Bennett Miller: “I thought about Truman Capote during Foxcatcher”

Before transforming Steve Carell into a killer, the American director filmed Philip Seymour Hoffman as a writer passionate about a sordid news story.

Arte will devote its entire evening to a figure in American literature: Truman Capote. First by rebroadcasting the film of Bennett Millerwith Philip Seymour Hoffman in the title role – which gave him the Oscar for best actor in 2005 – then by offering a documentary on his investigation started in 1959 following the reading of an article which had fascinated him. The paper recounted the bloody murder of a Kansas family. The movie 6 dead in the night: “In cold blood”, Truman Capote traces the author's fascination with this atrocious news item, and the way in which he was able to carry out his own investigation, obtaining the agreement of his editorial team to go there, then collecting clues with a view to drawing a novel, and even going so far as to obtain confessions from suspects before their execution in 1965.

“Touch by touch, the film paints the portrait of a complex character, full of contradictions and ambiguities, not necessarily sympathetic, but deeply fascinating”we wrote at the beginning of 2005 upon discovering Truman Capote at the cinema. The magnetism of the actor has a lot to do with the success of this portrait, as does Bennett Miller's cold direction. The two men knew each other well, from their shared film studies in New York. Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr. and Chris Cooper complete the cast of this very successful film.

A few years after the premature death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Miller made another film, just as chilling, about a sordid news story: Foxcatcher. Met before its release, he confided in First have thought a lot about Truman Capote while preparing this film. Here is an extract from his interview, to wait until the rebroadcast of the film, at 8:55 p.m. on Arte. Note that it is also visible in replay free on the channel's website throughout the month of December.

First: Bennett, you trace in Foxcatcher a completely crazy news item. The story of John du Pont, a billionaire philanthropist who fell in love with Greco-Roman wrestling and ended up killing an Olympic champion at point blank range. How did you become interested in this story?
Bennett Miller: I had read an article, it fascinated me and I think I made the film only to recapture the strange feeling I had when reading this article. It captivated me, I felt that there was something to dig into this story. At first I found it funny, absurd. A 160-hectare residence inhabited by an Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team and an eccentric billionaire? Hmm… Obviously, there’s something fishy going on down there. If there wasn't a murder at the end, it would actually be great material for a comedy. But above all I wanted to make a film that makes you think. That Foxcatcher feels like a slap in the face.

When we take inspiration from a news item, we inevitably measure ourselves, whether we like it or not, by In cold blood by Truman Capote. A fortiori when you have made a film in your life which tells how Capote wrote In cold blood…
There are parallels to be drawn, that's for sure. Capote, too, had been fascinated by reading an article. And I thought about him again during the production of the film, when Mark Schultz (brother of the wrestler murdered by du Pont, a wrestler himself, played by Channing Tatum in the film) complained about the title of my film (Foxcatcher was the name of du Pont's property, editor's note). However, Perry Smith (one of the two killers of In cold blood) had also complained about the title of Capote's book. It's very tricky to collaborate with someone whose story you're telling and realize along the way that your interests may diverge.

Why did you choose Steve Carrell to play du Pont?
First of all, I think all comics have a dark side, and I wanted to explore his. Then the thing about Steve is that he's totally adorable. We tell ourselves that he wouldn't hurt a fly. And that's how people perceived John du Pont.

The trailer for Truman Capoteto be found on Arte:

John Le Carré: “We will wait a long time before seeing an actor like Philip Seymour Hoffman again”