Harper Lee – 'manly'?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Capote
onvinyl — 17 years ago(May 14, 2008 09:58 PM)
At one point, Truman's boyfriend refers to Nell Harper Lee's "manliness" a quality I did NOT get out of Keener's performance. I loved her performance, and I understand that Lee is assumed to be a lesbian, but manly I did not get.
Anyone else? -
shoyt_2001 — 17 years ago(June 18, 2008 01:03 AM)
It was in reference to how effeminate Truman Capote was in comparison.
He was very prissy and took along Nelle Harper Lee to help him better communicate with people who might be put off by his sissy ways in the Heartland.
Frankly, when it came to writing, there is nothing effeminate about Capote. His writing is hardcore to the extreme, which is what made his book so compelling. His soft side enabled him to get close and caring, but the resolve he felt about his script and the texture of it, bounces between the hardcore masculine exploitation of the demons hiding inside Perry, and the female intuition of a sad situation which sees all sides.
I read the book and I could not sleep that night. The next day my boyfriend wanted us to see the movie. We did, and I didn't sleep that night either. For the first time in my life, I saw that people could not only be bad, but they could be bad on purpose, and do horrible things such as cold killings for no good reason.
Capote wanted to see it all, then write. Which he did. Then it took away his ability to write. I think it unnerved him also. -
AND77 — 17 years ago(September 17, 2008 08:09 PM)
It was definitely an unkind thing for Jack and Truman to say about Nelle. I have to wonder what the film's writer based these comments onletters?
While Nelle was definitely not as glamorous as Capote's New York female friends, she wore high heels, dresses and pearls to dinners (you can see the amazingly high heels Keener wears to the Deweys' home when they knock at the front door, although this could have been a trick to make Hoffman look shorter for the role), and Keener brought a quiet elegance to the character.
Truthfully, the real Nelle looked a lot more boyish than Keener at that time in her life, but many women did (and still do). She just didn't wear makeup or fussy dresses.
Interesting comment for Capote to find funny, given his own exaggerated effeminite ways. -
rickumali — 17 years ago(February 09, 2009 09:17 AM)
Like another posted mentioned, I think the "manliness" comment is in relation to Capote's "non-manliness." I absolutely loved Keener's work in this movie. She's awesome!
Rick (
http://www.rickumali.com/
) Umali -
thebigmouth — 16 years ago(August 23, 2009 08:22 AM)
Have you read To Kill a Mockingbird? She was Scout a tomboy even as an adult.
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