Capote vs. the Swans' cast and the real women behind them

The White Lotus star Tom Hollander didn't know the true story inspiring Feud: Capote vs. the Swans before joining the cast of the FX series. Maybe it's because he's British and grew up in Bristol. "I knew who Truman Capote was, obviously," he tells EW of the acclaimed writer behind Breakfast at Tiffany's and In

The White Lotus star Tom Hollander didn't know the true story inspiring Feud: Capote vs. the Swans before joining the cast of the FX series. Maybe it's because he's British and grew up in Bristol.

"I knew who Truman Capote was, obviously," he tells EW of the acclaimed writer behind Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood. "But, no, I didn't really know about the Swans. People all around me started talking about them, so everyone else seemed to know them."

Based on Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans follows the lifestyles of Capote and the menagerie of socialites he referred to as "Swans." The cast of the show itself is also filled with such women: Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Calista Flockhart, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald.

The feud element of Feud season 2 centers on what happened when Capote published excerpts from his novel Answered Prayers in the pages of Esquire magazine in 1975. Having suffered a severe bout of writer's block, Capote considered this to be his magnum opus, except it was not received that way.

He decided to write about the lives of New York high society, including some of his closest friends. Scandalous affairs, alleged murders, that kind of thing. Though he didn't mention anyone by name, the characters were so thinly veiled everyone in society knew who he was writing about. So his so-called Swans, in retaliation, did everything in their power to banish him from their inner circle and deny him the perks that came with it.

Before Feud: Capote vs. the Swans premieres on FX on Wednesday, Jan. 31, get to know the key figures below.

Naomi Watts as Barbara "Babe" Paley

Watts, who previously starred in the Ryan Murphy-produced The Watcher, reunites with the TV titan for Feud season 2. She stars as Barbara Paley, nicknamed Babe, who was considered Truman's favorite Swan. The daughter of noted neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing, Paley worked as a fashion editor at Vogue for two years and was said to have never left the best-dressed list. She left Vogue when she married William S. Paley. Those in New York City who know of the Paley Center will know him as the founder of the media museum who was fundamental in building CBS into one of the top television networks. (Treat Williams plays Paley on Feud.)

A car accident damaged Paley's teeth and face, though she adopted veneers and underwent plastic surgery.

Why did Truman gravitate toward Babe so much? "They're both in similar kinds of pain," says Feud season 2 showrunner Jon Robin Baitz in an interview with EW. "They're both very invested in survival in society while being seen. They're both profoundly lonely people. They're both intelligent and performative, and I think that they're linked in an understanding that their lives, much like those of the royal family, require a kind of ceremony about them, require an artfulness at all times. They see themselves as avatars: in Truman's case, of being an arbiter of what's relevant in that moment, and in Babe's case, an arbiter of what a life well lived looks like."

Diane Lane as Slim Keith

A close friend to Paley, Slim Keith (Lane) grew up in California, where she became immersed in the Hollywood glitterati. She counted The Mirror Has Two Faces Oscar-nominated actress Lauren Bacall among her close friends, and she married Scarface director Howard Hawks (her first of three husbands). She was that level of glitterati.

"The word that has been bandied about is 'ringleader,' and I want to counter that with a little bit more nuance," Lane said of Slim during a Feud press conference in January. "I think that she saw from afar that Truman needed support and she was there for him at times." Capote had asked Slim to be an agent for his book In Cold Blood as it was becoming a movie at the time, though she eventually connected the writer with Swifty Lazar.

"Historically, there was a lot of loss in this betrayal that we don’t see on camera," Lane continued. "I got the wonderful cheat of having access to her memoir, so I have an extra amount of compassion for the amount of anger that she is accountable for in this story, because she did empower him and nurture his growth and was there for a lot of his formative time."

Chloë Sevigny as C.Z. Guest

The woman known as Lucy Douglas Guest was often called "Sissy" by her brother when they were young, so she turned that into a new name, C.Z. Chloë Sevigny, another Murphy regular (American Horror Story, the upcoming Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story), plays the socialite from Boston who married  Winston Frederick Churchill Guest, a national polo champion and (more significantly) the first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill. Author Ernest Hemingway, another notable friend of Slim's, hosted their wedding and served as best man. Though a horse-riding enthusiast, an injury paved the way for her to write a New York Post column and then a book on gardening, for which she would become known.

Demi Moore as Ann Woodward

Ann Woodward, who moved to New York from Kansas City, became known as the most beautiful girl in radio, having garnered notoriety as a radio actress. She was especially controversial after rumors spread that she intentionally shot and killed her husband, banking heir William Woodward, Jr. A grand jury ruled the death accidental, but Capote did not let the rumor die. Ann killed herself by ingesting cyanide shortly before Capote published excerpts of Answered Prayers in Esquire that, in part, suggested she was guilty of murder.

Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill 

Lee Radziwill spent a lot of time with her more famous sister, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, visiting the White House and even staying by her sibling's side after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Radziwill eventually became a princess, having married Polish royal Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł. She later relocated to New York City after she and her sister drifted apart, and she pursued careers in a slew of more creative fields, like interior designing and acting.

Radziwill had a falling out with Capote prior to the Esquire piece, however. The writer had been determined to make her a star actor, having paved the way for her casting in the television play of Laura (based on the 1944 movie) that he adapted. The critics were not kind to Radziwill, and she never acted again.

Then came the libel lawsuit filed against Capote by Gore Vidal. Vidal alleged Capote lied when the writer claimed he had been thrown out of the White House for being drunk. Vidal won the suit after Radziwill declined to testify on Capote's behalf. According to gossip columnist Liz Smith, it was Radziwill who told Capote the story about Vidal being drunk. Radziwill than allegedly told Smith, “Oh, Liz, what do we care; they’re just a couple of f--s! They’re disgusting.”

Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson

Breakfast at Tiffany's meets The Breakfast Club. Ringwald portrays Joanne Carson, who in her younger years became a model and stewardess for Pan American World Airways. She married talk show host Johnny Carson and then became a talk show host herself for a spell after their divorce. Based in California, she wasn't actively a part of the core Swans group, but she maintained a relationship with Capote over the years. Capote eventually died in Carson's home, having lived there with her in his last days.

The first two episodes of Feud: Capote Vs. the Swans premiere on FX Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT. They will then stream on Hulu the next day.

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