I don't think Capote loved Smith. But he did make a deep connection. It upset some people, because that had never been the approach to journalistic crime writing, to look into the mind of the killer.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I'm a big fan of Elmore Leonard, and I've read Ian Rankin, Christopher Brookmyre and so on. But I'd never read a crime novel that made me feel emotional at the end.
Hitchcock had a charm about him. He was very funny at times. He was incredibly brilliant in his field of suspense.
The truth is that the writers who most influenced me weren't people categorized as crime writers. I'd say I learned more from John O'Hara, who isn't much read today but whose short stories I really admired, and Hemingway, who I think has lasted pretty good.
Capra always wanted a screenwriter with him, even on the soundstage. The writer had to be there at his side.
Truman Capote was a magical, beautiful writer.
I also think the relationship I have with my audience is a lot more complex than what Hitchcock seemed to want his to be - although I think he had more going on under the surface as well.
He was definitely known as the foremost man killer in the West; however there's controversy about virtually every killing that he was known to have been involved in.
I admire David Lynch so much, and I think he made some bad decisions with Lost Highway.
I love 'Capote.' Huge fan of Philip Seymour Hoffman; if he's not my all-time favorite actor he's definitely in my top five. I just love him so much.
My lasting impression of Truman Capote is that he was a terribly gentle, terribly sensitive, and terribly sad man.