Mank


Mank is an upcoming American biographical drama film about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his battles with director Orson Welles over screenplay credit for Citizen Kane. The film is directed by David Fincher, based on a script written by his father Jack, with Gary Oldman in the title role. Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Burke, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Pelphrey, and Charles Dance also star. The film will be produced by Fincher, Ceán Chaffin and Douglas Urbanski and distributed by Netflix.

Premise

The story centers around the life of Herman J. Mankiewicz as he wrote Citizen Kane, and the problems that arose with Orson Welles during production and leading up to the film's release.

Cast

Mank was 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. Additional casting was announced in October, with Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tuppence Middleton, Arliss Howard and Charles Dance among the new cast added. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross will compose the film's score, using only period-authentic instruments.
Filming began on November 1, 2019, in Los Angeles. It also took place in Victorville, California, and wrapped on February 4, 2020.
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. Her argument was discredited by several film scholars, including Robert L. Carringer in his study of "The Scripts of Citizen Kane."

Release

Although Netflix has yet to officially confirm, producer Eric Roth stated the film will be released in October 2020.