Chris Chalk on His Dreamy Portrayal of James Baldwin

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans, Episode 5, “The Secret Inner Lives of Swans.”]

Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans may follow Truman Capote’s (Tom Hollander) journey as his tight-knit relationships with New York City’s high society “Swans” unravels, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more icons as Chris Chalk steps in to play famed writer James Baldwin for the fifth episode, “The Secret Inner Lives of Swans.”

As writing deadlines loom and Capote is pressured to deliver, the stress of his Esquire excerpts putting his former friends’ secrets on display is catching up with him in this installment as he becomes suicidal. Baldwin arrives in the nick of time though, providing comfort and support to his fellow writer at a critical moment, reminding him of the importance of shining a realistic light on the wealthy over lunch, a gallery visit, and a drink.

Throughout their day together, Baldwin shares facts about swans, including the power of same-sex pairings in the swan world and a tidbit about the Queen of England being the only one allowed to still feast on swans. The symbolic conversation is proven to be a projection when Capote awakens later in the installment, suggesting the entire meeting between him and Baldwin was a mere dream. Still, Chalk tells TV Insider, whether Baldwin or Capote ever spent time together in reality, when it came to the show, “Baldwin’s point of view on the page rang true. Most of it was already written incredibly accurately. And then anything [else] was an easy fix because everybody was just looking to tell the truth.”

Below, Chalk opens up about the role Baldwin plays in rejuvenating Capote’s outlook, the importance of reminding the audience that the Swans weren’t perfect people, the challenges of taking on such an iconic role, and what it was really like working opposite Hollander.

(Credit: FX)

Was there pressure around taking on such an iconic figure as James Baldwin?

Chris Chalk: The role was exciting to get. The call for the audition was like, “Oh, no one does James Baldwin. This is going to be great no matter what.” Then reading the writing, it’s like, “Oh, they’re doing it well, okay.” So was very excited. But when Alexa [Fogel] called with the booking, I was just smitten and immediately horrified. I was immediately like, “Yes, I want to do this. Can I do this? Do I have the actual skillset to do this?” And so part of the journey of this was just kind of relaxing, remembering my training, and once I stepped into the Ryan Murphy company of people, they’re so incredibly helpful, so creative, so supportive that it was easy to just melt into James with so many hands helping to guide me.

You take on Baldwin’s very specific voice, similar to how Tom Hollander transforms his voice for Capote. What did you do to prepare?

Lots and lots and lots [of preparation]. It was like two hours a day of vocal work on my own, and then Jerome Butler, who was the vocal coach on set, would come and add so much stuff. He had such great notes and perceptions and perspectives of the time period that we wanted to be in [the show] honoring James’ voice. He was a drinker and a smoker, so over time it kind of drops even further down. But we tried to keep it where his voice was a little bit richer and had a wider range. So it was truly just tons and tons of going back to theater training and opening up the instrument of the voice to honor his energy… [It was like a] Transatlantic accent.

It’s almost like another dialect. It’s different from any other voice you’ve heard.

If you ever hear his brother talk, he sounds just like him. So I was like, “This is specific to your family.”  There’s this bigness about it, and there’s this willingness to be dramatic that’s so natural and not their attempt to be dramatic. It’s like a time when people weren’t trying to be everybody else, but he was just like, “This is what life has carved me into.” And so finding those carvings for me was just a delight. It was super fun.

(Credit: FX)

What is it about James Baldwin that makes him this beacon of hope for Truman as he’s considering taking his own life? Especially since we learn that his day spent with Baldwin is all a dream.

Truman’s White, so he has more access to this world. James would love to do this, and James would do it all the way, but these people are racists who will never allow him in that space. There’s not a chance. The show even speaks to, [when James is says to Truman], “I hate to tell you this, but the housewives are racist.” So James is this reminder of let’s honor what we came here to do as queer men, as a Black man, as a white man, as a Southern man. Our job is to expose the world to itself. And I think whether fever, dream, or reality, James comes in with this energy that’s reminding Truman through the foggy drunken state, your voice is important to this materialistic world. And I think that’s what kind of reactivates Truman.

Up until this point, the women are mostly seen through a victim lens. Why is it so important to remember the Swans weren’t perfect people?

It’s important just in general, for any audience ever watching this to remember in our worshiping of celebrity, here in 2024 and beyond, it’s just people. And some of these people aren’t super smart. Some of these people don’t read. And so we have got to be aware of who we’re asking to guide a ship. If it’s not a sailor, then we’re in trouble.

And I think that’s essentially the beauty of this episode. The beauty of this show is saying these people were icons. These people were amazing. These people were messy jerks. They were American, racist, homophobic, sexist, misogynistic people. Even the women have some misogynist qualities. And it is our job as writers, as storytellers, as purveyors of truth to allow that truth to be told. And I just think intellectualism was more celebrated [back then]. This show is remembering that intellect is power. That’s the beauty of having specialists. The Trumans and the Baldwins were specialists. They were wise, but the Swans were popular. And it forces us to really look at popularity as leadership. Everyone wants to be seen and heard, and I’m like, but “you’ve got to listen too.”

Almost the entire episode revolves around Capote and Baldwin’s day together. What was it like acting opposite Hollander for these sequences?

It’s a one-act play. It’s like theater, and so a lot of it was just going back to the trust of being responsible for words and trusting that. I mean, Tom is a monster. He’s so amazing. He’s so sweet, he’s so kind. He’s so talented. We both spoke about how nervous we were playing such honorable people and wanting to honor that in our work. I said, “Hey, Tom, did you have any panic attacks?” He was like, “Oh yeah, dude. This is super scary.” And that was five episodes in. And he’s still like, “I’ve got to shine this up every single day.” So there’s no competition in that. There’s just a group of people all coming together in hopes of telling this story to the best of our collective ability.

There are a lot of swan facts recited by Baldwin, and eventually, Capote even devours one that is slaughtered by a private chef. How closely do you think viewers should pay attention to that symbolism?

Oh, I mean, I’m never going to remember every one of the facts. But I do recall looking up every single one of them and they were relevant. Everything was chosen for a reason, for a purpose. And even in the execution of those scenes, I remember Max [Winkler] just helping me to make sure I was remembering what I was saying, using the beautiful method of analogy to spur him, because intellects use intellectual means to stimulate one another.

Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans, New Episodes, Wednesdays, 10/9c, FX (Next day on Hulu)