Capote

Capote is a biographical drama about the writer Truman Capote and the work that grew out of a newspaper item he read in November 1959. The article reported the killing of four members of a Kansas farming family in their home. Capote, then enjoying the success of Breakfast at Tiffany's and moving among New York's social circles, saw in the case a chance to test his belief that a true story, well told, could read like fiction. He persuaded The New Yorker to send him to Kansas and travelled there with his childhood friend, the writer Harper Lee. The local residents met the flamboyant newcomer with suspicion, but he gradually won their confidence, including that of the investigator leading the case. What began as a magazine assignment drew him into years of research, and into a close and complicated acquaintance with one of the men accused of the murders.

Bennett Miller directed the film, his second feature after The Cruise, from a screenplay by Dan Futterman. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Capote, with Catherine Keener as Harper Lee, Clifton Collins Jr. as Perry Smith, Bruce Greenwood as Jack Dunphy, Bob Balaban as William Shawn and Mark Pellegrino as Dick Hickock. The production had a budget of about 7 million dollars and took roughly 49 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its cost. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from around 1,700 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 8.2 out of 10 from 196 reviews, notably higher than the audience score.