Demi Moore joins the second season of FX’s Feud as Ann Woodward, Variety reported earlier this week.
Season 2 of the Ryan Murphy anthology series Feud will tell the true story of how Truman Capote’s friendship with many members of New York high society until he published excerpts of his unfinished novel Answered prayers, which told all about NYC’s elite. According to Variety sources, Moore has been cast as NYC socialite, model and radio actress Ann Woodward, who was infamously charged with the murder of her husband in 1955.
Moore joins previously announced cast members Diane Lane, Calista Flockhart and Chloë Sevigny. Naomi Watts can also be seen on the series, as well as executive producer, alongside Tom Hollander, with Hollander playing Capote. Gus Van Sant is on board to direct the entire 8-episode second season Feud, with Jon Robin Baitz signed as writer and showrunner. Murphy will executive produce through Ryan Murphy Productions along with Plan B’s Dede Gardner, Tim Minear and Alexis Martin Woodall, per Variety.
It was initially announced that the second season of Feud would be about Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales. However, in the end, FX abandoned that concept for the one about Truman Capote’s unfinished novel. The first season of Feud broadcast in the pre-time (that is Solar Contradictions for pre-COVID) in 2017, and it starred Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford and Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis. The season received critical acclaim and focused on the relationship between the two actresses during the making of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? from 1962.
Who is Ann Woodward?
Ann Woodward was an American socialite, showgirl, model and radio actress, who was voted “The Most Beautiful Girl in Radio” in 1940. She became a controversial figure in New York high society after she was suspected of murdering her husband William Woodward Jr. in 1955. Although Ann was never convicted of the crime, on the grounds that she mistook Woodward for a burglar, the incident tarnished her reputation forever. She was banned from high society – and what Truman Capote wrote about her didn’t help the rumors.
Life Magazine called the event “The Shooting of the Century,” and in 1975, when Truman Capote published excerpts from Answered prayers, it accused Woodward of being responsible for her husband’s death. But before the excerpts were published in Esquirethere was such a media frenzy that she committed suicide with cyanide.