Book and Film Discussion: In Cold Blood

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On February 2nd 2014, Philip Seymour Hoffman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Seymour_Hoffman) died aged 46 (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/03/philip-seymour-hoffman) of a suspected drug overdose. He's a profound loss to the film loving community and there are many (not least the makers of the 3rd and 4th Hunger Games movies (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10614106/Philip-Seymour-Hoffman-will-not-be-recast-in-Hunger-Games-films.html)) who will miss his talent in the next few decades of movies.

For this reason I've chosen a combination of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and the 2005 film Capote for our April meetup.

In Cold Blood has been considered to be the first "non-fiction novel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fiction_novel)" and tells the true story of the murder of a four members of a farming family in Kansas in 1959. Capote and his friend Harper Lee travelled to the town even before the killers were captured and interviewed local residents and the criminal investigators. The book became the greatest crime seller at the time and is almost universally acknowledged as one of the best books of its type ever written.

Bennett Miller's film Capote is a biographical film about Truman Capote and tells the story of the genesis of In Cold Blood. Philip Seymour Hoffman won his only Academy Award for Best Actor for his astonishing performance in the title role.

The film is not a strict literary adaptation of the book, but I hope the combination of the two will give us ample ammunition for a wonderful discussion. If you have time, there are some great articles talking about the veracity of In True Blood here (http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/03/fact_checking_in_cold_blood_what_the_new_yorker_s_fact_checker_missed.html) and here (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/03/capote-co-conspirators-in-cold-blood.html) (among many others), which may also be an interesting component to include in our analysis.

We'll meet again at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse. Keep an eye out for the book on the table.

Amazon has the book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0141182571), as does your local bookshop, and you can watch the film online at Netflix (http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/Capote/70038130), rent the dvd at Lovefilm (http://www.lovefilm.com/film/?token=%3Fu%3D%252Fcatalog%252Ftitle%252F65004%26m%3DGET), or buy it at Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0090NGCYG) or other locations.

Happy reading and viewing!

Kx