By NICOLE LAPORTE

This year it was Alexander. In 2005 it's Truman Capote.
Just as Oliver Stone and Baz Luhrmann battled it out with competing Alexander the Great pics, dueling films about Capote -- one from United Artists, the other from Warner Independent -- have been in the works for months.

But last week the UA pic, titled "Capote" and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as the colorfully fey author of "In Cold Blood," pulled ahead. (Both films are focusing on the writing of that book.) The UA pic just wrapped and is expected to be released next year.

Meanwhile, WIP's pic, tentatively titled "Every Word Is True," featuring Toby Jones (an almost startling Capote doppelganger), has pushed back its start date from January to February.

UA doesn't necessarily have clear sailing, though. With the buyout of MGM by Sony expected to close next summer, "Capote" could be affected by transition jostling.

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