Jan 4
Watch: Jessica Lange Returns to the Murphyverse in Trailer for Star-Studded 'Feud' Season 2
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Longtime Ryan Murphy collaborator Jessica Lange is featured once again in a project from the out prolific writer and producer, namely the upcoming "FEUD: Capote vs. The Swans."
A new trailer for the upcoming series promises "Sex, money, and endless adventure," the hallmarks of mid-century New York City high society.
"The 74-year-old acting veteran's mystery character could be seen smoking and laughing on a lounge chair alongside Ann Woodward (Demi Moore)," UK newspaper the Daily Mail detailed in its description of the trailer, noting that Woodward "was infamously accused of murdering her husband in 1955."
The Mail went on to add that Lange – "who's only a Grammy away from elite EGOT status," the account noted – "famously headlined the first season of the 'Feud' anthology, which was centered on the Joan Crawford and Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) rivalry."
"Lange previously starred in Ryan Murphy's horror anthology 'American Horror Story' for five seasons – 'Murder House' (2011), 'Asylum' (2012), 'Coven' (2013), 'Freak Show' (2014), and 'Apocalypse' (2018)," the account went on to detail.
The star-stuffed eight-episode second season of "Feud" focuses on what the trailer dubs "the Original Housewives," a high-society set that included Lee Radziwill (the sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), Babe Paley (famed for being the editor of Vogue magazine), and Slim Keith (the fashion maven who was once married to film producer Howard Hawks). Those historical figures are portrayed in the series by Calista Flockhart, Naomi Watts, and Diane Lane, respectively.
Molly Ringwald and Chloë Sevigny are also part of the ensemble.
The stellar cast also includes a bevy of male actors, including the late Treat Williams, out "Looking" star Russell Tovey, Joe Mantello, and – in the role of Truman Capote – Tom Hollander.
Capote famously based characters in his never-finished novel "Answered Prayers" on his high society friends – the women of which are the "swans" of the title – for which he was subsequently shunned and excluded from their ranks.
The Mail illustrated how this is a key plot point in the series, narrating that in the trailer, "the Swans don funerial black attire at a witchy meeting and Slim said: "We stand united, and we destroy him.'"
"The betrayal and fall-out are depicted in showrunner Jon Robin Baitz's small-screen adaptation of Laurence Leamer's 2021 book 'Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era,'" the Mail relayed.
Out film director Gus Van Sant ("Drugstore Cowboy") directs every episode of the limited series, which premieres on FX at the end of this month.
Watch the trailer below.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
