Although the fall film festivals are now underway, one title not making an appearance is perhaps our most-anticipated of the year. As Netflix sits out of Venice, TIFF, NYFF, and beyond, they will still unveil David Fincher’s Mank before 2020 is up. The director’s first feature in six years is a black-and-white biopic of Citizen Kane scribe Herman J. Mankiewicz scripted by the director’s late father, Jack Fincher, and led by Gary Oldman.
Timed with “Citizen Kane Day”––which took place on September 5, 1941 and was dubbed by RKO as the day when Welles’ film made its wider release across the United States––the first official images from the film have now finally arrived. Along with it, we have an official logline: “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.”
See the images below, along with excerpts from the screenplay.
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Featuring a score by, once again, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, cinematography from Mindhunter‘s Erik Messerschmidt, and editing by Fincher regular Kirk Baxter, Netflix has also confirmed the major cast list, and roles, after a rather secretive production:
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
Charles Dance as William Randolph Hearst
Mank will arrive on Netflix this fall.