<b>Manke</b> tells the gripping story of a talented but troubled artist behind the movie Citizen Kane, and it's not about the greatest film of all time, Orson Wells, the director of Citizen Kane, but revolves around an alcoholic writer, Herman J. Mankiewicz. Mankiewicz is actually behind the revolutionary non-linear narrative structure of the film "Citizen Kane" and the corrosive depiction of wealth and power.
David Finch
"He's one of those voices that showed the way," said David Finch, the director who took nearly 30 years to bring Mank into reality, "and I hope audiences will be delighted to see the wisdom of this generation." This generation was forgotten in some ways and never got what they deserved. ”
"Mank" will be released on Netflix on December 4, and although it will also be released in some theaters, most people will still use it as a streaming movie. The film received praise from critics before it went live, with a 90% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Considering the recognition that "Roma", "The Irishman" and "Marriage Story" have received at the Oscars over the years, if Netflix's new work wins the Oscars next year, everyone will not feel strange at all.
Mank poster
It's a miracle that a unique project like Mank's can be approved. The screenplay for the film was written by the director's father, Jack Finch, originally planned to be produced by Polly Claram in the 1990s, and Kevin Spacey was once discussed as the lead actor before the sexual harassment scandal, and Judy Foster was considered to play Hirst's mistress, Marion Davis.
Still, the studio hesitated to insist that Finch shoot the story in black and white as a tribute to Greg Tolan's expressionist photography in Citizen Kane.
Stills from Citizen Kane
"Producer Polyclav flinched," Finch recalled, "and we had to shoot it on color film, then make corrections, and finally make it into a black-and-white version." This shooting process was obviously not approved by the studio. ”
Until David Finch teamed up with Netflix, to his surprise, Netflix not only agreed to his start of "Mank", but also agreed to make him into a black-and-white movie. Scott Stuber, Netflix's vice president in charge of original film, said, "We didn't have any anxiety when we made this film because he was David Finch and he was the best. We know how long he spent on this project and how personal the project is for him. ”
The film finally kicked off in November 2019, with Gary Oldman as Mankiewicz, Amanda Seyfried as Davis, and Charles Dans as Hearst. At this time, a key creative director was missing. Scriptwriter Jack Finch, the father of David Finch, died in 2003 at the age of 72, leaving us more than 10 years before Mank began production.
Official notice
A former director of the San Francisco bureau of Life magazine, he was an avid film lover who began writing screenplays after retiring from journalism, but what piqued his son, David Finch, was the story he wrote about the birth of the Civic Kane script, though he felt that the initial efforts did not achieve the desired results.
Jack Finch's screenplay touches on an interesting historical backdrop: the 1934 campaign between California Governor Frank Merim and socialist Democrat Upton Sinclair. In this campaign, Hollywood producer Owen Salberg made the first negative ads at the request of MGM boss Louis Meyer. For this crucial sub-plot in the script, Finch was not interested at first.
"I kind of don't understand." Finch said, "Fake news is so bizarre, who really cares if there was an evil act in 1934?" In 2020, however, the director had to admit that some part of the film might resonate strongly with audiences who had just experienced this year's U.S. election.
David Finch shot Mank with a digital camera, but he and his creative team took pains to make the film look like it was shot on film. They processed images digitally and designed sound effects that included crackling sounds from World War II movies to make it look more black and white cinematic.
"He wanted to see the movie like you saw Citizen Kane in a basement next to Mank." Filmmaking designer Donald Graham Burt said, "He wanted it to look more like something from that era and didn't want the audience to know when we shot it." ”
Finch is a man who pays attention to precision in all aspects, but that doesn't extend to starring Gary Oldman's portrayal of Mankiewicz. At the time of filming, Oldman was 61 years old, 20 years older than When Mankiewicz wrote Citizen Kane, but he didn't look at all like Mankiewicz's weak and bald appearance. Looking back at Oldman's previous roles, from Winston Churchill to Earl Dracula, they all relied heavily on makeup and clothing, and now he wants to pull out his hairline and make a prosthetic nose.
Gary Oldman, who played Mankiewicz in Manke
David Finch said, "I need an actor who walks into the room and everyone says, 'That's the guy.'" You need an actor within an actor. If you're casting based on height and hairline, you're missing the most important part. ”
David Finch and Gary Oldman
Finch was drawn to the way Mankiewicz told the truth and the way he used jokes as a defense mechanism against an unfair world. He was also fascinated by the key roles played by Mankiewicz and other early screenwriters such as Ben Hecht and Edwin Justus Meyer in helping the film industry move from the age of silence to the age of sound film.
While Mank looks back at Hollywood's past, it also helped usher in a new wave of films about other classic filmmaking. Ben Affleck will direct The Great Farewell, which tells the story behind the production of Chinatown. Barry Levenson and Oscar Isaac will collaborate on a film about the chaotic creative process of The Godfather. Finch jokes that he's creating a new genre that will soon have its own turf on Netflix.