The Scandalous True Story Behind ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’

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AFTER A LONG hiatus, Ryan Murphy anthology series Fief it’s back. The first season delved into the well-documented animosity between Hollywood icons Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and this long-awaited second installment borrows from an equally juicy real-life drama.

Capote against the swans fictionalizes a key chapter in the life of Truman Capote, the renowned American author best known for creating the true crime novel form with In cold bloodand creating one of the most enduring figures of 20th century pop culture, Holly Golightly, in her novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

When we meet Capote in FiefHowever, he suffers from a serious case of writer’s block. Once the toast of the uptown Manhattan literary scene, he finds himself unable to work. However, he has made his way onto the guest list of the best parties in the upper echelons of society and into the confidences of some of the richest women in the city, who delight in the author’s well-known talent for giving. a witty retort.

These socialites, whom Capote nicknames his swans, eventually become the inspiration for his next book, a ruthless examination of the private affairs of the rich and privileged.

tom hollander, feud, cape against the swans, truman capote

Fox

But when the chapters of the manuscript of Answered prayers (which to this day remains unfinished) make their way into the public sphere, incur the ire of Capote’s inner circle, who feel betrayed that he has used their secrets in such a way, and swear revenge. What follows is a sensational and sometimes tragic tale based on the experiences of five very real women: Babe Paley, Lee Radziwill, Slim Keith, CZ Guest and Ann Woodward.

Capote’s Women: a true story of love, betrayal and the swan song for an era

Capote's Women: a true story of love, betrayal and the swan song for an era

Capote’s Women: a true story of love, betrayal and the swan song for an era

Previously portrayed in two separate biopics by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Toby Jones respectively, this time Capote is played by Tom Hollander (pride and prejudice, The night manager). The Swans, meanwhile, are played by a who’s who of respected actresses, for some of whom this represents a long-awaited return to the screen: Demi Moore, Chloë Sevigny, Molly Ringwald, Diane Lane, Calista Flockhart and Naomi Watts.

Capote’s entanglement with New York society (and his subsequent expulsion from it) is sure to capture viewers’ imaginations, as it has readers for decades. The story has been told and examined in books such as Deliberate cruelty: Truman Capote, the millionaire’s wife and the murder of the century by Roseanne Montillo, as well as reimagined in the novels swan song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott and The Swans of Fifth Avenue By Melanie Benjamin.

For the television show, Murphy and her co-creators drew inspiration and knowledge from this “group of beautiful, witty, fabulously rich women” from the pages of Capote’s Women: a true story of love, betrayal and the swan song for an era by Laurence Lerner, the biographer who also wrote Hitchcock’s Blondes. While Learner’s tome attempts to offer a coherent and verified version of the events and its participants, many of whom were never in the same place at the same time, the series (directed by Gus Van Sant, Jennifer Lynch and Max Winkler) takes an artistic approach. license with certain elements to ensure the level of creepy camp that fans expect from a Ryan Murphy production.

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Philip Ellis is news editor at Men’s health, which covers fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ topics. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV, and he is the author of Love and other scams.

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