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This interview was published on March 3, 2024.Feud: Capote Vs. Read all of Vultures Emmy-racecoveragehere.
Ryan Murphy projects are not known for their subtlety.
Then again, neither was Truman Capote.
Your performance as Truman is so captivating.
We dont see a character like this as the lead very often.Yes, why is that?
Its probably because the character was such a singular human being.
I did wonder whether he was too strong a flavor.
To be with someone for eight hours is a lot.
But Ryan and Jon Robin Baitz wrote it brilliantly.
They told you the whole plotin episode one, then retold it in different ways.
Not in aRashomonway but with different conceits, different ideas, spinning around the plot.
What were some of those different ideas that guided you?The story is about love and lost friendship.
It tries to be about forgiveness at the end, but its a fantasized forgiveness because it never happened.
It turns into a fantasia.
Theres a lot of movement in Trumans physicality too many hand gestures, too many eye movements.
Thats very difficult to watch, so you have to find moments where it would stop.
He was obviously very good at telling stories, which he does onDick Cavettand all that.
Hes got his shtick down, his persona.
I could only play the scenes if I was in that persona.
You learn it all and then you have to forget about it and play like a little kid.
You go,Im Truman Capote!
How did you approach playing drunk so convincingly?
I mean, weve all been shit-faced.
Also, he is so fucked up, and his timing is of a completely fucked-up person.
He pauses and the pauses go on forever and ever.
I copied it as best I could.
It was in the first episode, but we didnt shoot it until the end.
Its not a particularly extreme scene.
I dont mind extremity; its harder to just be ordinary, and Trumans never ordinary.
You had to remain a human being.
And you know theyre all interesting people themselves, but you have all the lines in the scene.
Its more fun when everyones got a bit to do.
Its very laborious and takes a long time getting everyones individual shot in wide and close-up.
ButGus Van Santand Jason McCormick, the DOP, did it brilliantly.
They would swirl the camera around, keeping it moving, so we didnt do that many takes.
You werent even sure whether the camera was on, so you just had to play.
We got to know each other, meeting as actors around those tables.
Wed play the scene, theyd watch it, then wed all go away, sometimes for an hour.
It was fascinating to watch.
How was working with Gus Van Sant?He is a very confusingly passive presence on a set.
Many directors say a lot, but Gus was very quiet and didnt say very much at all.
And occasionally, when he did speak, it would be quite vague.
Hed give a note like, I dont think the scene is like that.
I think the scene is like this.
Otherwise, he would let us all run and then he would go, Are you happy?
I dont know whether thats true or not shes worked with more great directors than I have.
Hes a very sensitive man, a painterly man.
Sometimes he would look at the scene like he was looking at the canvas.
Hes old enough to have known the characters world, the Studio 54 world.
And hes a gay man.
He had absolute authority without having to say anything because he knew this stuff.
When he did say, That doesnt feel right, you knew he meant it.
How did you develop that with her?I credit Naomi with that.
I was a tourist, and weeks before we started rehearsing, she invited me over to her house.
We hung out and found all of the people we knew in common.
They all surprised me because people are never who their public image projects.
Fame makes everyone nuts.
Its a silly human weakness that doesnt do anyone any good.
I played Dr. Burgess, who was one of the Cambridge spies, years ago.
I played Lord Alfred Douglas in a play about Oscar Wilde once.
I dont know why.
Its afforded me the opportunity to play some really extraordinary people.
Not intentionally I just havent gotten around to it.
Im just thrilled that they did it and that for a few weeksFeudhas caught the Zeitgeist.
Its a lovely feeling after all the work that everyone involved has put into it.
Its a great compliment.
It was so hard to live the way Truman did in that time.
Even though its about fancy people, its also a story about marginal people.
Truman was a warrior and a little bit of a martyr.
Obviously, he could be very cruel, and mean as hell, but there are reasons for that.
A lot of that was self-defense.
He survived through all of that and did get the shit kicked out of him regularly.
Hes magnificent for having gotten through it, but it also cost him dearly.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
