Emmys spotlight: Demi Moore as the ‘haunted’ Ann Woodward in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’
When Babe Paley meets Truman Capote for the first time in 1955 in the FX anthology series “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” it is the story of Ann Woodward that the famous writer tells in order to captivate her and her luminous friends. As Tom Hollander relishes one of Capote’s many rich monologues, we see Demi Moore as Woodward playing out two versions of the gruesome tale of the death of her husband – one in which she mistakenly shoots him, thinking he’s a burglar, the other in which she commits an act of intention homicide.
When, by the end of the premiere episode, Capote publishes his infamous excerpt from the unfinished novel “Answered Prayers” in “Esquire” in 1975, it is Woodward who takes her own life. While not one of the most prominent characters in the show, Woodward and her demise demonstrate the stakes of the feud at the heart of the series’ title. Will Moore, who harrowingly brings Ann to life, make her return to the Emmys after so many years for this pivotal and showy role?
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According to our earliest 2024 Emmy odds, the actress is in the running, breaking through the top 15 contenders in the Movie/Limited Supporting Actress race. That category could be filled with “Swans,” in fact, as her costars Diane Lane, Chloe Sevigny and Calista Flockhart are all in our top 10. We expect Naomi Watts — who plays Babe Paley — to leave the flock and compete in Movie/Limited Actress. Remember, the first installment of “Feud” did extraordinarily well with Emmy voters, earning six acting nominations for Judy Davis, Jackie Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Alfred Molina, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci.
While most of the reviews for “Capote vs. The Swans” focus on Hollander’s performance, Moore received solid notices. Kristen Baldwin (Entertainment Weekly) wrote, “Moore brings a kind of haunted panic to Ann Woodward, whose exposure in the ‘Answered Prayers’ excerpt leads to tragedy.” Matt Roush (TV Insider) said she “scores as the ill-fated Ann Woodward, a particular target for Capote’s venom,” and Alison Herman (Variety) predicted that one standout scene between Moore and Hollander in the first episode “feels destined for a long afterlife on the internet.”
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Moore not only gets juicy material in the first episode, which features her character’s premature death, but also in the stylized third, “Masquerade 1966.” Late in the outing, Woodward crashes Capote’s legendary Black and White Ball with her son after being excluded from the 500+ person invitation list. Ann, in her desperation to reestablish her position in society, pleads with Capote to at least welcome her son to the festivities before throwing Capote’s cruelty in his face with a biting line that he himself wrote. Though she leaves in disgrace, the confrontation rattles the author for the rest of the evening. It’s a scene made all the more chilling because we know how their contentiousness ultimately ends for the dejected widow.
Beyond her splashy material, Moore has a history at the Emmys, though not for acting. She earned her only nomination for the film “If These Walls Could Talk,” which explored abortion in three different years of the late twentieth century. She starred in the project alongside Sissy Spacek, Cher and others, and while her performance was not recognized, she was one of the four executive producers cited when the film got nominated for Best TV Movie. “Feud” marks a significant return to television for the actress, who has only made sporadic guest or recurring appearances on series like the original “Will & Grace,” “Empire” and the short-lived “Brave New World” since 2000.
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