Infamous (2006)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Douglas McGrath

Writers (WGA):

Douglas McGrath (screenplay)
George Plimpton (book)

Release Date:

16 November 2006 (Israel)

Genre:

Biography | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

There's more to the story than you know

Plot:

While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Truman Capote | Book | Writer | Kansas

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sigourney Weaver	...	Babe Paley
Toby Jones	...	Truman Capote
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Kitty Dean
Sandra Bullock	...	Nelle Harper Lee
Isabella Rossellini	...	Marella Agnelli
Peter Bogdanovich	...	Bennett Cerf
Rey Arteaga	...	El Morocco Band
Jeff Daniels	...	Alvin Dewey
Daniel Craig	...	Perry Smith
Justin Sherburn	...	El Morocco Band
Andrew Halbreich	...	El Morocco Band
Juliet Stevenson	...	Diana Vreeland
Michael Panes	...	Gore Vidal
Hope Davis	...	Slim Keith
Frank G. Curcio	...	William Shawn (as Frank Curcio)

Also Known As:

Every Word Is True (USA) (working title)
Have You Heard? (USA) (working title)
Untitled Douglas McGrath Movie (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, violence and some sexuality.

Runtime:

110 min | Canada:118 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Croatia:118 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R | Malaysia:(Banned) | Ireland:16 | Portugal:M/16 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #42330) | Singapore:M18 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-15 | Australia:M | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Jack and Henry Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Mark Wahlberg was originally attached to play Perry Smith, but dropped out in August, 2004. He was replaced in October, 2004 by Mark Ruffalo until he dropped out as well.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Perry's letter to Capote acknowledging receipt of the pornography closes with Perry's signature and address, which includes the ZIP code for the penitentiary. The ZIP code was not officially introduced until July 1963 and not widely used until some time after that date.

Quotes:

Slim Keith: [of Truman's lover Jack] He has the social graces of a syringe.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2006-10-14)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Yesterday When I Was Young

Tender and Terrible

"There will be time to murder and create." T.S. Eliot's Prufrock

Truman Capote described murderer Perry Smith as between the "tender and the terrible." Such may be said about writer/director Douglas McGrath's superior Infamous, a tale of Truman Capote's (Toby Jones) love affair with his innovative novelization, In Cold Blood, and its protagonist,Perry Smith (Daniel Graig). The tender is Capote's love of his female friends, especially Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock) and Smith (DanielCraig), and the terrible slaughter of the Kansas farm family in 1959 by Smith and friend Dick Hickock (Lee Pace).

Inevitable as accusing Toby Jones of only imitating Capote is the comparison with Philip Seymour Hoffman's Oscar performance of the titular author in Capote (1955). Jones's turn is more complex than Hoffman's, alternating between Capote's imaginative connection with the crime and his growing respect, even love, for Smith. In fact, the well-known love between the men is avoided in Capote but highlighted in Infamous.

I was hooked in the first sequence, when Gwyneth Paltrow as Peggy Lee sings "What is this thing called love?" and breaks down in apparent awareness of her own losses. The song, perfect for the themes of the film, and the film's score carry a melancholy with them that McGrath captures in Tru's constantly frustrated search for truth and love and Lee's inability to pen another novel after her Pulitzer-Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird. For that matter, Capote never completes a significant piece after that himself.

Last year's Capote seemed centered on the conflict in Truman over whether or not he was exploiting Smith to get a story and then never fully engaging a campaign to free them. This year's Infamous (a poor title regardless of it double artistic appropriateness) is more interested in Truman's struggle to write a new kind of fiction (docudrama) and his true affection for Smith. Infamous fleshes out the story and the fabulous artist whose "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "In Cold Blood" are cultural staples of 20th century life.