Capote^2

August 18, 2006 6:13 PM

Twice the budget, more stars vs. an Oscar-winning film a year old. The release of the Infamous trailer begs the question: is there really that big a market for Truman Capote-inspired films? Especially since both revolve round In Cold Blood? On the other hand, Infamous might at least still make a profit.
posted by starman (14 comments total)

Does it really beg the question?
posted by lekvar at 6:23 PM on August 18, 2006

Ruined the fucking market for my play, which preceded all of these Truman-come-latelies.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:26 PM on August 18, 2006

To Astro, From Tru: "Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act."
Hang in there.
posted by hal9k at 6:41 PM on August 18, 2006

In June, Jorn Barger pointed to David Thomson saying, "The people behind this new film know that you are going to say, 'Seen that, done that...' They admit that their film covers exactly the same events as the Hoffman Capote. They know that coming second is coming in last. They have seemingly settled on a title, Infamous, that could describe 50 films you can't remember. So, please believe me, they know that their film needs every bit of help it can get. And since I've seen it, and I think it's remarkable, I'm sounding off early in this way. No, this is not a review. This is an impression. (And I have no reason to attack Capote, or diminish it. I thought it was a good picture. But this is better.)"
posted by cgc373 at 7:15 PM on August 18, 2006

It doesn't beg the question, it raises it.
posted by brownpau at 7:25 PM on August 18, 2006

Does it really beg the question?

No. It does raise the question though.

I don't understand. From the IMDB description and cgc373's comments/links, this sounds exactly like Capote. Has Hollywood been drained of so much creativity that they must now resort to remakes of current movies?

And I have no reason to attack Capote, or diminish it.

And yet (and I do understand it's not Infamous' creators who I'm quoting) how could making a movie about the exact same thing as another movie, pretty much immediately after the other movie was made, be seen as anything other than an implicit attempt to diminish that movie?

But this is better.

Who really cares if it's better? It's insulting.
posted by Brak at 7:26 PM on August 18, 2006

reminds me of Prefontaine and Without Limts coming out within a year of each other... though neither of those films won any awards or starred any "A-listers".

FWIW, I enjoyed both movies, and I really have no interest in running (the activity, or the subject).
posted by pruner at 9:21 PM on August 18, 2006

It does not beg the question.

Thanks anyway.
posted by oddman at 9:24 PM on August 18, 2006

You would prefer a limit of one movie per topic, Brak? We can't have Fail-Safe because we had Dr. Strangelove first? (Not that there's any doubt which is better.)

Who really cares if it's better? It's insulting.

Why are you insulted by this? The second group always has a marketing problem, but it's their problem, not yours.

This looks interesting enough to see (on DVD -- I never go to theatres anymore). And yes, I'm sure I'll be comparing it. But so what?
posted by pmurray63 at 9:31 PM on August 18, 2006

You would prefer a limit of one movie per topic, Brak?

Nah, ultimately, people should write and produce what they want. That's not really what I was getting at.

Why are you insulted by this?

I'm did not mean that I personally was insulted, though I can see where the flippancy of my statement would create that inference.

I was proposing that it's insulting to the writers of Capote, like the writers of Infamous felt that they had to one-up that movie, kind of thumbing their noses at the former. Of course, I didn't acknowledge any of the many other reasons they could have had for writing such a screenplay concurrently, many of which would not be insulting at all.

Chalk it up as a not well thought out post, with a dash of snark to boot. Honestly, I hope it's good. It never hurts to have more good movies to watch.
posted by Brak at 11:55 PM on August 18, 2006

I saw bigger stars the last time I sat on my nuts!

(credit to Triumph the insult comedy dog)
posted by Operation Afterglow at 12:00 AM on August 19, 2006

Yeah. When I think of Harper Lee, I always think of Sandra Bullock.

Uh huh.

Sure do.
posted by George_Spiggott at 8:18 AM on August 19, 2006

I was proposing that it's insulting to the writers of Capote, like the writers of Infamous felt that they had to one-up that movie.

"Mr. McGrath didn't find out there was another Capote script until he had finished writing Infamous."
posted by kirkaracha at 8:33 AM on August 19, 2006

Despite Hoffman's awesome performance and a brilliant cast, Capote was a pretty generic bio-pic, and I could never figure out why the film as a whole left me so underwhelmed.

Although Mr. Futterman had never written a screenplay...

Oh.

Also, from the same link: Miramax's commitment to "Frida," the biography of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo starring Salma Hayek, prompted United Artists to abandon a similar project it was developing with Jennifer Lopez.
8O

"So, instead of a mono-brow, couldn't this lady just have a big ass?"

"I love it!"
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:30 AM on August 20, 2006