‘Capote’ was first, but ‘Infamous’ is definitely worth seeing

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, October 12, 2006

The dilemma of Douglas McGrath, the writer and director of “Infamous,” is a true mind-bender. After spending many months writing a screenplay, he awoke one day to find that somebody else had written the exact same thing.

Not the same script, exactly – just the same story. And that other movie, “Capote,” came out first, winning great acclaim and a best actor Oscar for Philip Seymour Hoffman earlier this year.

McGrath’s film covers the exact terrain of “Capote.” It’s about the experiences of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” author Truman Capote when he went to Kansas in 1959 to cover the vicious slaying of the Clutter family. Capote followed the story after the killers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, were captured and sent to death row for years. The book that came out of it is a classic “In Cold Blood.”

In “Infamous,” Capote is played by a newcomer to film, Toby Jones. Jones is an English stage performer whose baby face and elfin size make him an even more perfect Capote than Hoffman.

The initial appeal of the story is obvious. Capote is a great writer, incorrigible gossip, and flagrantly effeminate man – quite out of place in the Kansas small town where he attempts to ingratiate himself. One of the best scenes in the film shows his turning point: visiting for Christmas dinner with locals, he begins telling anecdotes about his friends – who happen to have names like Frank Sinatra and Humphrey Bogart.

Both films raise the question of whether Capote sold his soul to get the story, strongly implying that Capote had an intimate relationship with Perry Smith, and that Capote refrained from aiding the killers’ defense because their deaths by hanging would give his book a good ending. Both films also make much of the fact that Capote never completed a major work again.

“Infamous” has a lighter touch than “Capote,” and that might be a good thing. It’s a little kinder to the writer than “Capote” was, which actually increases the sense of tragedy. Running commentary from Capote’s society friends (amusingly played by the likes of Sigourney Weaver, Hope Davis and Juliet Stevenson) doesn’t come off quite as well as it might, although there are some good quotes.

In the other main roles, Sandra Bullock is somber but not quite convincing as Harper Lee (Capote’s friend and the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird”), Daniel Craig is scary as Perry Smith, and Jeff Daniels a little soft as Sheriff Alvin Dewey. Gwyneth Paltrow (who starred in McGrath’s “Emma”) does a cameo, singing in the opening sequence.

In short, “Infamous” would be a strong movie, but the sense of deja vu is definitely distracting. The last time this happened so blatantly was when Oscar-winning director Milos Forman lavished his time on “Valmont,” only to be beaten into theaters by “Dangerous Liaisons,” an adaptation of the same source novel. Nobody went to see “Valmont.” This film, and Toby Jones’ performance, deserve better.

Toby Jones and Sigourney Weaver star in “Infamous.”