I went to the theater to see "
Capote" this weekend.
Philip Seymour Hoffman didn't just play Capote he
was Capote.
I must admit, I knew very little about Truman Capote or "In Cold Blood". I've read a few of Capote's books and of course, seen "
Breakfast at Tiffany's". I didn't know of his close friendship with Harper Lee. I find it fascinating that Capote was the basis for the character Dill in "To Kill A Mockingbird".
The story behind "In Cold Blood" occurred before my time. In November 1959, Truman Capote- "The Tiny Terror"- read the story of the Clutter's, a wealthy farm family from Kansas, and their murder that stunned the small community of Holcomb, Kansas. Truman takes off for Kansas with Harper Lee in tow as his assistant. This sets of a chain of events that pulls Capote in to the tangled web of getting into the mind of a cold-blooded murder, Perry Smith.
Truman says of Perry "I feel like Perry and I grew up in the same house. One day he got up and walked out the back door, and I walked out the front." He feels some sort of twisted brotherhood with Perry and yet at the same time, he uses Perry and pumps him for details of the killings for his upcoming book. Truman continues this bizarre relationship with Perry, helping obtain an appeal and a lawyer. Yet at the same time, you come to realize that without the death of Perry, the would be no end to Capote's story. In the end, this dichotomy tears Capote apart.
The book was not just a part of his life, rather it
became his life. He became completely engrossed in the case and when it came to a close it seems to have caused irreparable damage on an already perilously unsound individual.
I went to the theater to see "Capote" this weekend. Philip Seymour Hoffman didn't just play Capote he was Capote. I must admit, I knew very little about Truman Capote or "In Cold Blood". I've read a few of Capote's books and of course, seen "Breakfast at Tiffany's". I didn't know of his close friendship with Harper Lee. I find it fascinating that Capote was the basis for the character Dill in "To Kill A Mockingbird".
The story behind "In Cold Blood" occurred before my time. In November 1959, Truman Capote- "The Tiny Terror"- read the story of the Clutter's, a wealthy farm family from Kansas, and their murder that stunned the small community of Holcomb, Kansas. Truman takes off for Kansas with Harper Lee in tow as his assistant. This sets of a chain of events that pulls Capote in to the tangled web of getting into the mind of a cold-blooded murder, Perry Smith.
Truman says of Perry "I feel like Perry and I grew up in the same house. One day he got up and walked out the back door, and I walked out the front." He feels some sort of twisted brotherhood with Perry and yet at the same time, he uses Perry and pumps him for details of the killings for his upcoming book. Truman continues this bizarre relationship with Perry, helping obtain an appeal and a lawyer. Yet at the same time, you come to realize that without the death of Perry, the would be no end to Capote's story. In the end, this dichotomy tears Capote apart.
The book was not just a part of his life, rather it became his life. He became completely engrossed in the case and when it came to a close it seems to have caused irreparable damage on an already perilously unsound individual.
