TORONTO (AP) - Toby Jones has one of the toughest acts to follow in cinema history.
The British actor stars as Truman Capote in "Infamous," the story of the author's dark journey to create the true-crime novel "In Cold Blood," an experience so traumatic it left him an emotional wreck for the rest of his life.
Didn't we just see that? We did. A year ago, "Capote" debuted to enormous acclaim and went on to win the best-actor Academy Award for Philip Seymour Hoffman's remarkable title performance.
Despite chronicling the same era in the author's life, "Infamous" is a very different film from the somber "Capote," capturing the scathing wit of the effeminate raconteur and presenting the early part of the story almost as black comedy.
And Jones is every bit as good as - some early critics say better than - Hoffman was in "Capote."
You won't catch Jones making comparisons, though. He has not seen "Capote," deciding to hold off until "Infamous" was behind him. Even after filming wrapped, he kept his mind on other things.
"I can genuinely say that for a long time, obviously while I was filming it, I had far too much to think about than to worry about another film," Jones, 40, said in an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival, where "Infamous" played in advance of its theatrical debut Friday.
"Then after going back to the U.K., I started doing another project straightaway. It was just the relief of having sustained it, my first major lead in a movie. I just felt exhausted and wasn't thinking about the fact there were two Capote movies."
The other film began creeping into Jones' thoughts a year ago as he started getting sympathy calls from friends, who knew "Infamous" would have to follow in the wake of the acclaim for "Capote."
It was blind coincidence that two sets of filmmakers wound up working on separate Capote tales at the same time. The "Infamous" filmmakers hope that rather than sapping audience interest in their movie, the success of "Capote" will make viewers curious to see another treatment of the author.
"Infamous" also presents a strong supporting lineup, including Sandra Bullock as Capote's lifelong friend, "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee, a role that earned Catherine Keener a supporting-actress Oscar nomination for "Capote."
Jones and "Infamous" could end up lost in the shadow of Hoffman and "Capote," though Bullock said she was encouraged by the reaction after the new film's premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where Jones was swarmed by autograph hounds.
"He's going to be working for the rest of his life," Bullock said. "I thought, 'It's so nice to see people asking for autographs from a brilliant actor, not someone who's got a great celebrity status.' Someone who they've just seen in his film and they're blown away. I said, 'I'm watching the beginning of a great career right now.'"
Also co-starring in "Infamous" are Sigourney Weaver, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Daniels, Isabella Rossellini, Hope Davis and Daniel Craig, who debuts as James Bond in "Casino Royale" a month later.
As good as Hoffman was, he would have towered over the 5-foot, 2-inch Capote. But Jones stands just three inches taller that Capote and bears a striking resemblance to him.
"Infamous" director Douglas McGrath, who adapted his screenplay from George Plimpton's book "Truman Capote," said the likeness was so remarkable that the night before the screen test, he prayed Jones would turn out to be a good actor.
When Jones came onto the soundstage in a prim little suit and his hair slicked back Capote-style, McGrath's crew was taken aback.
"The technicians all just took in their breath and watched him walk by, and I know they're looking at each other like, `They've exhumed Truman Capote to play Truman Capote in the film,'" McGrath said.
"I was so hoping he'd be good and so fearing he wouldn't be, and then as the test went on, I felt everything relax, and I felt this kind of giddy joy, because I thought, oh my God, we've found him. I'm hardly comparing the two films, but I must have felt like David O. Selznick that night when they famously brought Vivien Leigh to the set and said, `Here's your Scarlett O'Hara.' Because I felt, here was my Scarlett O'Hara."
