This week marks the concluding chapter of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, an intimate look at one of America’s most notorious literary icons.
For Gus Van Sant, directing the eight-episode series from writer Jon Robin Baitz and executive producer Ryan Murphy offered him a rare view into Truman Capote’s Manhattan of the ‘60s and ‘70s, as well as the “particularly strange tragedy” of his downfall.
“I think everyone sort of adored the original story, the original situation that Truman had sort of become part of this group of women, 'the ladies who lunch' in New York — which if you're in New York, where we were shooting in the same areas where they would have had lunch, you could still see the ladies who lunch,” he says.
“But it was a particularly strange tragedy that a writer, Truman Capote, was working on his next novel after In Cold Blood (1965) and really having trouble figuring out how to follow it, because In Cold Blood had been such a large success,” explains Gus. “It sort of elevated him in a way that, even though he was well known, it made him even more well known. And I think he just did the thing that would probably come naturally, make a story that was about his friends, because they were fast and they were fascinating. And his life with them was fascinating.”
Portrayed by Tom Hollander, whose performance “was key to the project,” Capote turns to his Swans for inspiration in writing his never-published roman à clef Answered Prayers, alienating Barbara "Babe" Paley (played by Naomi Watts), C.Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny), Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart) and Slim Keith (Diane Lane).
“I think part of that fascination was the good and the bad things that happened within the circle of friends,” adds Gus. “And he was very quickly dropped as soon as they read the first chapter, and they realized, 'Oh, this is horrific. We're being exposed' socially to their community."
Culminating in Esquire's 1975 publication of Captoe's "La Côte Basque 1965" — which was intended to be the first chapter of Answered Prayers but ultimately heralded his fall from social grace — the series also explores Capote's alcoholism and drug abuse, which led to his death at age 59 in 1984.
"I'm not sure what came first," says Gus of Capote's social ostracism and his addiction, both of which the author struggled with while working on the book. "But that wasn't doing [his substance abuse] any favors."
Gus became attached to the project after dinner with his friend Baitz, who adapted the script from Laurence Leamer's best-selling 2021 book Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era.
"I just heard about it at dinner one night, and I said, 'Oh, do you think Ryan would consider somebody like me to direct it?' And he said, 'I'll ask,'" recalls Gus. "So I was brought into the Ryan Murphy world, and it was amazing. ... I was really fortunate to be able to be part of it."
All episodes of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans are available to stream on Hulu.