickock to be found guilty and to be executed for his book to be a success. They’re not coming right out and saying that Capote manipulated the killers to confess, but that’s what I’m taking from their comments.
Did you get that from the movie?
If that’s true, I want to read the book again, because I didn’t pick up on that when I read it the first time, and it gives the story a whole different dimension.
Wasn’t Capote the basis for the character Dill?
As for the film, I have been eagerly awaiting its release. Usually limited release means that it gets shown in at least one or two theaters in all the major cities.
As of yet, it has not made its debut in Houston.
I can’t wait for November 17th. This movie looks fantastic.