Capote against the swans’ – The Hollywood Reporter

(This story contains spoilers for the fourth episode of Fight: Capote against the swans“It is impossible.”)

For Diane Lane, the entire premise of Fight: Capote against the swans It is full of complexity and layers.

As the FX series depicts the aftermath of Truman Capote’s “La Côte Basque,” ​​a chapter from his unfinished novel, Answered prayerswhich was extracted in Donfrom the November 1975 issue that caused a major rift between the acclaimed writer and his “Swans”: the actress can’t help but notice the irony that she is playing socialite Slim Keith, one of the Swans who was outraged by the portrait just Capote’s veil. the elite milieu of which she was a part. “I imagine them sitting on a couch, enjoying champagne and popcorn, and being the last ones to laugh at all of us,” says Lane, who laughs at the meta-nature of the show’s depictions of the secrets, lies and gossip shared between each other. Keith’s wealthy cohort. .

As the self-proclaimed queen bee of her group, Keith races to the side of Babe Paley (played by Naomi Watts), who is humiliated by Capote’s fictional portrayal of her and her marriage to CBS executive William S. Paley (Treat Williams). . In “It’s Impossible,” Keith goes on a warpath against her common enemy, planting stories in gossip columns to ruin Capote’s efforts to plan a sequel of sorts to his famous 1966 Black and White Ball.

But despite his intentions, his social circle (including Chloe Sevigny’s CZ Guest, Molly Ringwald’s Joanne Carson, and Calista Flockhart’s Lee Radziwill) finds Keith’s smear campaign too destructive, especially since Capote is on the verge of a alcohol dependence. Even cancer-stricken Babe Paley has already softened toward him and is considering offering her forgiveness.

But Keith is adamant and hiding his own secret, as it is revealed in this week’s episode that he is having an affair with Bill Paley while defending his wife.

Lane spoke with THR on the phone earlier this month to discuss the flawed approach to the Slim Keith character, how he heard from people who knew Keith in real life (including Jane Fonda), and the emotional experience of watching his scenes with Williams, who died the last time. June after filming wrapped.

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I read that you and your co-stars were Ryan Murphy and Jon Rabin Baitz’s first choices to play your characters on screen. Is that true from what you remember?

That’s a direct quote from the man himself, and I’m not going to look that gift horse in the mouth.

What is it about Slim that made her an exciting character to sink your teeth into?

She was, and still is, a beloved woman. What makes her famous is that everyone wanted to date her. And there is something to be said about possessing certain qualities. She said her brain came alive around an interesting conversation; Some people just expand and their speed increases, and that drags you along and it’s contagious. Truman had that quality and I think she really appreciated her mind and her powers of observation. And she wanted a lot of respect from her. Hemingway did the same. This woman truly was a heavyweight of discernment and she represented growth beyond her humble beginnings.

I love your book (Slim: memories of a rich and imperfect life). We have heard her take on things, her appreciation for things, her love for love itself. She just left a very beautiful trail behind her that I can see in her book. She now admits that she left out many things. (laughs). He learned from his experience that he is wise. Leave a kind trail behind you for your descendants. Do we really want to be remembered for scars, wounds, and unforgiveness? I mean, all of these women on the show learned a lot from this experience. It really rang a bell for them in terms of coming to terms with someone who defines you and allowing that to happen. No Allowing that to happen really takes a lot of effort, as you can imagine, because the written word outlives them all.

Did you know much about Slim, the Swans, at this point before signing?

Not precisely. I would say I knew more about Truman, because of his youth-defying antics and behavior. He hung out with nightclub dancers in the late ’70s. I remember him on TV, humiliating himself. It’s just tragic to look at someone who has great reverence… I don’t know what you’re referring to. Is it like self-immolation at that moment? Because there is so much denial around addiction, in those days people were not as willing to self-analyze. So you had another way to solve it, right?

Slim’s voice is very specific in the show. How did you find how to embody it physically?

She was very choppy and spoke, it just clicked. It wasn’t entirely predictable where she placed emphasis on the syllable; I couldn’t express that in the room. I got to hear a recording of her, because her voice is part of the narration in some documentaries that came out about Truman; It was a phone interview and the quality of the recording was not fantastic. But he could feel her encouragement in her voice. There is something about the spoken word and breathing that makes people so interesting. I have an old cassette that I found last night from my mother, and wow. If you can hear someone’s voice from history, I mean, it’s a gift.

Having her book was like a trap: to be able to respond to this injustice and not allow it to be framed, filtered, and channeled through it. You know, I don’t know how she would feel about this presentation (laughter). I really don’t want to go there. It is a curious truth that in some ways contradicts itself: by introducing myself as her, I go and ask for forgiveness from her ancestors, because you have to walk with humility when you bring someone who walked among us. And there are people who knew her and who have come closer.

Jane Fonda’s communications, for example; Slim was a friend of her mother and his stepmother. And other people I’ve worked with who knew Slim personally. It’s intense, because everyone is still moved by her. That generation still has its wings around us. One does not forget the impact that people have on one and it is wonderful to remember it, especially because, with the patina of time, rough edges are often forgiven. Forgiveness is real and its effects are absolutely important. I love what Ryan says about feuds and the way he writes them: Feuds are about love. As Babe says, “You can’t really hurt someone unless there’s love.”

Going back to what you said about Slim leaving things out of her book, I find that she, at least as a character in the show, has a complex relationship with reality and fiction. I think of the scene where she gives Truman a real dressing down for the stories she made up in the Don piece, when you believe they are the truth.

I imagine them sitting on a couch, enjoying champagne and popcorn, and being the last ones to laugh at all of us and themselves. “Well, honey, they got that right.” “No, they exaggerated that! She would have done it like this…” “They left that part out. We have no luck? This is all a story and all of this really happened in several memories. I think what has been written is very well executed.

His relationship with Babe is also complex. Her feud with Truman has its roots in her protecting Babe from her betrayal. But she is also betraying Babe by having an affair with her husband.

That’s what friends were like in the 70s! (laughter) I mean, my mother had a girlfriend who burned her paintings. She should have inherited them. It’s amazing what happens in the name of friendship. I’ve seen worse things!

I’m curious what you think about Slim’s relationship with Bill and how she compares it to herself.

When you’ve been a close friend to someone and you’re like family right now, because you share family events, secrets, successes and failures, all the things that friendships help you get through. When someone has health problems, the entire town comes together to help those who need support. Caregivers need help too, right? It might be notoriously common among that generation of CEOs, those rich white men. He was voracious and had to keep moving. Sitting in a place and feeling an emotion is something we can witness as a daily experience.

But Bill is stunned and beside himself. His journey is intense and beautiful, because we achieve it through Treat Williams’ art and compassion for one person. These people historically become icons. It’s like looking at a statue: I look at a statue and think of the family of that person who knew it very well. And who would laugh right now that they have a statue? These people were human and flawed like all of us, and in their own way. What we’re dealing with here is a kind of freedom of perspective and a challenge to the audience to understand what these people were thinking.

In the conversation she has with Lee, who exposes her about the affair, Slim says that it is more of a close friendship than a sexual relationship, and they both share a love for Babe during a time of crisis in her life.

There was some commentary about when Babe died, what he left his friends in his will, and what he left Slim. In retrospect, through a very malicious lens, people would say, “Oh, well, that is a comment.” People love to infer things. And I’m going to leave it there because I really have no idea if these representations are correct or not. You know, this is a different medium for me: I’m used to making movies, where everyone has read the script and every department shows up knowing what we’re doing. Television is a journey we take together as actors, and the story reveals itself along the way.

You mentioned Treat Williams, who episode four was dedicated to after he passed away last year. Do you have good memories of working with him?

I’m still in shock. I’m still processing the loss of her to us. That his work resonates so much through his character and the work he did on this… It’s incredibly exponentially more indelible, for the fact that it was the last performance of him and he brought so much humanity to it. I think it might have been his best work and he was having the time of his life. She was very optimistic on set. He was a source of joy in the work we do and we had our own sense of humor with each other. Sharing that experience with him makes me feel very grateful. And I know Naomi does. I mean, boy, their scenes together ripped my heart out. I saw an early version of this in May and I was crying at the end of the episode, it was so beautiful. And then June happened and we lost him.

Fight: Capote vs. The Swans releases new episodes on FX Wednesdays at 10 pm and air the next day on Hulu.