Summary

• Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans explores the falling apart of Capote's relationships with the six swans, with a focus on his friendship with Babe Paley.
• The cast features critically acclaimed actresses as the swans and Tom Hollander as Capote, portraying the real-life people who gained fame through their work.
• Truman Capote struggled with personal issues, including substance abuse and writer's block, which ultimately affected his relationships and ruined his own life.

The second installment of FX’s Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans is based on the true story of famed American writer Truman Capote and his friendships with six socialites whose inner lives he exposed in his writing. Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans introduced all the swans but spent the most time exploring the friendship between Capote and Babe Paley.

The Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans cast features six critically acclaimed actresses as Capote's closest friends and Tom Hollander as the man himself. The actors embody the seven real-life people who reached varying degrees of fame through their respective work. Some of the swans’ names and stories may not be immediately recognizable to viewers, but Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans poses them as some of the most important people in New York high society during their time.

14 Truman Convinced Babe To Stay With Bill

Babe's husband had many affairs

Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans opened with Babe (Naomi Watts) in a moment of crisis in her marriage, causing her to rely on Truman, her best friend and confidant. Babe was married to Bill Paley (Treat Williams), known as the father of modern broadcasting, though their marriage had been loveless for many years. She was aware of his many affairs, but he crossed the line with Happy Rockefeller, the First Lady of New York at the time, which appeared to be Babe’s final straw.

However, Truman convinced Babe to stay with him. He told her that now she had the upper hand in their relationship and she should let Bill spoil her while he tried to apologize. She followed Truman’s advice and Bill did just that, using gifts as a substitute for love.

13 Truman Spread The Rumor That Ann Murdered Her Husband

He claimed the Woodwards covered up the crime

Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans frequently jumped between different timelines to provide further backstory for the characters. Episode 1 flashbacked to the first time Babe and Bill met Truman on a trip to Jamaica. At dinner, he told them that Ann Woodward (Demi Moore) had murdered her husband with malice. The former radio actress had killed her husband, but it had been ruled an accident.

Truman claimed that Ann's in-laws, the Woodwards, had covered up the crime to spare their children any shame and embarrassment and keep their mother out of jail. Regardless of whether she actually murdered him, the rumor spread. His nickname for Ann, “Bang Bang,” followed her and cast her from high society.

12 Truman Struggled Personally While Trying To Write About The Swans

He never completed the novel

While Truman may have been the toast of the party in Jamaica, some years down the line, his life was falling apart. Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans captured his downfall as well as the destruction of his relationship with the swans. He was never able to complete his novel, likely because of his substance abuse issues. Truman’s inability to produce work also meant that he was broke and even owed his publishing company money for missing multiple deadlines after taking his advance. In attempting to tear down the swans, it appeared that Truman was also ruining his own life.

11 The Swans Nickname Has An Important Meaning

Truman gave them the nickname himself

The first time Truman uses the “swan” nickname in Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans was in one of his first conversations with Babe. She had been in a car accident that left her with facial scarring and had to get reconstructive surgery. Due to this, Truman said the accident was the best thing that ever happened to her, as it turned her from an “ugly duckling” into a “swan.”

Truman described Babe as “perfect,” almost too much so. However, this was just on the surface. Like swans, the socialites glided gracefully below the surface, but there was more to see below. To stay afloat, swans paddle frantically, offering an important metaphor. The swans may seem above everything, but in reality, they struggled just like everyone else.

10 Ann Confronted Truman At Lunch

They used to be friends

Truman proved himself to be disloyal when he turned on Ann in Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans. He easily and gleefully spread the rumor about her, writing about it even though they’d once been close friends. While Truman was at lunch with C. Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), and Babe, Ann publicly and angrily confronted him for betraying her.

Truman showed no shame, claiming she deserved it after she’d called him a gay slur behind his back. Rather than deny it, she threw a drink in his face and corrected him on the phrasing. This provided a vision of what was to come for the other swans, as Truman showed no hesitation when it came to turning on them as well in Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans.

9 John Told Truman To Write About The Swans

Truman hadn’t initially planned on writing about them

John (Russell Tovey), a banker and aspiring writer whom Truman was having an affair with, was also at the explosive lunch. It had been his first time meeting Truman’s famous swans, and he was shocked by what he’d seen. Truman had been suffering from writer’s block and was starting to display signs of alcoholism. Using the famous advice of “write what you know,” John told Truman he should write about the swans, effectively exposing them and all the secrets they’d shared with him over the years. Truman took his advice and nothing was the same again.

8 Babe Was Diagnosed With Cancer

She died of lung cancer in 1978

Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans episode 2 opened with Babe receiving treatment for her recently diagnosed lung cancer. Three years after Truman first exposed the swans in a teaser for a magazine, she would die of the disease, the day after her 63rd birthday. The episode followed Babe as she struggled with the illness and those around her came together to make her comfortable. The deathly diagnosis made Truman’s betrayal and the loss of his friendship all the more painful and heartbreaking for Babe.

7 Ann’s Suicide Could Have Been Connected To Truman

She committed suicide right before the teaser was published

In November 1975, Esquire published "La Côte Basque,” the first installment of Answered Prayers, the novel Capote was writing about the swans. In October 1975, Ann Woodward died by suicide, 20 years after her husband’s death. Slim claimed that Ann had received an advanced copy of the Esquire issue, and it had driven her to suicide.

Slim wasn’t the only person who believed that Truman had essentially killed Ann. At her funeral, her son called out Capote by name, as well as everyone who had ever gossiped about her, as her true killer. It’s unclear whether Truman and "La Côte Basque” played a part in her suicide, but Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans painted it as the motive.

6 Slim Plans To Get Revenge On Truman

She wants him to suffer the way he made Ann suffer

Though Slim hadn’t stuck up for Ann while she was still alive, she was convinced that Truman had caused her suicide and that he should suffer for it. She said that she wanted to “kill him” like he’d killed Ann but with a “slow death.” She urged her friends, Babe, C. Z., and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart) to shun Truman the way Ann had been.

Due to her closeness to him, Babe seemed reluctant to do so in Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans, but followed her friend’s wishes. C.Z. was the most hesitant, while Lee felt the same way as Slim. Together, they ensured that Truman was shut out from society despite his many attempts to earn their friendship back through gifts and letters.

5 The Swans Haunted Truman

He saw visions of them while drunk

In the aftermath of the publication of "La Côte Basque,” Truman left New York for Hollywood. There, he tried his hand at acting, but his substance abuse issues got in the way. While filming a scene in a drunken stupor, he began to envision the swans on set. Though he never said so, he seemed to regret his betrayal in Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans. At the very least, he seemed to regret the impact it had on his friendships and his standing in high society, which he hadn’t expected when he decided to expose them.