TORONTO, Ontario (CNN) -- Author Truman Capote was a singular individual: dapper, egocentric, diminutive, with a high, singsongy voice and a talent for observation.For Philip Seymour Hoffman -- almost 6 feet tall, often appearing rumpled and quiet, better known as a supporting actor in such films as "Magnolia" and "Almost Famous" -- playing the author in the movie "Capote" was not going to be an easy transformation."It wasn't easy being him," said the actor in an interview at the Toronto Film Festival, where the film played to rave reviews. "I think Norman Mailer said, 'It must have been exhausting to be Truman,' and I understand what he meant. It really was. There was no one like him.""Capote" is set during a particularly dramatic period in the writer's life. In 1959 Capote, at the time famous for "Breakfast at Tiffany's," read a short article about the brutal murder of a rural Kansas family, the Clutters, and talked The New Yorker magazine into giving him an assignment to write his own piece about the tragedy.He took along with him to Kansas as his research assistant Nelle Harper Lee (played by Catherine Keener), his friend since childhood whose novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," would be published to great acclaim the next year.For the next six years Capote's work to produce what he called a "nonfiction novel" on the Clutter family murders came to consume his life. The result was "In Cold Blood," serialized first in The New Yorker in 1965 and in book form the next year.The 1967 movie version was much praised for its photography and the performances of Robert Blake and Scott Wilson, who played murderers Perry Smith and Dick Hickock."Capote," however, is not about the murders. It covers Capote's journey from an outside observer of the criminal case to his homoerotic personal attachment to the two killers, especially Perry Smith, and ultimately his desire -- his need -- for the two men to be put to death for their crime so he would have an ending for his landmark literary achievement.'At first I thought that was absurd'Capote, a New Orleans native, was a social gadfly and a member of the jet set when that term for high society was new. He was also flamboyant and openly gay at a time when homosexuality was not even mentioned in polite society.It was important to Hoffman to avoid doing a caricature of the much-parodied Capote, who was known as the Tiny Terror (he was 5 feet 3 inches tall, according to Internet Movie Database)."My job wasn't to do a 'Saturday Night Live' sketch," he said. "My job was to tell a story in a very honest way, to get a sense of him soulfully and as honest as possible."Capote's appearance and mannerisms could have been a major problem in rural Kansas during the 1950s. But the writer managed to not only befriend the local citizens and the law enforcement officers, he also became close to the two killers, Hickock and Smith, promising to stand by them as their appeals worked their way through the courts. Hoffman was approached by two old friends -- director Bennett Miller and actor Dan Futterman, the latter making his screen-writing debut -- to star as Capote. Initially, he was reluctant."They came to my house and said here's the script, would you like to play Truman Capote?" recalled Hoffman. "And at first I thought that was absurd." Hoffman laughed. "Because my image of Truman Capote didn't fit me.""He was the only choice. He was going to do it or we weren't going to do it," Miller told The Associated Press. "I've known Phil for 21 years now, and I feel I know him inside and out, and other than him being an incredible actor, a shaman-like actor, I will say that everything in this movie that gets revealed through this character are things that Phil knows."Eventually Hoffman was won over, but he still had reservations."I was petrified of all the work it would be to play him. There was a chasm between us in so many ways," he said.'You feel like Capote committed a crime'"In Cold Blood" marked the pinnacle of Capote's fame. He never wrote another novel (one attempt, "Answered Prayers," was left unfinished) or enjoyed the same level of success -- and perhaps ruminated over all that until he died in 1984 from alcoholism and drug addiction. In "Capote," the author befriends murderer Perry Smith, with whom he has a strange relationship. "Capote" doesn't follow the author in his later years, but Hoffman hopes it provides some clues as to why Capote could never repeat "In Cold Blood.""Hopefully the film answers that," Hoffman said. "It opens that can of worms, where people walk out and say, 'Wow, I can see why it would be hard for him to function again after that.' ""Somebody said the other day, at the end of the movie, you feel like Capote committed a crime, and that's exactly right," Hoffman told the AP."That's why the film works so well. You really have this sense that he's the one who committed the crime, and I think deep down inside, that's how he felt, too. That's something he could never come to terms with."Hoffman's performance is creating early Oscar buzz for best actor, but he doesn't really want to go there just yet. Indeed, for his next role the seasoned character actor has undertaken a broad action flick, playing the villain in "Mission: Impossible 3.""I'm a bit overwhelmed right now," he said. "There's a bit of me that's wondering, but that's OK, I'll stop right there with that."Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.