“It’s breathtaking, even by David Fincher standards,” said “The Social Network” screenwriter Aaron Sorkin yesterday on the just-released Happy Sad Confused podcast, about Fincher’s new movie “Mank.” And that’s a hell of an endorsement to lead the way for today’s trailer unveiling of “Mank,” a black and white prestige drama starring Gary Oldman about the writing and making of legendary filmmaker Orson Welles‘ “Citizen Kane” — often considered one of the greatest movies of all time.
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Fincher has famously made the distinction between movies and films— movies being the more popcorn side of things, films being more true arty cinephile works. And despite what most people think, films like “The Social Network” fall into the movies side of things in Fincher’s own estimation. But the filmmaker finally seems to have made what he would consider a capital F film with “Mank,” arriving in December on Netflix.
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Written by his late father Jack Fincher, “Mank” is about the making of “Citizen Kane,” but it’s from the perspective of its screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (“Mank”) played by Oldman. It’s also described as a reevaluation of 1930s Hollywood which likely means its bigger than just Mank and ‘Kane.’ The cast also stars Amanda Seyfried, Tom Burke, Lily Collins, Charles Dance, Tom Pelphrey (“Ozark”) and many more, playing all famous Hollywood historical figures from that era. Here’s the full list of who plays who.
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Cast:
GARY OLDMAN as HERMAN J. MANKIEWICZ
AMANDA SEYFRIED as MARION DAVIES
LILY COLLINS as RITA ALEXANDER
ARLISS HOWARD as LOUIS B. MAYER
TOM PELPHREY as JOE MANKIEWICZ
SAM TROUGHTON as JOHN HOUSEMAN
FERDINAND KINGSLEY as IRVING THALBERG
TUPPENCE MIDDLETON as SARA MANKIEWICZ
TOM BURKE as ORSON WELLES
JOSEPH CROSS as CHARLES LEDERER
JAMIE McSHANE as SHELLY METCALF
TOBY LEONARD MOORE as DAVID O. SELZNICK
MONIKA GOSSMANN as FRAULEIN FREDA
and CHARLES DANCE as WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST
READ MORE: ‘Mank’: David Fincher Wanted Gary Oldman To Be “Au Naturel” In The Period Drama
In a somewhat unusual move, given their forte for future-foward music, Fincher hired his “Gone Girl” and Academy Award-winning ‘Social Network’ composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to score the picture (this THR podcast where they discuss the challenges of writing this throwback score is highly recommended). Fincher’s also seem to find a new cinematography collaborator. While he’s generally worked with Jeff Cronenweth who shot his last three movies, he switched to Erik Messerschmidt for most of seasons one and two of “Mindhunter,” and Messerschmidt continues in this role on “Mank.”
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Here’s the simple synopsis: 1930s Hollywood is re-evaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane for Orson Welles.
“Mank,” which runs 2 hours and 11 minutes, will debut on Netflix on December 4, but will arrive first in select theaters in November. Watch the first trailer below.
Here’s the extended “Reddit” trailer, as well: