#In Capote, The Late, Great Philip Seymour Hoffman Gives New Meaning To The Phrase ‘In Cold Blood’

Even before he died in 1984, Capote called “Answered Prayers” (the focus of the aforementioned “Capote Tapes”) his “posthumous novel,” saying: “Either I’m going to kill it, or it’s going to kill me.” Miller’s film, “Capote,” posits that the author was on a slow descent, which started much sooner, with “In Cold Blood.”

As if to hasten his descent, the film looks and feels bleak and chilly. Miller and cinematographer Adam Kimmel made a conscious decision not to use certain colors. This gives “Capote” a washed-out, desaturated timber, which is complemented by the confinement of the prison cell where Capote spends time getting to know the killer, Perry Smith. Clifton Collins, Jr. takes over the role of Smith, first played by actor and real-life murder suspect, Robert Blake, in the 1967 black-and-white film adaptation of “In Cold Blood.”

Underestimated because of his sexuality (“the way he is, the way he talks”), Hoffman’s Capote is, from the very beginning, portrayed as someone who is able to disarm and charm others, particularly those who might be useful to him as a writer. At first, he comes to Kansas with the intent of writing a story about the community’s reaction to the murders.

The local law enforcement, led by Chris Cooper’s K.B.I. detective, Alvin Dewey, is initially leery of this outsider. But eventually, through his wife, Marie (Amy Ryan), Dewey comes to entertain Capote and his childhood friend/traveling companion, Harper Lee, as dinner guests. Catherine Keener imbues Lee, the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” with a sense of decency that will provide a foil for Capote’s moral collapse later in the film.