This is undisputably a challenging role, and a difficult casting decision.

Truman Capote was a thin-voiced, effeminate, reasonably shrivelled author -- not exactly a person you would expect played by the painfully profane Along Came Polly comic.

Critics have unanimously applauded Hoffman's subtly textured work in the film, making him a clear frontrunner in an otherwise wide-open category.

A celebrated vivant, pioneering journalist, lonely drunk -- Philip Seymour Hoffman inhabits the persona of Capote with unerring constancy. Looking far older than his 39 years, this is one actor who's just warming up.