We’re not even halfway through the year, but I can’t imagine that any upcoming limited series will match the greatness of a pair of anthology programs that have already landed on streaming platforms in 2024. Both shows boast storied antecedents, great talents and cinema-quality production values. And both shows find their roots in mid-century American crime literature and the lives of a pair of celebrity authors.
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans is the second installment of Ryan Murphy’s Feud series which premiered with Feud: Betty and Joan (2017) and portrayed the rivalry between actresses Betty Davis and Joan Crawford. This new season recounts the story of Truman Capote’s publishing of “La Côte Basque 1965” in Esquire magazine. The standalone chapter was intended to be the beginning of the author’s unfinished novel, Answered Prayers. But, it constituted a social suicide when it humiliated a number of Capote’s high-society female friends he referred to as his “swans.”
Capote became a household name when he published Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958), but with In Cold Blood (1966) Capote minted the modern true crime genre and became the most recognizable book author in the world. The diminutive scribe translated that fame into a seat at the table in the most powerful and wealthy social circles in New York. Theatrical films like Capote (2005) and Infamous (2006) dramatized the writing of In Cold Blood and gave us great actorly portrayals of the author by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toby Jones respectively. Capote vs. the Swans is focused on the last chapter of Capote’s life and features the very best embodiment of the author in an almost-guaranteed-Emmy-winning turn from Tom Hollander. The Swans boast a stacked-deck of talented actresses that seems almost too-good-to-type: Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Calista Flockhart, Demi Moore and Molly Ringwald. If all that wasn’t enough, Jessica Lange plays the ghost of Capote’s mother and six of the show’s eight episodes are directed by Academy Award nominee, Gus Van Sant.
Feud: Capote vs the Swans is streaming on Hulu
Most readers will know the name Thomas Ripley from Anthony Minghella’s indelible 1999 film, The Talented Mr. Ripley. That movie stars Matt Damon in the title role and it’s based on the book by Patricia Highsmith. The American author’s debut novel, Strangers on a Train (1950) was adapted into a classic film by no less than Alfred Hitchcock, and The Price of Salt was translated to the screen as Todd Haynes’ great picture, Carol (2015). Highsmith wrote a total of five Ripley novels known collectively as the “Ripliad.” Other Ripley movie adaptations have cast Alain Delon, Dennis Hopper and John Malkovich as Highsmith’s most famous antihero, and Tommy Wiseau even claims that his infamous film, The Room was inspired by Minghella’s Ripley movie.
Writer/director Steve Zaillian’s new Ripley miniseries just started streaming this month. The first season covers the events in The Talented Mr. Ripley, but where Minghella set his conman/serial killer, Ripley against sun-soaked Italian locations awash in color, Zaillan’s film ensnares audiences in light-filled black-and-white images shot at paranoid angles by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit. This take on the first Ripley story is a cold-blooded neo-noir — it’s paced like a predator inching toward its prey, and it’s brimming with opulent interiors, overflowing wine glasses and stunning landscapes that have all been drained of vibrance.
The cast features Andrew Scott as Ripley, Johnny Flynn as the doomed Dickie Greenleaf and Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood. John Malkovich even makes a cameo appearance in the last episode in a fun homage to the larger Ripley cinematic universe. Like its title character, Ripley is a charming killer of a show, inviting viewers to see how the other half lives — and dies.
Ripley is streaming on Netflix
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.