Mank

Mank
Official release poster
Directed by	David Fincher
Screenplay by	Jack Fincher
Produced by	Ceán Chaffin Eric Roth Douglas Urbanski
Starring	Gary Oldman Amanda Seyfried Lily Collins Arliss Howard Tom Pelphrey Charles Dance Tom Burke
Cinematography	Erik Messerschmidt
Edited by	Kirk Baxter
Music by	Trent Reznor Atticus Ross
Production companies	Netflix International Pictures Flying Studio Pictures[1] Panic Pictures[1] Blue Light[1]
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	November 13, 2020 (2020-11-13) (United States)
Running time	131 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$25 million[3]
Box office	$122,252[4]

Mank is a 2020 American biographical drama film about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his development of the screenplay for the 1941 film Citizen Kane. It was directed by David Fincher based on a screenplay written by his late father Jack Fincher and 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.

Fincher originally intended to make Mank after he completed The Game (1997), with Kevin Spacey and Jodie Foster as the leads, but the project did not come to fruition before Jack Fincher died in 2003. Eventually, the project was officially announced in July 2019, and filming took place around Los Angeles from November 2019 to February 2020. To pay homage to the films of the 1930s, Mank was shot in black-and-white using RED cameras.

Mank had a limited theatrical release on November 13, 2020, and began streaming on Netflix on December 4. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised Fincher's direction, as well as the acting (particularly Oldman and Seyfried), cinematography, production values, and musical score. The film earned a leading ten nominations at the 93rd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Oldman), and Best Supporting Actress (Seyfried), and won for Best Production Design and Best Cinematography. It received a leading six nominations at the 78th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama.^[5]

Plot

In 1940,

In 1930, Herman visits an

In 1940, Houseman grows impatient over Herman's lack of progress. Rita is also concerned with the timing of the writing and Herman's alcoholism. He does finish the screenplay in time. Houseman is impressed but reminds Herman that he will receive no credit for his work.

In 1934, Herman and Joseph begin working at MGM under Mayer. Studio executives, including

In 1940, Charles Lederer picks up the screenplay from Herman to deliver to the studio. Joseph visits Herman after reading it, warning him of Hearst's reaction and how it might affect Marion. He does, however, believe that it is the finest thing Herman has ever written. Marion also visits and does her best to persuade Herman to change the screenplay but to no avail. She tells Herman she will try to stop the picture from getting made.

In 1937, Herman

In 1940, despite pressure from Hearst, Welles is determined to make the film and intends to do a re-write without Herman. He visits Herman and offers him a buyout from the studio. However, reneging on the terms of his contract, Herman requests credit for the script, declaring it his greatest work. An upset Welles tells Herman that he has gone to bat for him before leaving angrily. Herman ultimately receives joint credit with Welles, and they win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film (Citizen Kane) two years later.

Cast

• Gary Oldman as Herman J. Mankiewicz
• Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies
• Lily Collins as Rita Alexander, Herman's secretary, from whom another character, Susan Alexander Kane, gets her name.^[6]
• Arliss Howard as Louis B. Mayer
• Tom Pelphrey as Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Charles Dance as William Randolph Hearst
• 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
• propaganda films against Upton Sinclair that Metcalf shoots in Mank.^[7]
• Toby Leonard Moore as David O. Selznick
• Monika Gossmann as Fräulein Frieda, Herman's housekeeper
• Leven Rambin as Eve Metcalf, Shelly's wife (fictional character)
• Bill Nye as Upton Sinclair
• Jeff Harms as Ben Hecht
• Craig Robert Young as Charlie Chaplin
• Maitre d'

Many other Hollywood icons are portrayed, including Dolores del Río, George S. Kaufman, Lionel Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Josef von Sternberg, Norma Shearer, Eleanor Boardman, Joan Crawford, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Billie Dove, Rexford Tugwell, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Charles MacArthur, Darryl F. Zanuck, S. J. Perelman, Carole Lombard, and Eddie Cantor.

Production

Development

Mank was officially announced in July 2019, when David Fincher said he would direct the film, with Gary Oldman set to star. The screenplay was written by Fincher's father, Jack Fincher, prior to his death in 2003. It was originally going to be Fincher's follow-up to The Game (1997) with Kevin Spacey and Jodie Foster set to star but never came to fruition due to Fincher's insistence on shooting in black-and-white.^[8][9] Additional casting was announced in October, with Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tuppence Middleton, Arliss Howard, and Charles Dance among the new cast added.^[10]

Fincher reunites with much of his usual filmmaking team, including production designer Donald Graham Burt, editor Kirk Baxter, and composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, using only period-authentic instruments. Fincher opted for cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, with whom he worked on his Netflix series Mindhunter.^[11][12][13]

Writing

The 120-page draft of the initial script revealed that Jack Fincher closely followed a claim voiced by Pauline Kael in her 1971 New Yorker article "Raising Kane" that Welles did not deserve screenwriting credit.^[14] The article angered many critics, including Welles's friend and fellow filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich who rebutted Kael's claims point by point in "The Kane Mutiny", an October 1972 article for Esquire.^[15] Her argument was discredited by several film scholars through the years, including Robert L. Carringer in his study of "The Scripts of Citizen Kane."^[16]

Many current academics and critics were sparked to action by Mank's many-times over debunked premise that the script was Mankiewicz's alone, including

Mank producer Eric Roth reportedly polished the script prior to filming,^[19] with David Fincher saying he felt early drafts were too anti-Welles.^[20] When asked about the controversy surrounding authorship, Fincher stated that his movie does not aim to settle the issue: "It was not my interest to make a movie about a posthumous credit arbitration. I was interested in making a movie about a man who agreed not to take any credit. And who then changed his mind. That was interesting to me."^[21]

Filming

Filming began on November 1, 2019, in Los Angeles.^[22] It also took place in Victorville, California, and wrapped on February 4, 2020.^[23] The film was shot in black and white on Fincher's preferred RED digital camera and made reference to the aesthetics of Citizen Kane cinematographer Gregg Toland.^[24] Dance stated that a scene involving a drunken Mankiewicz took over 100 takes,^[25] while Seyfried said that one of her scenes took over a week and 200 takes to shoot.^[26] She stated, "It does feel like Groundhog Day, in a way, but that's how [Fincher] captures things that most people don't."^[25] The moonlight stroll between Mankiewicz and Davies was filmed at Huntington Gardens and a Pasadena mansion during the day, although it takes place at night. This was done using the day for night technique. Shooting it during the day was necessary for the lighting Messerschmidt needed for the scene.^[24]

Costume design

For designing the costumes, costume designer

Fincher's frequent collaborators Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the score for Mank. Forgoing their usual synth-heavy style, Reznor and Ross used period-authentic instrumentation from the 1940s to accompany the film.^[28] As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, each member of the orchestra recorded their sections for the score from home.^[29] The entire soundtrack is composed of songs written and performed by Reznor and Ross and runs for 52 tracks at over an hour and a half,^[30][31] and was released by The Null Corporation on December 4, 2020, the same day coinciding with the film's release.^[32] An extended soundtrack (featuring unreleased music and demos not featured in the film) that runs over three hours with 87 tracks, was released through Bandcamp the following week, December 11.^[31][33]

Release

Mank was released in a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 13, 2020,^[20] before beginning to stream worldwide on Netflix on December 4, 2020.^[2]

IndieWire reported the film played in 75 theaters during its opening weekend and did "similar business" as other new indie releases The Climb and Ammonite, which each averaged about $300 per venue (which would mean a $22,500 debut for Mank).^[34] Upon the film's release onto Netflix, it only managed to finish in the top-10 on its first day. IndieWire wrote that it just "didn't gain the attention of other high-profile originals like Da 5 Bloods, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Hillbilly Elegy," all of which debuted in first or second place.^[35]

Reception

Critical response