There is a book to be written on the squabbles that have torn apart Quebec showbiz since the opening of Le Faisan Dorée and Casa Loma.
Which hosts violently hate each other, which actors refuse to play together, which star prevents their comrades from getting paid contracts, who gossips behind whose back constantly?
A lot of gossip is circulating that wouldn’t be published in a newspaper or even on a website like Monde de Stars. Who practices Scientology in our artistic colony, who cheats on their spouse with their colleague for many moons and who carries a completely justified reputation as a diva?
This book would sell like little ponchos, no doubt. But who would dare to lay it? This is the thorny question. Because revealing so many secrets means a) exposing yourself to colossal legal proceedings, b) being ostracized by the chic fauna of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde and c) living like an outcast for the rest of your life.
Over the years, romans à clef like The fall of Babylonby Guillaume Sylvestre, or The ball of egos, by Carmel Dumas, revealed some juicy information about well-known Quebec personalities, but nothing that comes close to an act of self-sabotage – or social suicide? – posed by the writer Truman Capote, in November 1975.
Confidant of all the influential ladies of New York high society, the American novelist revealed all the secrets of his rich best friends in a devastating text printed in the magazine Esquire and entitled “La Côte Basque, 1965”, named after the French restaurant in Manhattan where Truman Capote and his stylish girlfriends lunched.
The impact of this literary missile, a sort of Gossip Girl refined, is the subject of the delicious miniseries Feud: Capote vs. The Swansthe first two episodes of which land this Wednesday on the Disney+ platform.
The list of actresses in the credits sparkles: Calista Flockhart, Diane Lane, Demi Moore, Naomi Watts, Chloë Sevigny, Jessica Lange and Molly Ringwald. And under the hat of the eccentric author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and D’In Cold Bloodactor Tom Hollander is fabulous.
In “The Basque Coast, 1965”, Truman Capote had barely modified the names of the women – the famous swans of the title of the series – at the heart of his sulfurous paper of 13,000 words, that the entire bourgeoisie of the 5e Avenue devoured. As the Anglos would say, Truman Capote spilled the whole tea and the teapot.
With his pen dipped in vitriol, the writer accused Ann Woodward (Demi Moore) of having murdered her banker husband, which was true. It described the numerous infidelities of CBS boss Bill Paley, the husband of the beautiful Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), including a scandalous affair with a Rockefeller family heiress, who intentionally stained the marital sheets with her menstrual blood.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FX
Actor Tom Hollander plays Truman Capote.
Among the other swans skinned by Truman Capote, we find the matron Slim Keith (Diane Lane), a serial bride from the depths of the American West, who drinks only Cristal de Roderer champagne. The only one that Capote specifically named in his story, Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart), younger sister of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, was described as a “little geisha.”
The episodes of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans tell in many juicy details how this vicious article shook the popesses of good taste on the Upper East Side. Truman Capote believed his precious friends were too stupid and superficial to recognize themselves in “La Côte Basque, 1965”. Serious error. The swans take revenge on Capote by never speaking to him again and banishing him from all social circles in New York.
Truman Capote, often portrayed in cinema (hello the extraordinary Philip Seymour Hoffman), remains a fascinating character for television. An alcoholic and drug addict, he is a man who is at once brilliant, cruel and detestable, who takes an implacable look at the 1% of the 1%.
“Socialites” loved the flamboyant Truman Capote because he listened to them and paid them more attention than their own wealthy spouses. In return, Capote, from a poor background, climbed the social ladder thanks to these powerful women, guardians of the keys to the jet-set.
Feud: Capote vs. The Swansdirected by filmmaker Gus Van Sant, is set in a golden world of Palm Beach dinners, lavish parties at the Plaza, polo games in the Hamptons and debutante balls.
One of the few people who did not disown Truman Capote after the release of his devastating essay was Joanne Carson (Molly Ringwald), the second wife of talk show host Johnny Carson. Truman Capote died in Joanne Carson’s Malibu home in August 1984.
Quebec laws, which protect privacy more than in the United States, would complicate the publication of a roman à clef written in Capote’s incisive style.
If such a “shocking” book came out one day in our bookstores, it is clear that I would be the first reader, never the author. I still want my table at Leméac.