Tom Hollander Transforms into Truman Capote for FX's New 'Feud'
Demi Moore, Tom Hollander, and Calista Flockhart in the Key Art for 'Feud: Capote Vs The Swans'
FX
As Disney and Hulu slowly merge together in 2024, one of the more interesting aspects will be how FX shakes out. The more adult-oriented network was part of the 20th Century Fox brands that Disney acquired in 2019, and while it is about as "Un-Disney" as one can get, it also came with something Disney hasn't been able to land much of over the years: prestige TV awards cred. Part of that comes from British co-productions, and some comes from American productions that are British-ish.
Most of the productions that uber-producer Ryan Murphy helms productions have never landed in either of those buckets. They are thoroughly American, so much so that it's in the name: American Horror Story, American Crime Story, American Sports Story, American Love Story. However, the best of the batch, Feud, only lasted for one season before disappearing for about a decade. It's now returned with a British star in the central role, Tom Hollander as Truman Capote, making it the first Murphy series to officially land in the British-ish territory.
Hollander, a PBS favorite, has been headlining American prestige shows lately, including a classic turn in HBO's The White Lotus. However, if the trailer is anything to go by, his turn in Feud may be the talk of the spring TV season.
Here's the series synopsis:
Acclaimed writer Truman Capote surrounded himself with a coterie of society’s most elite women – rich, glamorous socialites who defined a bygone era of high society New York – whom he nicknamed “the swans.” Beautiful and distinguished, the group included grande dame Barbara “Babe” Paley, Slim Keith, C.Z. Guest, and Lee Radziwill. Enchanted and captivated by these doyennes, Capote ingratiated himself into their lives, befriending them and becoming their confidante, only to ultimately betray them by writing a thinly veiled fictionalization of their lives, exposing their most intimate secrets.
When an excerpt from the book, Answered Prayers, Capote’s planned magnum opus, was published in Esquire, it effectively destroyed his relationship with his swans, banished him from the high society he so loved, and sent him into a spiral of self-destruction from which he would ultimately never recover.
The Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans Ensemble from down left clockwise: Demi Moore as Ann Woodward, Chloë Sevigny as CZ Guest, Diane Lane as Slim Keith, Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson, Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, Naomi Watts as Barbara Paley and Tom Hollander as Truman Capote.
FX
Tom Hollander (Us) leads the series as Capote with a roster of A-listers, including Diane Lane (House of Cards), Calista Flockhart (Brothers & Sisters), and Demi Moore (Brave New World), all of whom are newcomers to the Ryan Murphy universe. (Murphy tends to reuse actors across projects to the point that sometimes it feels like he has an official stable.)
Feud does feature a few familiar Murphy faces, including Russell Tovey (Flesh & Blood), Naomi Watts (The Watcher), Chloë Sevigny (American Horror Story), Molly Ringwald (Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story), and Joe Mantello (Hollywood). The series will feature the late Treat Williams (Blue Bloods) in his final on-screen role.
The eight-episode limited series is based on the bestselling book Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer, adapted for television by Jon Robin Baitz and directed by Gus Van Sant, Max Winkler, and Jennifer Lynch. The show is executive-produced by Murphy, Baitz, Van Sant, Watts, Alexis Martin Woodall, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Eric Kovtun, and Scott Robertson and produced by 20th Television.
Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans premieres with two episodes on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET on linear FX and streams the next day on Hulu, with one episode a week to follow.
