Decades before it became de rigueur for investigative reporters to follow death-row inmates' cases, author Truman Capote ('Breakfast at Tiffany's'), set out to cover how a small town in Kansas dealt with the high-profile murder of a wealthy farming family for 'The New Yorker.' Capote ended up writing 'In Cold Blood,' the "nonfiction novel" about Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, the two drifters convicted of the killings. Director Bennett Miller and screenwriter Dan Futterman, both making their feature debuts, wisely concentrate on just this period in the jet-setting writer's life. To play the idiosyncratic Capote, with his girlish voice, fey mannerisms and designer ensembles, they enlisted their good friend Philip Seymour Hoffman. The result is absolutely fabulous -- and shocking. Hoffman, who was just awarded the Oscar for Best Actor, deftly captures how self-serving Capote's interest was in helping the prisoners appeal their death penalty case, but also how he felt a complicated kinship with Smith, the more sensitive of the killers. We'll never know exactly how much the real Capote's involvement impacted Smith and Hickock, but for two hours on-screen, Miller, Futterman and Hoffman prove Capote's years writing his signature work were as engrossing as the story itself.

Inside the DVD Not only are there two commentary tracks -- one with Philip Seymour Hoffman and director Bennett Miller and another with screenwriter Dan Futterman and cinematographer Adam Kimmel -- but there are also two making-of featurettes (one focuses on casting, the other on the movie's visual style). The most interesting extra is a six-minute piece about the real Truman Capote. Featuring Capote's biographer Gerald Clarke, the segment shows picture after picture and even video footage of the author, making it all the more obvious why Hoffman deserves his Academy Award.
Production Note Director Bennett Miller and screenwriter Dan Futterman (an actor best known for his role on 'Judging Amy') have known each other since high school and both attended theater summer camp with Philip Seymour Hoffman more than 20 years ago.
Breakout Star As convicted killer Perry Smith, Clifton Collins Jr. raises his game from bit player ('The Rules of Attraction') to impressive supporting actor. Holding his own opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman, the 35-year-old grandson of one of Hollywood's first Mexican actors shows he's ready for meatier roles.
Why You Should See It Even if you've never read 'In Cold Blood' (you should) or heard of Truman Capote, this biopic of the years he spent researching his monumental book is a must-see. Hoffman's revelatory portrayal of Capote's intervention into Smith & Hickock's case -- and lives -- begs the startling question of whether the egotistical author played a subtle role in their executions.