Capote vs. the Swans Writer Breaks Down Truman, Babe Paley Scene

FX/Hulu’s Feud: Capote vs. the Swans depicts the infamous rift between writer Truman Capote and his “swans” — a handpicked collection of Manhattan socialites who ice out Capote from New York society after he publishes a short story loosely based on Babe Paley and her husband’s various infidelities. In this scene from the pilot, written by Jon Robin Baitz, the audience is treated to a meet-cute of sorts between Truman (Tom Hollander) and Babe (Naomi Watts) years before their clash that offers an idea of the deep connection between the two players.

Truman Capote is an American pop culture icon, recognizable to literary fans even today. Getting his voice and mannerisms on the page was important — and Baitz says that Hollander stuck to the script, avoiding any ad-libbing in character as Truman. “His respect for the word is based on his love of playwrights, of trying to figure out what the thing is that you’re trying to capture,” says Baitz.

“I’m fighting mythology a bit,” Baitz recalls of the process of writing Truman, the character, without being bogged down by Truman, the real person. “There is a mythology that Truman cloaks himself in, always: genius floundering in catastrophe, a slow-moving disaster.” Babe’s own self-deprecation allows Truman to lower his guard because it shatters what Baitz describes as her own public persona: “a strong American, regal, royal beauty.”

Bill Paley’s infidelities are hardly a surprise to Babe, who asks Truman point blank if he saw her husband with his mistress in the previous scene. “She asks this very pointed question, almost as a test,” says Baitz, who adds that Babe immediately appreciates Truman’s honesty. “Their friendship is not really born but acknowledged — having [taken place] naturally, almost by osmosis. They feel like kindred spirits.”

Writing exposition doesn’t come naturally to Baitz, who says he started out as an actor before pivoting to writing. “An actor’s process is mysterious, but this fundamental moment is when you put on the vestments: the costume, the acute trauma of your character, what they wear, what they smell like,” he says. “I’m not good at plot — I mean I’m proficient. But I have a sense of how [the characters] smell. Does she have Chanel No. 5 on? Is there a cashmere wrap near her? Envisioning the painting actually helps me get into the mood and psychology of the scene.”

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Baitz admits that finding the “visual vocabulary” is an important element of screenwriting: “As a playwright, I make music out of words. In film and television, you have to make music out of the pictures as much as you do the words.” For Feud, he took inspiration from painters Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud when imagining the tableau of a scene — often with the help of EP Ryan Murphy. “Ryan is very encouraging of creating paintings,” says Baitz. “We’d talk late at night — usually with a martini — on the phone, and we’d essentially paint the scenes together and find what the secrets are under the surface of the action.”

This story first appeared in a May standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.