Leave it to Truman Capote to go down in the splashiest way possible. Ryan Murphy's "Feud" returns to FX and Hulu on Wednesday, Jan. 31. This time around, the Emmy-winning anthology series tells the true story of literary icon Truman Capote's fabulous demise in a new chapter titled "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans."
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The eight-episode limited series rolls out with two episodes on Jan. 31., with new installments dropping every Wednesday. Based on Laurence Leamer's 2021 bestseller "Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era," this season follows the true story of Truman Capote's falling-out with the wealthy New York socialites he dubbed his "swans."
At the height of his celebrity, and after the success of "In Cold Blood" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's," the celebrated author published a thinly-veiled account of a real-life murder and affair that rocked Manhattan's social scene. BAFTA Award winner Tom Hollander ("The White Lotus") stars as Capote, with a stacked cast of film and TV greats assembling as his coterie of distinguished friends.
Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Calista Flockhart, Chloë Sevigny, Demi Moore and Molly Ringwald form the titular swans. The late-great Treat Williams also stars as the embattled CBS mogul Bill Paley, whose affair is central to the story. "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" also boasts major talent behind the camera. It was written by Pulitzer Prize finalist and playwright Jon Robin Baitz. Oscar-nominated auteur Gus Van Sant ("Good Will Hunting") is among the series directors.
Who were the swans, and what did Truman Capote's damaging Esquire article entail? Here's what we know about the true story behind "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans."
What Did Truman Capote Write?
Truman Capote in 1966. (Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Capote began writing for The New Yorker when he was 17 years old. His debut novel, the semi-autobiographical "Other Voices, Other Rooms" (1948), gained critical acclaim and notoriety for its groundbreaking homoerotic themes. Capote parlayed his literary success into a position among New York's glitterati, and he was a mainstay at society parties throughout the 1950s.
His next novella, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1958), was adapted for the screen in 1962 and starred Audrey Hepburn. Capote then revolutionized American nonfiction with his landmark true crime novella "In Cold Blood" (1966), which he wrote with the help of longtime friend Harper Lee ("To Kill a Mockingbird"). The 1967 film adaptation starring Robert Blake and John Forsythe received four Academy Award nominations.
At the height of his fame, Capote began work on "Answered Prayers," a high society exposé planned as a book. An excerpt, titled "La Côte Basque, 1965," was published in Esquire in 1975, and Capote's thinly-veiled stories of his fabulous friends (the "swans") and their scandalous exploits caused uproar. He was shunned from society and never completed the book. Capote died in 1984 of liver disease.
Who Were These 'Swans'?
Lee Radziwill and Truman Capote in 1966. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Capote nicknamed his posse of wealthy New York women "the swans." Here are the main socialites the series will focus on:
- Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart): Jackie Kennedy's beautiful younger sister and a fixture of the New York social scene.
- Barbara "Babe" Paley (Naomi Watts): A fashion icon and the wife of CBS founder William S. Paley (Treat Williams).
- C.Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny): An actress and socialite who married into Britain's Churchill-Guest aristocratic family.
- Slim Keith (Diane Lane): A socialite who had been married to director Howard Hawkes, Broadway producer Leland Hayward and then a British baron.
- Joanne Carson (Molly Ringwald): An actress and the ex-wife of "Tonight Show" legend Johnny Carson.
- Ann Woodward (Demi Moore): A showgirl and radio star who gained notoriety after accidentally shooting and killing her husband William Woodward Jr., the heir to the Hanover National banking fortune.
What Happened Between Capote and The Swans?
Tom Hollander as Truman Capote. (Pari Dukovic/FX)
Capote published scandalous stories the swans told him in confidence in Esquire in 1975. The excerpt, titled "La Côte Basque, 1965," was only thinly fictionalized and caused serious reputational damage to Capote and his swans. The story centers on a character named Lady Ina Coolbirth, who likely represents the real-life Slim Keith (Diane Lane).
Lady Ina gossips about a murder case that closely resembles Ann Woodward's (Demi Moore) own crime: In 1955, Ann fatally shot her financier husband William Woodward Jr. She claimed to have mistook him for a burglar and was exonerated. Lady Ina also details an illicit affair that mirrors media mogul Bill Paley's own dalliance. His wife, Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), divorced him in 1978 and never spoke to Capote again.
The excerpt ignited the upper echelons of New York society. At the time, famed gossip columnist Liz Smith explained Capote's fatal flaw: "He wrote what he knew, which is what people always tell writers to do, but he just didn't wait till they were dead to do it."
High society shunned Capote the interloper, and the swans united against him. He turned to drugs and alcohol thereafter, and wrote very little of note until his death in 1984.
"Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" premieres Jan. 31 on FX and streams Feb. 1 on Hulu.
