The script for “Mank” is a good 30 years old. David Fincher filmed the story for Netflix – and is a favorite at the Academy Awards 2021.
- “Mank” tells the story of the author Herman J. Mankiewicz, who wrote the screenplay for “Citizen Kane”.
- David Fincher filmed “Mank”, a screenplay written by his father Jack Fincher.
- The black and white biopic is a favorite at the Oscars 2021 with ten nominations.
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He was a kind of Hollywood ambulance, often called in to save the hopeless cases. An emergency doctor, of course, who often had to rely on help himself due to his alcohol addiction. Herman J. Mankiewicz (1897-1953), whom everyone called “Mank”, was a successful screenwriter for the dream factory in the 1930s and 1940s. The studio bosses relied on his ideas, his talent and his wit when it came to polishing other people’s scripts – his name was not always mentioned in the credits. Mankiewicz, whose parents came to the USA from Berlin in 1892, wrote films such as “Dinner at eight” (1933), “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) or “The Great Throw” (1942).
Who wrote the script for “Citizen Kane”?
His masterpiece, however, is the screenplay for Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” (1941) – with film scholars arguing about who has what part in the text. Mank and the British director are jointly named as authors. In her sensational essay from 1971, however, cinema critic Pauline Kael stated that Mankiewicz did most of the work alone. A thesis that now supports David Fincher’s new film.
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Ultimately, however, it doesn’t matter. Because “Mank”, which can be seen on the Netflix streaming service and has a chance of ten Oscars on April 25, is a gorgeous, remarkable production for many reasons. And the story of how it came about is itself ready for a film.
The idea for “Mank” arose in the early 1990s
Because the script for “Mank” is a good 30 years old. Journalist Jack Fincher, the director’s father, wrote the book in the early 1990s. The problem at the time: The author insisted that “Mank” should be shot in black and white – as a bow to old Hollywood and “Citizen Kane”. A risk that no studio wanted to take. That is why “Mank” never made it into the movie theaters. Only Netflix was ready to comply with Fincher’s request. However, the author did not experience the promise of the group, nor did the fact that his son is directing the drama: Jack Fincher died of cancer in 2003. It was logical that from then on the film became a matter of the heart for David Fincher. The 58-year-old, who became known for works like “Sieben” (1995) and “Fight Club” (1999), took the director’s chair for “Mank” for the first time since “Gone Girl” (2014).
David Fincher filmed his late father’s script
He achieved something extraordinary: a film with the feel of old Hollywood – full of nostalgia without ever being sentimental. The story is quickly told: after a car accident, the alcoholic, broken-up Herman Mankiewicz is housed on a ranch in the middle of nowhere in the Mojave Desert. The young British star director Orson Welles commissioned him to write a script. Mank incorporates his memories into this, of the film city’s studio system, of the election campaign of the “left” writer Upton Sinclair for the office of Governor of California in 1934, but above all of the (influential) rich publisher William Randolph Hearst, to whose circle of friends he belonged and which he portrayed in “Citizen Kane”.
In flashbacks, Fincher tells of this decade of Hollywood. In doing so, he has conscientiously worked out the atmosphere of old films: the soundtrack purrs, the picture briefly peaks, and small scratches shimmer across the scene. Everything on purpose, because the film was shot digitally in high resolution. But in order to achieve the look of the works of yore, the team then scaled down the image data until “Mank” looked slightly diffuse and thus contemporary. Fincher even added cross-fading signs: When films were still banned exclusively on celluloid, this small marker at the top right signaled to the projectionist when it was time to change the film roll.
Oscars 2021: Gary Oldman in the title role also has a chance
However, “Mank” is carried by the lively ensemble whose anchor is Gary Oldman in the title role. It is impressive how the British manage to shift the mood of a scene with minimal changes in gestures and facial expressions.
But who wrote “Citizen Kane”? Fincher commits himself. Neither Mank nor Welles picked up their Oscar for best screenplay in 1942. Both were unable to attend on the evening of the award ceremony.
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