Mank
by Robbo
Posted on 10 May 2021
Rating -
Mank is a 2020 American biographical drama film about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his development of the screenplay for Citizen Kane (1941). Directed by David Fincher, based on a screenplay by his late father Jack Fincher, the film was produced by Ceán Chaffin, Douglas Urbanski, and Eric Roth. It stars Gary Oldman in the title role, alongside Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Sam Troughton, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Burke, Joseph Cross, Jamie McShane, Toby Leonard Moore, Monika Gossman, and Charles Dance.
Jack Fincher wrote the script in the 1990s, and David originally intended to film it after he completed The Game (1997), with Kevin Spacey and Jodie Foster as the leads. It never came to fruition, and Jack Fincher died in 2003 but production finally started in 2019.
The film is shot in black and white to pay homage to the films of the 1930s.
The film opens in 1940 with Orson Welles being given complete creative freedom over his next project by RKO.
Welles recruits alcoholic screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz to write the screenplay on the understanding that he will get no credit for the script. Mank dictates the script to his secretary, Rita Alexander, who notices similarities between the main character and William Randolph Hearst.
The film then flashes backwards and forwards in time from 1930 to 1940 and details Mank’s career and his relationships with actress Marion Davies, her lover William Randolph Hearst, a prominent businessman and newspaper publisher and Louis B. Meyer, head of MGM studios.
The film also covers Hearst and Meyer’s involvement in the 1934 California gubernatorial election where they produced propaganda films in an effort to smear the Democrat candidate, Upton Sinclair.
Pressure is put on Mank to change the screenplay warning him of Hearst’s reaction and how he will try to stop the picture from getting made, but to no avail.
In 1940, despite pressure from Hearst, Welles is determined to make the film and intends to do a re-write without Mank so he visits Mank and offers him a buyout from the studio. However, reneging on the terms of his contract, Mank requests credit for the script, declaring it his greatest work, which upsets Welles.
Mank ultimately receives joint credit with Welles, and they win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film two years later.
When I read the synopsis for this film I didn’t really know what to expect, a simple biography of the guy who wrote/co-wrote/collaborated on the screenplay for Citizen Kane. There is still controversy surrounding how much input he and Welles had in the script.
Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried are the standout performances in a stellar cast, both being nominated for an Academy Award.
Oldman gives a superb performance as you would expect, of a man who initially chooses to ignore the terrible things happening around him, happy to indulge in his vices and engrossed in his own life. He slowly realises what the people around him are trying to do, control politicians, influence elections, brainwash the public with propaganda and the disdain that the people in power have for the proletariat.
One thing I’m not sure about is whether the film is supposed to be an historic account or a cautionary warning.
The film was shot in black and white and made reference to the aesthetics of Citizen Kane cinematographer Gregg Toland.
It isn’t perfect but I enjoyed it, performances were great but the story was a little confusing at times.
Leave a Reply