A plot twist he never imagined

It’s the kind of story guaranteed to make every struggling screenwriter in town sick. Dan Futterman, a handsome, successful working actor, writes a screenplay and next thing you know, he’s got “Capote,” a critically acclaimed film and, as a cherry on top of the whole stinking sundae, now an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay for a film that’s also a contender for best picture.

“People have been very nice so far,” Futterman says, laughing when asked if his writer friends were still speaking to him. The process was, in reality, six years of revision; of asking longtime friend and documentary director Bennett Miller to just please read it; of trying to convince Philip Seymour Hoffman, another longtime friend, that playing Truman Capote would not be career suicide; and then of all of them tap-dancing through the endless and often demoralizing search for funding.

The three, with the help of another friend, producer Caroline Baron, eventually talked Infinity Media and then United Artists into backing the movie, making, Futterman says, the film’s five nominations -- including best director, best actor and best supporting actress -- even sweeter. “It was a group effort, and it’s a group reward,” he says.

-- Mary McNamara