Gwyneth Paltrow Movie:

Editorial Review:
Infamous is inevitably compared to Capote, since it also chronicles author Truman Capote's spiral into chaos while composing his masterpiece, In Cold Blood, a breakthrough non-fictional tale told as fiction. It's a shame that Capote's critical acclaim eclipsed this film's, as Toby Jones is perfectly convincing as Capote, with his small stature and eccentric manner. Infamous mimics the novel's fictionalized non-fiction, opening on "interviews" with Capote's New York friends like Diana Vreeland (Juliet Stevenson) and Babe Paley (Sigourney Weaver). The film, set in 1959, begins with Capote's discovery of the farm family murder story and his trek out to Kansas with confidant, Nelle Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock). Stressing Capote's relationships with Lee, the film justifies Capote's marginal behavior by Lee's speaking about Capote's childhood neglect, which she also wrote into To Kill A Mockingbird. Capote's own description of his rough childhood then serves as a barrier breaker between himself and Perry Smith (Daniel Craig), the half of the Perry Smith-Dick Hickock killing team who is at first unwilling to talk. Infamous makes much of the sexual tension between Capote and Smith, implying that Capote persevered through his project for Smith's love. Based on George Plimpton's oral biography, Infamous deserves a stellar place in Capote-lore, as there is ample room for both competing films. --Trinie Dalton

Infamous Reviews:
Tru: "Do you think everyone keeps calling me 'lady' to be mean, or can they honestly not tell?"
2009-11-17 - The 2006 biopic INFAMOUS, like CAPOTE (2005) covers a chapter in writer Truman Capote's life; i.e. his "reportage" (as Tru liked to say) of a brutal quadruple homicide in a small Kansas town, exhaustive investigations that ultimately led to the 1966 publication of the crime classic, IN COLD BLOOD.

This film is superior to CAPOTE in these respects: Toby Jones is the reincarnation of Capote in height, face and voice. Watch this man for 30 seconds and you'll forget it's an actor and not Capote himself. He's THAT good! Also, an outstanding supporting cast that features Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee, Sigourney Weaver as Babe Paley and Gwyneth Paltrow as nighclub singer Kitty Dean (Paltrow is fabulous!). Finally, there's Jeff Daniels as Kansas investigator Al Dewey, Isabella Rossellini as Marella Agnelli, and almost as amazing as Jones, Peter Bogdonovich is the spittin' image of publisher/writer Bennett Cerf. (Who knew Bog could act?)

INFAMOUS isn't perfect of course. There's a refusal to paint Capote as a back-stabbing friendship destroyer (as gigantic Philip Hoffman did so well in his Oscar-winning turn), although we do see an incident of mischievous gossiping. The script also injects some arguably superfluous man love (both tender and violent) into the story. It's clear that Tru's loyalty to Perry Smith prevents his total honesty, yet no mention is made that Smith probably killed all four victims, which varies from Capote's ultimate book description and crime scenario as depicted here. Finally, Tru's obsession over Smith and resultant alcoholic dissipation after the murderer's hanging is a P.S.ed afterthought.

Nonetheless, Toby Jones IS Truman Capote, and no matter any differences or similarities to the previous year's Hoffman turn, this one stands on its own as a darn good movie! Highly recommended.

Love story
2009-10-18 - This brillant re-telling of the 'In Cold Blood' book writing story is possibly the most cynical movie I have ever watched.

The 'Capote' movie, which earned PSHoffman his Oscar, (well deserved), had clarified things sufficiently. Another movie was not really needed. It so happens that it exists, and that, reputedly, the Capote impersonator is much capotisher than PSH, and on top of that, Gwynneth sings, and Sandra Bullock is Harper Lee and Sigourney Weaver and Isabella Rossellini and Hope Davies are NY society ladies... Simply irresistable!

Ok, Gwynneth singing is by itself worth watching this version. One might turn it off after 10 minutes though, as far as she is concerned.
The society satire parts, with all the girl friends of the freak, are just plain funny. The satire parts about the freak are distasteful, until one stops and thinks, hey, they all say, Capote was like that. Well, if he was, let this point pass.

We follow the freak into Kansas, where the murders happened in 59. Here he is made fun of by the locals for a while, until the yokels get it: this is a star, this freak, he has been armwrestling with Bogie, and he is so 'in' that Brando is mad at him, and he, psst, knows Ava Gardner! And 'Frank' who? Sinatra! Omg!

The freak is never serious, even when he gets access to the jailed killers. He believes, in the moment, that he is serious, but then he chats with his girlfriends... He has crawled his way into the killers' confidence, and he betrays them. Mainly one of them.
The story is known. This version here goes a little further with the affair between the killer and his trapper, but it only shows what was in the air any way.

It is quite disgusting. This is 'Southern Gothic' on the screen, and it is rubbish. Apart from the fact that it is very entertaining.

More Lurid than "Capote"
2009-07-24 - Comparing "Infamous" (2006) with "Capote," both deal with similar periods in the life of Truman Capote--his research into his famous non-fiction novel "In Cold Blood." The brutal murders of the four members of the Clutter family by Perry Smith and Dick Hickock drew Capote into a five year ordeal. In "Infamous" he got emotionally too close to one of the killers, Perry Smith.
"Infamous" is more sensational, more salacious, more campy, and I think less well-done than "Capote." Everything in "Infamous" is done in broad brush strokes and relies in the early portions more on caricature than characterization. Capote was an easy target for mimicry, and both Jones and Philip Seymour Hoffman occasionally crossed the line.
Capote is portrayed as selfish, self-absorbed, a malicious gossip, a liar, and a person with a frivolous, high-flying Manhattan lifestyle. He is shown rumor-mongering with his society women chums and doesn't mind sharing with them the gory details of the murders.
The outlandish outfits he is wearing when he arrives in Kansas are more a costumer's fantasies than the real thing. Much is made of Truman's flitty behavior.
Daniel Craig is a good actor, but not as good as Robert Blake or Clifton Collin, Jr. because he's too assertive and self-possessed for the part of Perry.
Truman wins over the townspeople by his gossipy tales about Hollywood celebrities. Jeff Daniels as the investigator has a smaller part to play as the movie progresses. Truman's skill as an arm wrestler seems phony as does the eye contact exchange between Perry and Truman when Perry is being brought back to the county jail for the first time after his capture.
Occasionally characters talk to the camera: Truman's friend Nelle Lee Harper author of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and Jack Dunphy, his lover.
Truman tells how he's going to break ground with a new kind of reportage, applying fictional techniques to a non-fiction book.
One difference from "Capote" is in this movie Truman offers Dick and Perry a share of his royalties.
He entertains and manipulates Perry and wins him over, but also lies to him. A key confrontation comes when Perry finds out the title of the book is "In Cold Blood," and if we are to believe this account, Perry, in a rage in his cell tried to sexually molest Truman. At one point they have a passionate kiss. This movie makes the emotional connection between them very powerful.
In this movie the scenes between Perry and Truman are more intense, more lurid and more melodramatic. When you view both movies, it's "Capote" that's more restrained, more balanced, and aims less for the prurient.
Nelle at the end said, "There were three deaths on the gallows that night." Truman never went on to write anything of value after his seminal book.


Well, I suppose I could initial it
2009-07-08 - Unfortunately, Infamous was released in the wake of Capote, which won an Oscar for Phillip Seymour Hoffman. It covers the same ground, the events before and after the publication of Truman Capote's groundbreaking blend of non-fiction journalism with novelistic techniques, In Cold Blood. Hoffman may have won the Oscar, but Toby Jones was no slouch, either. Jones had an advantage over Hoffman, in that he more closely resembled Capote to begin with. He then perfected the voice, and more importantly, the attitude. No one delivers a withering remark or snappy retort like Jones, unless of course, it was Truman Capote himself. Or Gore Vidal.

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Gore Vidal: [on Truman's voice] To the lucky person who has never heard it, I can only say: imagine what a brussel sprout would sound like, if a brussel sprout could talk.
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Truman Capote had the wit, but also knew how to be a good listener. There are great scenes with Truman and his many devoted female friends -- his swans. Quite a stellar cast of ladies: Gwyneth Paltrow, Hope Davis, Isabella Rossellini, Sigourney Weaver, and last but least, Sandra Bullock. Toby Jones does a great job of showing how the Capote charm, though outrageously flaming, was able to win over not only the wealthy and glamorous, but also the good people of Kansas, and even a couple of cold blooded killers:

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Truman Capote: When you're talking to them, they seem like perfectly nice boys. To be frank, I'm much more concerned for my safety around Norman Mailer.
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Jeff Daniels plays the D.A., Michael Panes was Gore Vidal, film director Peter Bogdanovich plays publisher Bennett Cerf, and Daniel Craig plays the cold blooded killer with an artistic temperament, Perry Smith. Sandra Bullock as Capote's friend, Nelle Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, was the only casting thud. Bullock just didn't work here, and her poor imitation of a Southern accent didn't help. A pity that they didn't use Samantha Morton instead, as originally planned. Gwyneth Paltrow, on the other hand, was quite a surprise, the way she handled Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love?" Not only did she sing it well, but she also made it the dramatic centerpiece of a nightclub act. She was so good as a singer that I thought she was an up-and-coming jazz singer who could also act. I didn't even realize that it was Paltrow, an actor who can really sing.

Though there was a lot on offer, Infamous somehow seemed more like a made-for-TV movie than a film. It would be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison with Capote, which I have seen, but a long time ago. On the box they quote one critic who says that Infamous is more fun than Capote. Perhaps they are right. Toby Jones may have been a better Capote than Hoffman, but he made it look too easy. Too easy and fun. No Oscars are awarded for easy and fun.

One last bit of Infamous trivia that I can't resist repeating: Sigourney Weaver's first role was in Annie Hall, and also in that cast, Truman Capote.

W. (Widescreen) (2008) .... Toby Jones was Karl Rove
Two Lovers (2008) .... Gwyneth Paltrow was Michelle Rausch and Isabella Rossellini was Ruth Kraditor
Synecdoche New York (2008) .... Hope Davis was Madeleine Gravis
The Squid and the Whale (Special Edition) (2005) .... Jeff Daniels was Bernard Berkman
Sylvia (2003) .... Gwyneth Paltrow was Sylvia Plath and Daniel Craig was Ted Hughes
The Saddest Music in the World (2003) .... Isabella Rossellini was Lady Helen Port-Huntley
Speed (1994) .... Sandra Bullock was Annie Porter and Jeff Daniels was Det. Harold 'Harry' Temple
Dumb and Dumber (1994) .... Jeff Daniels was Harry Dunne
Blue Velvet (1986) .... Isabella Rossellini was Dorothy Vallens
Annie Hall (1977) .... Sigourney Weaver was Alvy's Date Outside Theatre

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Truman Capote: I never snack.
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What is Love?
2009-04-11 - In writing his masterpiece Capote is led down a path of self-destruction. The viewer sees it all, from New York high society to jail cells in Kansas. Superb ensemble cast. Tobey Jones and Daniel Craig created a relationship that tugged at my heartstrings.