Category: 2020. Mank

The Hollywood Reporter: Cinematographers Roundtable

Carolyn Giardina
January 22, 2021
The Hollywood Reporter

The DPs of ‘News of the World,’ ‘One Night in Miami’, ‘Mulan,’ ‘Nomadland,’ ‘Mank’ and ‘I’m No Longer Here’ on What Hollywood Gets Wrong About Their Jobs. They also share their inspirations and who drives diversity the most on productions.

“When I wanted to be a cinematographer, somebody said to me, ‘Girls don’t do that job,’ ” Disney’s Mulan director of photography Mandy Walker admits, adding that she’s recently seen an uptick in representation. “It’s a little slower in our world, but it’s definitely changing.” Agreeing with Walker at THR‘s virtual Cinematographer Roundtable on Dec. 12 were DPs Damian Garcia of Netflix‘s I’m No Longer Here; Erik Messerschmidt of Netflix’s Mank; Tami Reiker of Amazon‘s One Night in Miami and Netflix‘s The Old Guard; Joshua James Richards of Searchlight’s Nomadland; and Dariusz Wolski of Universal‘s News of the World. Inspiration, diversity and the future of theatrical exhibition drove the conversation. “Seeing people congregate together wearing masks in the middle of a plague … was one of those moments for me where I was just like, ‘I’m a filmmaker for life now.’ It made me realize I’m kind of ready to go down with the ship, to be honest,” recalls Richards of Nomadland‘s drive-in premiere in September. “If filmmaking stops being about that, people coming together, congregating for an experience that’s awe-inspiring, I might prefer to do something else.”

Read the full roundtable

How an iPhone filter came to the rescue for ‘Mank’ set decorator Jan Pascale

Joyce Eng
January 29, 2021
Gold Derby

“Mank” set decorator Jan Pascale is no stranger to black-and-white films: She received an Oscar nomination for George Clooney‘s “Good Night, and Good Luck” (2005). But those two monochrome films couldn’t be more different.

“When I first met with [‘Mank’ production designer Donald Graham Burt] about it, I said, ‘I’ve done black and white. I can do this.’ And Don said, ‘No, no, no, this is different.’ The way the images were captured was quite different,’” Pascale tells Gold Derby at our Meet the BTL Experts: Film Production Design panel. “On ‘Good Night, and Good Luck,’ we shot on film … and we had a really limited budget on that one — $7 million the whole movie — so I couldn’t paint anything or really paint anything, so everything was shot as is. But it sort of worked.”

“Mank,” however, was shot in black and white on a RED digital camera, completely changing the way images and details came off onscreen. But Pascale got some very modern assistance to help her do color-testing. “David [Fincher] and Don had done some testing with the camera that we were going to be using. And they discovered if we used our iPhones with the noir filter and photographed everything, that’s how it would appear in our movie,” she shares.

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Film Production Design Panel: David Crank, Jan Pascale, Mark Ricker, Barry Robison

Joyce Eng
January 29, 2021
Gold Derby

The Hollywood Reporter: Producers Roundtable

Tatiana Siegel
January 22, 2021
The Hollywood Reporter

Andy Samberg, Dede Gardner, Charles D. King, Ashley Levinson, Marc Platt and Eric Roth on the Streaming Rise Amid COVID and Their Awards Contenders. They also discuss adapting to a year of seismic changes in the film industry: “We started rethinking everything.”

Shepherding a film from a nebulous idea to a locked print is fraught with interruptions and surprises. As such, no profession in Hollywood requires greater dexterity than that of a producer. And unlike any other time in cinematic history, 2020 was a year of overnight transformation amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, leaving producers with no choice but to adapt fast.

Two producers from this year’s roundtable — Judas and the Black Messiah‘s Charles D. King and The Trial of the Chicago 7‘s Marc Platt — saw their theater-bound films take a detour to a streaming platform (HBO Max and Netflix, respectively). Although Eric Roth, who produced David Fincher‘s Mank, was always poised for a streamer release via Netflix for that film, he also experienced the great sweep to HBO Max with the upcoming tentpole Dune, which he wrote. Ashley Levinson, whose Pieces of a Woman and Malcolm & Marie are both in the awards season conversation, oversaw the writing and production of the latter during the COVID-19 lockdown. Minari‘s Dede Gardner, the only female producer with two best picture Oscar wins (for 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight), and Palm Springs‘ Andy Samberg were the lone two of the group lucky enough to see their films premiere in a packed, mask-less theater (both films made their debuts at Sundance in January 2020).

On Jan. 8, at The Hollywood Reporter‘s invitation, Gardner, King, Levinson, Platt, Roth and Samberg converged via Zoom to discuss the great cinematic reset, this year’s awards season controversies and what they’d fix about Hollywood.

Read the full roundtable

Mank, The Unmaking

January 28, 2021
Netflix

manktheunmaking.com [Old Domain]

mank.aristidebenoist.com

Text by:

Nev Pierce

Photography by:

Erik Messerschmidt
Miles Crist
Gisele Schmidt-Oldman
Gary Oldman
Ceán Chaffin
Nikolai Loveikis

Design and development by:

Watson Design Group, Inc.
Aristide Benoist

“Mank” from Assouline Books

Film critic and journalist Courtney Howard has reported on Twitter that Netflix is sending a gorgeous “For Your Consideration” promotional gift: a “Mank” coffee table book from Assouline, the luxury books publisher.

“I gasped unboxing this breathtaking @MankFilm Assouline book. It’s filled with stills from the film, behind-the-scenes photos and interviews with the cast & crew. I will cherish this coffee table book. #Mank“

The text is by Nev Pierce. And the photography by Erik Messerschmidt, Miles Crist, Gisele Schmidt-Oldman, Gary Oldman, Ceán Chaffin, and Nikolai Loveikis.

Images by Courtney Howard

Assouline has published other impressive books about Netflix productions: Roma, The Irishman, Marriage Story, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Let’s hope “Mank” will also be commercially available soon.

Art Of The Cut Podcast: “Mank” Editor Kirk Baxter, ACE

Steve Hullfish (Twitter)
January 27, 2021
Art Of The Cut Podcast (ProVideo Coalition)

The Art of the Cut podcast brings the fantastic conversations that Steve Hullfish has with world renowned editors into your car, living room, editing suite and beyond. In each episode, Steve talks with editors ranging from emerging stars to Oscar and Emmy winners. Hear from the top editors of today about their careers, editing workflows and about their work on some of the biggest films and TV shows of the year.

On this episode of the Art of the Cut Podcast, Steve talks with multi-award winning editor Kirk Baxter, ACE about editing the Netflix film “Mank.” You likely know Kirk from his Oscar winning work on “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Social Network” as well as his Oscar nominated work on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” In addition to his feature film work, Kirk was nominated for Prime Time Emmy’s for “House of Cards” and “Big Love.” All of this just scratches the surface of Kirks filmography, check out his IMDb page for a full breakdown!

This episode of the Art of the Cut Podcast is brought to you by Filmtools.com, Hollywood’s trusted one-stop shop for all things production and post.

Want to read/ listen to more interviews from Steve Hullfish? Check out The Art of the Cut Archive for more than 200 interviews with some of the top film and TV editors of today!

The Art of the Cut podcast is available on:

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If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes and tell an editor friend.

Read the transcription of this interview:

ART OF THE CUT with Kirk Baxter, ACE on editing Fincher’s “Mank”

Steve Hullfish
February 2, 2021
ProVideo Coalition

Mank: Method to the Monochrome

January 26, 2021
Netflix Film Club (YouTube)

Mank director David Fincher, cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt and costume designer Trish Summerville detail the approach to shooting the acclaimed slice of Hollywood history in black and white. How does the absence of color distill the visual storytelling? How do different colors in the costume and production design read when captured in black and white? Learn about all of that and more.

David Fincher & Kent Jones on Mank, Hollywood History, and Filmmaking

Kent Jones
January 27, 2021
Film at Lincoln Center

This week on the Film at Lincoln Center podcast, we’re presenting a special conversation between filmmakers David Fincher and Kent Jones on Mank. Fincher’s first film since his NYFF Opening Night selection Gone Girl follows the 1930s Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, played by Gary Oldman, as he develops the screenplay for Citizen Kane. Mank is now available on Netflix.

This talk was first available to FLC members, who play such a vital role in all we do. Memberships start at just $85 and offer year-round discounts to films and festivals, exclusive invitations to sneak previews, filmmaker conversations, Film Clubs, and much more. If you’re interested in supporting FLC by becoming a member, learn more here.

Listen to the conversation:

Film at Lincoln Center
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Composer Roundtable: Pros From ‘Mank,’ ‘Soul,’ ‘Minari’ and More Talk Remote Recording Sessions and Finding Creativity in Isolation

Scott Roxborough
January 26, 2021
The Hollywood Reporter

Film composers may be accustomed to working alone, but they weren’t immune to the tumult of 2020. Six film music specialists came together — virtually — to discuss the key to writing an effective score, even when creatively challenged by the pandemic: “What I really miss is playing music with human beings.”

2020 was a year like no other, so it’s fitting that The Hollywood Reporter’s Composer Roundtable was unlike any that had gone before.

On Jan. 8, six of Hollywood’s leading film composers came together via Zoom, across three continents, to talk shop: Ludwig Göransson followed up his Oscar-winning Black Panther score with a thumping, time-shifting soundtrack to Christopher Nolan’s Tenet; Tamar-kali offered up a dissonant, daring soundscape for Shirley that won praise from the likes of Iggy Pop; Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross had a busy year with work that included the wall-to-wall 1940s orchestral score for David Fincher’s Mank and the ethereal, synthetic sound of Pixar feature Soul; Terence Blanchard, Spike Lee‘s go-to composer, delivered the majestic musical backdrop for the war drama Da 5 Bloods; and Emile Mosseri, who has quickly established himself as one of indie cinema’s most in-demand music makers, created an affecting, ethereal soundscape for Lee Isaac Chung‘s Minari.

In a lively discussion, this eclectic group of film music veterans and newer talents who find themselves — and their music — in the awards-season conversation discussed the art and craft of film composing, the value of defying expectations and how each of them would score 2020.

Read the full roundtable

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (‘Mank,’ ‘Soul’ composers): Working with David Fincher and Pete Docter because they are ‘geniuses’

Chris Beachum
January 26, 2021
Gold Derby

2020 was certainly a tough year for everyone, but there were some bright spots for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The composer duo won their first Emmy Award in September for “Watchmen.” Their band Nine Inch Nails was inducted (although virtually) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November. And the end of the year brought the film releases of “Mank” for Netflix and “Soul” for Disney/Pixar, for which they composed the score of each.

In our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video above), Reznor says, “When I heard you say that about the list of accomplishments this past year, set against the backdrop of the brutality and relentlessness of the pandemic and politically what’s happening. As parents trying to keep our kids safe and sane and happy and some sense of normality, it has been a weird juxtaposition of accolades set against this year we’d all like to put in the rear-view mirror.”

Reznor and Ross won an Oscar for Best Original Score on their first feature film (“The Social Network,” 2010). They have teamed with that movie’s director, David Fincher, several times, including for “Mank,” the behind-the-scenes story of writer Herman J. Mankiewicz and his work on the classic 1941 film “Citizen Kane.” They have collaborated for the first time with Pixar chief Pete Docter on his animated feature “Soul,” about a jazz musician who wants to navigate his way back to his body from the afterlife.

On working with two such distinctive and varied directors, Reznor adds, “The similarities of Pete and David are that they’re both geniuses, different styles of genius, but they’re both the very best at what they do. Being around them is… that we thrive on that. We’re searching out excellence because we are inspired by it.”