By Lawrence Ferber

An inside look at that other gay-themed Oscar contender, Capote.

If self-absorption can carry into the afterlife, Truman Capote is sitting somewhere with a drink, obsessively waiting on Oscar night. Director Bennett Miller's portrait of the late gay author -- whose selfish and manipulative nature essentially destroyed his soul while creating In Cold Blood -- nabbed a juicy crop of nominations, including best picture, best actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman), supporting actress (Catherine Keener), adapted screenplay (Dan Futterman), and director (Miller). The nominations help establish this year's Oscars as the gayest ever, with eight nominations for Brokeback Mountain and Felicity Huffman's turn in Transamerica also in the running.

But it's likely that nobody will be waiting on the Oscar results with as much self-centered excitement as the spirit of Capote himself. OK, maybe a few other people. "I have met people on that level of self-absorption," Miller muses. "But they're usually crazy. You would really disqualify them. I spend more and more time in L.A. [lately], so it's inevitable that you're going to encounter that."

Truman Capote certainly enjoyed his share of acclaim while alive (he died in 1984). And Miller has also enjoyed a little acclaim. His 1998 documentary about an eccentric NYC tour guide, The Cruise, was met with kudos from critics and audiences alike. And Futterman has long been a gay favorite for his work as an actor. He played Nathan Lane's son in The Birdcage, a gay man tortured by his lover's murder in Urbania, the "gay straight guy" in Sex and the City, and Will's boyfriend Barry in a handful of Will & Grace episodes.

Although Futterman is heterosexual, married to writer/producer Anya Epstein, even Bennett admits that Futterman is to gay-adjacent what Capote was to self-absorbed. "He was on the cover of The Advocate!" Miller enthuses. "Wearing a shirt that said I Love Will! Mysterious, you know?"

Miller and Futterman have been friends since childhood. Raised in Westchester County, N.Y., they met at age 12 and were classmates throughout high school. Both were able to flex their developing creative muscles at Mamaroneck High School, thanks to its elaborate and advanced performing arts curriculum. Miller regularly provided snarky interview segments to the school's daily television broadcast, while Futterman busied himself with theater productions.

Flash forward. Futterman calls Miller to tell him that Gerald Clarke's Capote biography would make a fantastic movie and he plans to try and write a screenplay adaptation. "I said 'Good luck, little buddy,'" Miller recalls. But Futterman's efforts paid off, and Miller signed on to direct, enlisting their friend Hoffman -- whom they met as young adults attending a theater program in Saratoga, N.Y. -- to star.

While Capote shares some nomination categories with Brokeback Mountain, and is an equally excellent and important gay film, it's a very different movie in some regards. One of those differences entails the onscreen sexuality of its queer protagonist(s). While Brokeback includes a much-buzzed-about tent lust sequence, Capote's sex life is never explicitly depicted. He and lifelong partner Jack Dunphy are on mostly tense terms during the story. Capote does cruise someone outside a bar, but the follow-through is left to viewers' imaginations. And -- a tiny point of controversy -- Capote's rumored seduction (or attempted seduction) of In Cold Blood subject/killer Perry Smith is completely absent. Miller insists that his research indicated that a sexual connection between Capote and the murderer -- which is depicted in last year's Capote in Kansas graphic novel -- was only ever a rumor.

"[Why didn't we show] sex between Perry and Capote?" Miller says. "There are two things. There's the story we're trying to tell and the responsibility to the truth. The truth of the matter is there's nothing known about any kind of sexual relationship between them at all. Gary Clarke, who wrote the biography, this is something I discussed with him at length. The accusation [that Capote and Perry had sexual relations] came from one of the KBI agents who hated Capote. Capote had offended his wife and him and he was really upset about Capote being admitted into death row to spend time with these guys. So he spread a rumor that there was an improper sexual relationship happening between them. That was 40 years ago and the assumption was that Capote was a gay man and this is a dangerous person, so people tend to take it as a matter of fact that this was a sexually charged and perhaps sexually explicit relationship. I'm convinced it's not. It's bullshit. And if you want it from a greater authority than myself I can give you Gerald's phone number."

"But there's something else as far as the film goes," Miller continues, "and that's what are we really after? After In Cold Blood was published, when Capote was asked to explain what it was about Smith [that compelled him], he explained to the reporter that their intense relationship had something to do with Perry's total loneliness. I believe he was being sincere. And for me, what's at heart there in that attraction had more to do with Capote's identification and feelings of sorrow and pity for this guy than something as sexual. Having said that, there's the tiny little charged moment when he talks on the phone with Jack and he hangs up and follows this guy into the bar. I don't think it's possible to watch these scenes and not be conscious of some kind of unexpressed electrical sexual tension there. There's so much that's not expressed in this movie. The screenplay's so beautifully restrained. At any given moment you see four or five things going through Phil Hoffman's head. For me I'm very happy for that stuff -- to feel alive without making any statements about it."

Besides Capote's spirit, many gays and lesbians will watch with baited breath to see which of the big gay performances -- Heath and Phillip -- comes away with the statuette. Whether a queer individual roots for one or the other, whatever happens, this year's Oscar race signifies the great work Hollywood can do when they get into a good story and characters, gay or straight, with integrity and artfulness.

Capote would surely have a pithy bon mot to drive that point home. But he's busy mulling over the Oscar race somewhere.