Feud: Capote vs The Swans has finally arrived in the UK (it’s on Disney+). It tells the story of Truman Capote and his seismic falling out with his ‘swans.’ Spoilers ahead.
The ‘swans’ were the crème de la crème of New York high society. They wore couture, lunched every day (despite not being obvious Billy Bunters), and had extremely rich and powerful husbands.
Capote, a prodigiously talented writer, was a hot property after the publication of In Cold Blood. Elevated social circles are always on the lookout for fresh meat to save them from dying of boredom. Capote - hugely clever, outrageously funny and thrillingly camp (this was conservative America in the mid-Sixties) - was just the ticket.
