CAPOTE (FILM)

'''Capote''' is an Academy Award-winning 2005 biographical film about Truman Capote (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal) on a writing assignment for ''The New Yorker.'' The film follows the events during the writing of Capote's non-fiction book ''In Cold Blood''. The movie itself was based on the biography called ''Capote'' by Gerald Clarke. The movie was filmed mostly in Manitoba^[6], in the autumn of 2004, and was released on 30 September2005, to coincide with Truman Capote's 81^st birthday.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Filming dates

Reviews

Awards

Acting Awards for Philip Seymour Hoffman

Critics' awards

Nominations

See also

References

External links

Plot

The movie opens in Kansas with the discovery of the dead bodies of four of the members of the Clutter family by a family friend. While reading ''the Times'', Truman Capote is riveted by the story of the Clutters and calls William Shawn, then the editor of ''The New Yorker'', to announce that he will personally document the tragedy.
He travels to Kansas with his childhood friend Harper Lee. Lee was then in the process of getting ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' written and published, which the film references several times. Capote sets about interviewing those involved with the victims, the Clutter family, with Lee as his go-between and interpreter of rural life. When the murderers are apprehended, Capote is initially brushed off by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's lead detective on the case, Alvin Dewey. Dewey's wife, however, is a fan of Capote's writing and persuades him to invite Capote and Lee to their house for dinner. Mrs. Dewey is starstruck by Capote's stories of being on movie sets with film stars. Dewey warms up to Capote, which facilitates Capote's visits to the prison where the suspects (Perry Smith and Dick Hickock) are being held. Capote begins to form an attachment to Perry. Following their trial and conviction, Capote is able to gain access to the murderers by bribing the warden. Capote spends the following years regularly visiting Perry and learning about his life, excepting a year long stint where Capote abandons Perry and writes the "first three parts" of the book with Jack Dunphy in Morocco and Spain. The story of Perry's life, his upset and remorseful manner, and his emotional sincerity impress Capote. The writer becomes emotionally attached to Perry and feels sympathy for him, notwithstanding his involvement in the murders. Perry refuses to tell Capote what happened on the night of the murders, which greatly angers the writer. Eventually, Perry tells him in great detail. The story becomes a meditation upon the need for redemption even in very grave circumstances.
The last appeal is rejected and Perry and Dick are hanged. Perry's hanging is explicitly shown.
The movie showcases Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of the openly gay Southern author with his weaknesses for fame, alcohol, and attention. Capote became an international figure upon the release of the book ''In Cold Blood'', which he would publish after Smith and Hickock were executed. Hoffman portrays Capote's conflict between personal literary ambitions and trying to maintain his role as a confidant to Perry, one of the two condemned killers.
Scenes concerning ''The New Yorker'' and its editor William Shawn have been overtly fictionalized; Shawn did not arrange for Capote to give a reading, travel with Capote to Kansas, or send a photographer there (''The New Yorker'' didn't even publish photographs until after Shawn's departure in 1987).
The film ends with the logic that Capote never wrote again (suggesting either he simply didn't write or wrote nothing of value) but this misleads the audience into believing the experience of invention destroyed his creative reach. In reality, the opposite occurred. Capote wrote quite a bit in his last years. The capstone was a stylized sequel to "In Cold Blood" called "Handcarved Coffins", a literary sleight of hand which was another masterpiece of true crime that the film strangely ignores.

Cast

★ Philip Seymour Hoffman — Truman Capote

★ Catherine Keener — Nelle Harper Lee

★ Clifton Collins Jr. — Perry Smith

★ Chris Cooper — Alvin Dewey

★ Bruce Greenwood — Jack Dunphy

★ Bob Balaban — William Shawn

★ Amy Ryan — Marie Dewey

★ Mark Pellegrino — Richard Hickock

★ Allie Mickelson — Laura Kinney

★ Marshall Bell — Warden Marshall Krutch

★ Araby Lockhart — Dorothy Sanderson

★ Robert Huculak — New York Reporter

★ R.D. Reid — Roy Church

★ Rob McLaughlin — Harold Nye

★ Harry Nelken — Sheriff Walter Sanderson

★ C. Ernst Harth — Lowell Lee Andrews

Filming dates

25 October 2004 - 1 December 2004 ( 36 Days )

Reviews

★ All Movie Guide link

★ Empire link

★ Film critic link

★ Roger Ebert link

★ Rolling Stone link

★ Premiere link

Awards

Acting Awards for Philip Seymour Hoffman

★ 2006 Academy Award for Best Actor

★ 2006 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama

★ 2005 Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Drama

★ 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

★ 2005 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

Critics' awards

★ 'Broadcast Film Critics Association:' Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman

★ 'Boston Society of Film Critics:' Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Best Screenplay - Dan Futterman, Best Supporting Actress - Catherine Keener

★ 'Chicago Film Critics Association:' Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Most Promising Filmmaker - Bennett Miller,

★ 'Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association:' Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Best Supporting Actress - Catherine Keener

★ 'Independent Spirit Awards': Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Best Screenplay - Dan Futterman

★ 'Kansas City Film Critics Circle:' Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman

★ 'Los Angeles Film Critics Association:' Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Best Screenplay - Dan Futterman, Best Supporting Actress - Catherine Keener

★ 'National Board of Review:' Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman

★ 'New York Film Critics Circle:' Best First Film - Bennett Miller,

★ 'Online Film Critics Society:' Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman

★ 'Southeastern Film Critics Association:' Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman

★ 'Toronto Film Critics Association:' Best First Feature - Bennett Miller, Best Performance, Male - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Best Supporting Performance, Female - Catherine Keener

Nominations

★ '78th Academy Awards:'

★
★ Best Picture

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★ 'Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman - Won'

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★ Best Supporting Actress - Catherine Keener

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★ Best Director - Bennett Miller

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★ Best Adapted Screenplay - Dan Futterman

★ '59th BAFTA Awards:'

★
★ Best Picture

★
★ 'Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman - Won'

★
★ Best Supporting Actress - Catherine Keener

★
★ Best Director - Bennett Miller

★
★ Best Adapted Screenplay - Dan Futterman

★ Broadcast Film Critics Association:Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress - Catherine Keener, Best Screenplay - Dan Futterman

★ Directors Guild of America: Best Director - Bennett Miller

★ Independent Spirit Awards: Best Picture, Producers Award - Caroline Baron

★ Online Film Critics Society: Best Supporting Actress - Catherine Keener, Best Breakthrough Filmmaker - Bennett Miller, Best Screenplay - Dan Futterman

★ Producers Guild of America Awards: Best Theatrical Motion Picture

★ Screen Actors Guild Awards: Best Supporting Actress - Catherine Keener, Best Ensemble Cast

★ Writers Guild of America Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay - Dan Futterman

See also

★ ''Infamous''

★ ''In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences''

★ Truman Capote

★ Lowell Lee Andrews

References

1. Capote (2005)
2. Capote (2005)
3. Capote (2005)
4. Capote (2005)
5. Capote (2005)
6. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379725/locations

External links

★ Official site

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★ ''Lawrence Journal-World (November 28, 2005): "A crime for all time" by Mike Belt

★ ''Lawrence Journal-World (December 7, 2005): "Actor portrays KU student in ‘Capote’" by J-W Staff Reports

★ London's 020 Entertainment Movie Review

★ ''Capote'' review

★ ''Capote'' Mottled review

★ Movie stills