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October 20, 2005
Levy loving Phil: going long on Capote
Over at the Oregonian, Shawn Levy and Philip Seymour Hoffman go long on Capote in a lengthy Q&A. On the screenplay: "It's amazing hearing you list the various aspects of it, because Dan Futterman's script—the story of the writing of "In Cold Blood" and the story of the Clutter murders—it's impossible to believe that somebody got it into 100 pages of script, and a script, by the way, that has so much judicious silence in it." Yeah, yeah. That's Danny and that's Bennett, too: the way he shot it and the way he edited it with Chris [Tellefsen]. It's everyone working in tandem, starting with the script. And then the shooting and the acting. Everyone had the same understanding coming out of Danny's script that the private moments were going to be the most compelling to tell in the whole story. Some of the things that happened between the lines -- not just listening to someone talk. Danny understood that, and then in turn Bennett and myself. It's a very spare, economic screenplay in a way that was very pleasing.
"Yeah, and so contradictory in a way to people's preconception of what a film about a writer would be like. You expect it to be filled with bon mots and rapier wit. And instead, with Capote being such a good reporter—and I don't even know if at that moment in his life he realized how good a reporter he was—he kept his mouth shut. The scene where he first meets Perry and says, 'They put you in the women's cell,' and he doesn't say more; he just lets that comment sit and comes back." [Maybe 6,000 words at the link.]
Posted by pride at October 20, 2005 11:42 AM
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