MANK - Netflix biopic on Herman Mankiewicz

[Wellesnet]

David Fincher (Social Network, Seven) is set to direct a Herman J. Mankiewicz biopic for Netflix.

Mank, to be shot in black adn white, will star Gary Oldman as the man who shared the Academy Award for Best Original screenplay with Orson Welles for Citizen Kane. The script for Mank was penned by Finchher's late father, Howard Fincher, a former bureau chief for LIFE magazine.

http://www.wellesnet.com/netflix-mank-biopic/

[Tony]

Not looking forward to this- being centered on Mankiewicz, it'll inevitably be sympathetic to his POV, and the family wouldn't allow this unless HM was portrayed as the sole author of Kane. A few months back when TCM played Kane, Ben Mankiewicz actually said "the film that my uncle wrote." I went back and forth with the remote to be sure of what I'd heard, and was appalled he got away with it.

Yikes!!! Pauline Kael rides again!

[Wellesnet]

Tom Burke will play Orson Welles opposite Gary Oldman's Herman J. Mankiewicz in the forthcoming David Fincher movie Mank.

Burke has appeared in the BBC productions The Musketeers, War & Peace, and Strike.

Amanda Seyfried has been cast as publisher William Randolph Hearst's paramour, actress Marion Davies; and Lilly Collins will play Rita Alexander, Mankiewicz’s secretary, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

https://www.wellesnet.com/tom-burke-orson-welles-mank/

[nickleschichoney]

Not looking forward to this- being centered on Mankiewicz, it'll inevitably be sympathetic to his POV, and the family wouldn't allow this unless HM was portrayed as the sole author of Kane. A few months back when TCM played Kane, Ben Mankiewicz actually said "the film that my uncle wrote." I went back and forth with the remote to be sure of what I'd heard, and was appalled he got away with it.

Yikes!!! Pauline Kael rides again!

If nothing else, the film will give me an opportunity to write something clearing up this nonsense once and for all. I've seen the Mankiewicz-drafted scripts myself, and the discovery of Welles's contemporary notes from Yale (https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/artic ... es-scripts) sheds a lot of light on the writing of the film.

[Wellesnet]

Filming has wrapped on "Mank":
https://www.wellesnet.com/principal-photography-mank/

[Wellesnet]

Disappointing news. Leaked draft script for David Fincher's MANK movie at Netflix perpetuates the Pauline Kael lie that Orson Welles did not co-write CITIZEN KANE. Script creates a realistic Herman J. Mankiewicz, but turns Welles into cartoon villain.
https://www.wellesnet.com/mank-script-netflix/

[Le Chiffre]

Hard to believe that a director of Fincher's quality and standing would subscribe to such an outdated and disproven theory, ignoring all of Robert Carringer's research. He'll have a lot to answer for if he does.

[Colmena]

Nic Ciccone wrote:
"If nothing else, the film will give me an opportunity to write something clearing up this nonsense once and for all. I've seen the Mankiewicz-drafted scripts myself, and the discovery of Welles's contemporary notes from Yale sheds a lot of light on the writing of the film."

There are other drafts of the script by Mankiewicz? My understanding of the Carringer essay was that he only wrote the first draft, and all the subsequent drafts (Carringer counts seven of them) were the work of Welles. Am I wrong about that? Was Carringer? Or are the other scripts that you refer to the drafts worked on by Houseman and Mank in Victorville, prior to arriving at the so-called "first draft," which was then turned over to Welles?

And Nic, I'm looking forward to your "cleaning up this nonsense." Much appreciated!
Will that "cleaning up" happen here at Wellesnet, or somewhere else?

Bruce

[Steve Paradis]

Hard to believe that a director of Fincher's quality and standing would subscribe to such an outdated and disproven theory, ignoring all of Robert Carringer's research. He'll have a lot to answer for if he does.

It's his father's screenplay. As the Mankiewicz family has so often proved, blood is thicker than brain fluid.
It's a talented clan; they don't need to make things up.

[Le Chiffre]

Speaking of a lack of brain fluid: In honor of TCM showing Kane during a Mankiewicz Brothers celebration last weekend, someone on Facebook hosted a watch party called "TCM Broadcast Joseph Mankiewicz's CITIZEN KANE Watch Party"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3656484817758717/

They couldn't even get the right Mank brother.

[tonyw]

You're lucky that lot have even heard of KANE. None of my students have seen the film now. But, at least, that's a start and some corrective fluid could be directed towards their brains at that watch party!

[Le Chiffre]

Ah, true enough. I wonder how many people watched? Hopefully they didn't go away thinking of it as Joseph Mankiewicz's CITIZEN KANE.

Interestingly, Joseph did later direct JULIUS CAESAR with John Houseman producing. During production, Welles sent Houseman a telegram saying, "You've taken everything else from me. Must you take this too?" People on set said Houseman was distraught for the rest of the day.

[Wich2]

God bless our man Orson...

But just a wee bit of hubris there, claiming ownership of one of Mr. Shakespeare's masterpieces!

- Craig

[Le Chiffre]

Heh, that reminds of the story of Houseman being interviewed in 1937 for the Mercury's CAESAR. The reporter asked him when the production was going to be ready, and Houseman replied, "As soon as Welles finishes writing it."

[Steve Paradis]

"All About Kane"--a classic!

Speaking of a lack of brain fluid: In honor of TCM showing Kane during a Mankiewicz Brothers celebration last weekend, someone on Facebook hosted a watch party called "TCM Broadcast Joseph Mankiewicz's CITIZEN KANE Watch Party"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3656484817758717/

They couldn't even get the right Mank brother.