Burnough had been a fan of Capote’s for a long time and grew up reading his masterworks, “In Cold Blood” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Burnough, whose resume includes a stint as former White House deputy social secretary and senior advisor to Michelle Obama, knew he wanted to make a documentary about the author, but he worried he lacked the skills to pull it off.
Burnough also lucked out. After befriending Sarah Plimpton, the widow of George Plimpton, he discovered that she had stored hours of interviews that the late journalist conducted with the likes of Norman Mailer and Lauren Bacall for his 1997 book, “Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career.” The over a hundred hours worth of interviews form the narrative thread of “The Capote Tapes.
“I don’t personally believe Truman blew it all up intentionally,” he says. “I do think he was a writer and, as a writer, he couldn’t resist telling a good story.” “I do think ‘Answered Prayers’ was written, but where it is or whether he hid it in a safe deposit box or burned it, we may never know,” says Burnough.