Get the latest gossip

Gus Van Sant’s Maysles Masquerade


The director imagined a reality where the brothers documented — then scrapped — footage of the Black and White Ball for Feud: Capote vs. the Swans.

It feels inevitable, then, that the stylish humanist would direct multiple episodes of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, the Ryan Murphy–produced FX miniseries about the fallout from the alcoholic In Cold Blood author’s decision to use embarrassing true details about the private lives of his socialite friends as fodder for a novel he never finished. Van Sant and his collaborators crank up the anxiety by shooting in the style of Albert and David Maysles and other mid-1960s documentarians who practiced the Direct Cinema aesthetic: black-and-white, handheld, favoring immediacy and reportage over gloss and precision. Known for his bold, often extreme experiments with light levels, contrast, and texture, cinematographer Harris Savides (1955-2012) worked with auteurist filmmakers including Sofia Coppola, Noah Baumbach, David Fincher, and Jonathan Glazer.

Get the Android app

Or read this on VULTURE

Read more on:

Photo of Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant

Related news:

News photo

Gus Van Sant: 'We are living in a wilder time than anything we could imagine'

News photo

Gucci's latest collection revealed in series of films by Gus Van Sant