Click to enjoy the images in glorious 5K, full quality, and full screen view:
𝙸𝚗 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚗 Netflix 𝙳𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟺
Mank: New Promotional Images
Category: 2020. Mank
Behind the Scenes: Mank
Erik Messerschmidt, ASC, reveals the techniques behind Mank, David Fincher’s digitally dexterous emulation of Hollywood’s classic era.
Adrian Pennington
December 3, 2020
IBC
David Fincher’s passion project about the Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz looks, as intended, like a love letter to 1930s cinema. The filmmakers employ sophisticated digital techniques to pay homage to the cinematic bravura that helps Orson Welles’ masterpiece regularly top the list of all-time classics.
It’s a film the director originally intended as the follow-up to his 1997 thriller The Game, shortly after his father Howard, a journalist at LIFE magazine, wrote the script. For one reason and another, and reports suggest it was Fincher’s insistence on shooting in black and white, Mank was delayed until Netflix greenlit production late last year. Principal photography finished in February, just days before California went into lockdown.
Fincher of course kickstarted the streamer’s original content by masterminding House of Cards. He has subsequently made two series of serial killer investigation Mindhunter, all sixteen episodes shot by Erik Messerschmidt ASC who is Fincher’s collaborator here.
Mank follows the ‘scathing social critic and alcoholic’, played by Gary Oldman as he races to finish the Kane screenplay for Welles. It also stars Charles Dance as newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and Amanda Seyfried as Heart’s girlfriend Marion Davies, satirized by Welles and Mankiewicz as Charles Foster Kane and mistress Susan Alexander. The connection with Hearst is strengthened by the fact that Mankiewicz was a frequent guest of Davies at Hearst’s fabulous California castle, dubbed Xanadu in Kane.
As a homage to WWII-era Hollywood the decision to emulate the look pioneered by cinematographers like Gregg Toland in digital format is a bold one.
“For this movie we wanted to shoot very deep focus photography for most of the film and then be very specific about where we used shallow focus,” says Messerschmidt. “Shooting on film would have significantly limited our creative choices, particularly with focus and depth of field.”
The Controversy Behind David Fincher’s MANK
Andrew Saladino
November 30, 2020
The Royal Ocean Film Society
The first 1000 people to use this link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership.
Want to see every new Royal Ocean video EARLY? Check out our Patreon page!
Sources / Further Reading:
Raising Kane by Pauline Kael
The Citizen Kane Book
The Kane Mutiny by Peter Bogdanovich
Bogdanovich’s Interviews w/Orson Welles
The Scripts of Citizen Kane by Robert L. Carringer
Films in Focus by Andrew Sarris
Music: “Highlight Reel”, “Rollin at 5”, “Faster Does It”, “Night in Venice” by Kevin MacLeod
It’s All True: A Conversation with David Fincher
Illustration by Rumbidzai Savanhu
The master filmmaker behind Mank on Orson Welles, Pauline Kael and realising a passion project after a 30-year wait.
David Jenkins
December 2, 2020
Little White Lies
From the pen of Jack Fincher comes Mank, the story of how perma-soused Hollywood hack Herman J Mankiewicz happened to write one of the greatest screenplays of all time. Sadly, Jack didn’t live long enough to see the words he had written transformed into sound and light, but it’s something that his son David had wanted to realise for close to three decades.
It’s been six years since Fincher Jr’s last feature film, 2014’s Gone Girl, and in the interim we’ve had two series of Rolls Royce TV drama in the form of Mindhunter. For someone who has already made a tech bro riff on Citizen Kane (2010’s The Social Network), and a melancholic homage to his late father (2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Mank combines these two career poles, while also posing such existential hypotheticals as, what makes a man? And not only that, what makes a writer, and what makes a director?
LWLies: Let’s go on a quick flashback to the early days and the creation of this amazing script by your father, Jack. He was a journalist and author by trade. Did he pivot to screenwriting later in life?
Fincher: I think he wrote a screenplay that was optioned and Rock Hudson wanted to do it – this was in the late ’60s. That fizzled out. Then he wrote spec screenplays in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, and then when he retired in the ’90s, he came to me and said, ‘I’m going to have all this time on my hands, what do you want to read a script about?’ I said I had always been interested in ‘Raising Kane’ which I was exposed to in middle school. I had read Pauline Kael’s essay on microfiche in the school library, and then I noticed a copy of it in my father’s library, and we talked about it. Then, 12 years later, I was about to go off to do Alien3, and he was retiring and wanted a new challenge.
More in Little White Lies 87: The Mank Issue
Mank: Interviews. Ferdinand Kingsley
Ferdinand Kingsley plays film producer Irving Thalberg in Mank.
Sam Cook In An Interview With | Ferdinand Kingsley (Mank)
Sam Cook (YouTube)
October 21, 2020
Ferdinand Kingsley “An Actor Despairs” Interview
Ryan Perez
November 30, 2020
An Actor Despairs (YouTube)
Ferdinand Kingsley on David Fincher’s Mank with Gary Oldman
Stefan Pape
November 30, 2020
HeyUGuys (YouTube)
DAVID FINCHER’S MANK | Ferdinand Kingsley lives the dream in Netflix Original Mank (2020)
Film Forums (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
Mank Star Ferdinand Kingsley Talks Netflix Film, Love Of Aston Villa & Passion Of Black & White Film
Switchbox TV (YouTube)
December 4, 2020
MANK Interview: Ferdinand Kingsley On Working With David Fincher
FilmSpeak (YouTube)
December 7, 2020
Ferdinand Kingsley: Up Close and Personal About His Family and Fame
The Katz Walk with Joseph Katz (Evergreen Podcasts)
January 14, 2021
Mank: Interviews. Tom Pelphrey
Tom Pelphrey plays screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Herman’s younger brother, in Mank.
Tom Pelphrey: intervista ai protagonisti di Mank di David Fincher
Cinefilos_it (YouTube)
November 28, 2020
Tom Pelphrey MANK Interview | Netflix
kinowetter (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
Tom Pelphrey Talks “Mank” (& “Ozark”)
Sarina Bellissimo (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
MANK | Entrevista a Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins y Tom Pelphrey
SensaCine (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
‘Mank’ Interviews with Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphrey
CinemaBlend (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
Cinema | Mank: il nostro incontro con Amanda Seyfried e Tom Pelphrey
BadTaste.it (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
Mank Actor Tom Pelphrey on His 90-Minute Zoom Audition with David Fincher
Collider Interviews (YouTube)
December 9, 2020
Amanda Seyfried and Lily Collins On Going Old-School in Mank (plus Tom Pelphrey)
John Fardy
November 27, 2020
Screentime (Newstalk Podcast)
‘Mank’ Star Tom Pelphrey on Saying One of Cinema’s Most Famous Words
Brian Davids
December 2, 2020
The Hollywood Reporter
Mank: Interviews. Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Seyfried plays actress Marion Davies, life partner of William Randolph Hearst, in Mank.
Amanda Seyfried, Mank, Best party, Dad’s response, fame & motherhood
Margaret Gardiner (YouTube)
October 31, 2020
Breaking Entertainment News: Amanda Seyfried on MANK
Golden Globes (YouTube)
November 13, 2020
Amanda Seyfried Talks MANK, Playing Marion Davies, Filming Multiple Takes with David Fincher
Jake’s Takes (YouTube)
November 19, 2020
Interview: Amanda Seyfried – Mank
CineXpress (YouTube)
November 23, 2020
Amanda Seyfried über “Mank”
CINEMA-Magazin (YouTube)
November 25, 2020
Amanda Seyfried: intervista ai protagonisti di Mank di David Fincher
Cinefilos_it (YouTube)
November 28, 2020
Could Amanda Seyfried bag an Oscar for Netflix movie Mank?
On Demand Entertainment (YouTube)
November 29, 2020
Amanda Seyfried On Netflix’s ‘Mank’: ‘It Just Couldn’t Get Any More Beautiful’
CBS Los Angeles (YouTube)
November 30, 2020
Nelson Aspen chats with Amanda Seyfried & Lily Collins about “Mank”
NelsonAspen (YouTube)
November 30, 2020
Amanda Seyfried Mank Interview
DE PELICULA (YouTube)
December 1, 2020
Amanda Seyfried MANK Interview | Netflix
kinowetter (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
Interview: Amanda Seyfried on working with David Fincher on Mank
Próxima Tanda (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
Amanda Seyfried Interview – “Mank”
Paul’s Trip to the Movies (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
MANK – AMANDA SEYFRIED INTERVIEW (2020)
Bonnie Laufer Krebs (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
Conversations: Amanda Seyfried
FilmGordon (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
Amanda Seyfried On The Dream She Never Thought She Had
Sarina Bellissimo (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
Interview: Amanda Seyfried star of ‘Mank’ (Netflix)
AwardsWatch (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
Amanda Seyfried on Oscar Buzz, Her Birthday & Scaring Her Husband
Jimmy Kimmel Live (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
Amanda Seyfried talks about jumping into history, Black & White cinema and working with Gary Oldman.
Review Nation (YouTube)
December 4, 2020
Amanda Seyfried discusses her character Marion Davie on Netflix’s MANK
Jana On Camera (YouTube)
December 4, 2020
Amanda Seyfried talks about playing Marion Davies In David Fincher’s Mank
blackfilmandtv (YouTube)
December 4, 2020
MANK: Hablamos con Amanda Seyfried
La Cosa Cine (YouTube)
December 4, 2020
Amanda Seyfried on Mank I Netflix Interview
Brief Take (YouTube)
December 4, 2020
Amanda Seyfried on The Graham Norton Show (2020)
The Graham Norton Show (YouTube)
December 4, 2020
MANK | AMANDA SEYFRIED REVELA CÓMO FUE HACER UNA PELÍCULA COMO SI HUBIERAN FILMADO EN LOS 1930’S.
Movies Con Jovanny (YouTube)
December 6, 2020
Amanda Seyfried Takes Us from Lessons Learned on Mean Girls to Making Mank with David Fincher
Collider (YouTube)
December 5, 2020
Conversations at Home with Amanda Seyfried of MANK
SAG-AFTRA Foundation (YouTube)
January 13, 2021
MANK | Entrevista a Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins y Tom Pelphrey
SensaCine (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
‘Mank’ Interviews with Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphrey
CinemaBlend (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
Cinema | Mank: il nostro incontro con Amanda Seyfried e Tom Pelphrey
BadTaste.it (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
Amanda Seyfried e Lily Collins: como foi desaparecer no mundo de ‘MANK’
UOL (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphrey – Mank | Röportaj #18
FilmLoverss (YouTube)
December 4, 2020
Amanda Seyfried Dishes on Her Farm Life
Late Night with Seth Meyers (YouTube)
December 16, 2020
Tackling an Ingenue | Amanda Seyfried on Marion Davis and Mank
Netflix (YouTube)
January 14, 2021
Amanda Seyfried reflects on her path to career-best notices for ‘Mank’
Riley Chow
January 21, 2021
Gold Derby
Actors on Actors: Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Kirby
Kate Aurthur
January 29, 2021
Variety
Amanda Seyfried Reacts To ‘Mank’ Oscar Buzz
ET Canada (YouTube)
January 29, 2021
Amanda Seyfried on Oscar buzz, saying ‘no’ to superhero films
Associated Press (YouTube)
January 29, 2021
Amanda Seyfried talks her new film ‘Mank’ and farm life
Popcorn with Peter Travers (YouTube)
February 19, 2021
Amanda Seyfried talks about her new film, ‘Mank’
Good Morning America (YouTube)
February 19, 2021
Mank | Conversation with Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave
Netflix (YouTube)
February 26, 202
Cher in Conversation with Amanda Seyfried
Netflix Awards FYC
March 4, 2021
A conversation with Actor Amanda Seyfried on behalf of MANK. Moderated by Cher.
Amanda Seyfried’s First Magazine Cover Was with Clay Aiken | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (YouTube)
March 6, 2021
MANK | Q&A with Amanda Seyfried
American Cinematheque
April 5, 2021
Amanda Seyfried Marks a Career High in David Fincher’s ‘Mank’
IndieWire (YouTube)
April 8, 2021
Mank: Academy Award Nominee Amanda Seyfried with Entertainment Weekly’s Leah Greenblatt
92nd Street Y (YouTube)
April 15, 2021
Amanda Seyfried reacts to Golden Globe nomination for ‘Mank’
Sam Rubin
February 3, 2021
KTLA5
Amanda Seyfried on the hit film ‘Mank’
Amanda Seyfried on ‘Mank’ Marion Davies and David Fincher
IMDb
April 15, 2021
Amanda Seyfried on “Mank”: “I have never seen myself dressed up that way.”
Scott Orlin
November 23, 2020
The Golden Globe (HFPA)
Amanda Seyfried and Lily Collins On Going Old-School in Mank
John Fardy
November 27, 2020
Screentime (Newstalk Podcast)
Present Company: Amanda Seyfried
Krista Smith
December 4, 2020
Present Company (Apple Podcasts)
Krista Smith
December 4, 2020
Netflix Queue
Amanda Seyfried Finally Stakes Her Claim
The “Mean Girls” and “Mamma Mia!” actress knows her performance as Marion Davies in“Mank” will be a turning point in her career. But first, she had to put some distance between herself and Hollywood.
Kyle Buchanan
November 29, 2020
The New York Times
Amanda Seyfried Finds the Nuances in Marion Davies in ‘Mank’
Frank J. Avella
December 2, 2020
Awards Daily
Amanda Seyfried on working with director David Fincher on ‘Mank’
Susan King
December 13, 2020
Gold Derby
Rodrigo Perez
January 25, 2021
The Playlist
The 2015 Movie Draft. Plus: Amanda Seyfried!
Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins, and Chris Ryan
January 26, 2021
The Big Picture (The Ringer Podcasts)
Interview: Amanda Seyfried on Marion Davies, Old Hollywood and ‘Mank’
Karen M. Peterson
January 28, 2021
We Live Entertainment
Awards Daily Podcast: Amanda Seyfried on What Marion Davies Would Think of Her ‘Mank’ Triumph
Clarence Moye
January 29, 2021
Awards Daily
Amanda Seyfried is not taking this moment for granted
Lindsey Bahr
February 23, 2021
AP
Katey Rich
February 23, 2021
Vanity Fair
Awards Spotlight: Amanda Seyfried Marks a Career High in David Fincher’s ‘Mank’ (Watch)
Anne Thompson
February 26, 2021
IndieWire
An Intimate Look at Amanda Seyfried’s Virtual Golden Globes Celebration
Erik Messerschmidt captured the night in a series of intimate photos for Vogue.
Sarah Spellings
March 1, 2021
Vogue
Alison Stewart
March 3, 2021
All Of It (WNYC)
Interview: Amanda Seyfried Talks ‘Mank’ and Being a Good Person
Joey Magidson
March 6, 2021
Awards Radar
The Next Best Picture Podcast: Interview With “Mank” Star, Amanda Seyfried
Daniel Howat
March 6, 2021
Next Best Picture
The Awardist podcast: How Amanda Seyfried pushed herself to new heights in Mank
David Canfield
March 08, 2021
Entertainment Weekly
The Jess Cagle Podcast w/ Julia Cunningham: Amanda Seyfried
Jess Cagle
March 11, 202
The Jess Cagle Podcast w/ Julia Cunningham (Apple Podcasts)
Amanda Seyfried Interviewed by Cher
March 25, 2021
Netflix Queue
The Envelope Podcast: Amanda Seyfried
Mark Olsen
April 14, 2021
The Envelope (Los Angeles Times)
Mank: Interviews. Lily Collins
Lily Collins plays Rita Alexander, Herman’s secretary, in Mank.
Lily Collins Interview for Netflix’s Oscar Award Contender MANK
BlackTree TV (YouTube)
November 19, 2020
Interview: Lily Collins – Mank
CineXpress (YouTube)
November 20, 2020
Lily Collins Talks EMILY IN PARIS and MANK
Jake’s Takes (YouTube)
Nov 19, 2020
Lily Collins details “MANK”
FabTV (YouTube)
November 21, 2020
Lily Collins Talks WEDDING PLANNING and ‘Emily in Paris’ Season 2 (Exclusive)
Entertainment Tonight (YouTube)
November 26, 2020
Lily Collins: intervista ai protagonisti di Mank di David Fincher
Cinefilos_it (YouTube)
November 28, 2020
‘WE’RE SO READY!’ Lily Collins on Emily in Paris S2!
On Demand Entertainment (YouTube)
November 28, 2020
Lily Collins Dishes on Engagement to Charlie McDowell, Plus: Her New Movie ‘Mank’
extratv (YouTube)
November 30, 2020
Nelson Aspen chats with Amanda Seyfried & Lily Collins about “Mank”
NelsonAspen (YouTube)
November 30, 2020
Lily Collins Reveals the Correct Pronunciation of Emily in Paris
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (YouTube)
November 30, 2020
Lily Collins talks about new movie ‘Mank’
Today TV (YouTube)
December 1, 2020
Lily Collins On Netflix’s “Mank” & “Emily In Paris”: “I Knew I Was Going To Be Learning Something New”
CBS Los Angeles (YouTube)
December 1, 2020
Lily Collins MANK Interview | Netflix
kinowetter (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
Lily Collins On “Mank” And The Success of “Emily in Paris”
Sarina Bellissimo (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
Lily Collins Mank Interview
DE PELICULA (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
Mank: Hablamos con Lily Collins
La Cosa Cine (YouTube)
December 4, 2020
Lily Collins on ‘Mank’ and Discovering David Fincher Is Funny
Collider Interviews (YouTube)
December 7, 2020
Q&A with Lily Collins on Emily in Paris & Mank
In Creative Company (YouTube)
January 14, 2021
MANK | Entrevista a Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins y Tom Pelphrey
SensaCine (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
‘Mank’ Interviews with Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphrey
CinemaBlend (YouTube)
December 2, 2020
Amanda Seyfried e Lily Collins: como foi desaparecer no mundo de ‘MANK’
UOL (YouTube)
December 3, 2020
Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphrey – Mank | Röportaj #18
FilmLoverss (YouTube)
December 4, 2020
Hollywood’s Gary Oldman, Lily Collins talk ‘Mank’
Arab News (YouTube)
December 10, 2020
Amanda Seyfried and Lily Collins On Going Old-School in Mank
John Fardy
November 27, 2020
Screentime (Newstalk Podcast)
Inside Total Film
December 3, 2020
Krista Smith
December 11, 2020
Present Company (Apple Podcasts)
Krista Smith
December 11, 2020
Netflix Queue
Lily Collins on Netflix’s New Oscar Contender Mank—and the Second Season of Emily in Paris
Radhika Seth
November 26, 2020
Vogue
Lily Collins Earned Her Spot by Putting in the Work + Pushing Through the ‘Nos’
Elyse Roth
November 18, 2020
Backstage
‘Emily in Paris’ star Lily Collins plays the audience’s proxy in ‘Mank’
In the Oscar-magnet Netflix film, her typist character brings ‘a young and fresh perspective’ to her boss, the booze-soaked narcissist writing ‘Citizen Kane.’
Richard Roeper
December 1, 2020
Chicago Sun-Times
Lily Collins Speaks to Alber Elbaz About Beginning New Chapters in Film and Fashion
Joshua Glass
December 12, 2020
L’Officiel
La Septième Obsession 31: David Fincher
OBSESSION: David Fincher
1. Mank de David Fincher
Le grand film de Fincher débarque sur Netflix le 4 décembre. L’occasion d’un entretien avec le cinéaste, mais aussi avec ses collaborateurs les plus proches. 16 pages spéciales.
Scénario pour une critique par Nicolas Tellop
Filmopathe entretien avec David Fincher – par Nev Pierce
Collaborer avec Fincher entretiens avec Erik Messerschmidt (chef opérateur) – Donald Graham Burt (chef décorateur) – Trish Summerville (costumière) – Kirk Baxter (monteur)
2. Revisiter Fincher
Plongée exceptionnelle dans l’oeuvre de l’un des plus grands cinéastes contemporains. Filmographie commentée, analyses… 50 pages à lire.
4 nuances de Fincher par Jean-Sébastien Massart et Fabrice Fuentes
David Fincher en 14 titres Propaganda Films (clips) – Alien 3 – Se7en – The Game – Fight Club – Panic Room + les plans de Panic Room – Zodiac – L’Étrange histoire de Benjamin Button – The Social Network – Millénium + la musique hantée de Millénium – Gone Girl – Mindhunter
3. Analyses
Démoniaque – la perfection du crime par Nathan Reneaud
Fantômes et paranoïa par Jérôme d’Estais
Solitude & obsession – Fincher Dogma par Alexandre Jourdain
Poétique du suicide par Aurélien Lemant
Le système des objets – design finchérien par Dick Tomasovic
Little White Lies 87: The Mank Issue
David Fincher makes a spectacular return to feature filmmaking with this melancholy monochrome marvel.
David Jenkins
November 9, 2020
Little White Lies
Please extend a big, hearty welcome to our new issue, which is inspired by David Fincher’s Mank. First a little bit of back story: the film was adapted from a script written by Fincher’s father, Jack, who took it on as a project set by his son (who was making his early incursions into Hollywood at the time) to liven up his retirement years. This was back in the early ’90s, and once it was ready, Fincher Jr hit something of a brick wall when it came to convincing studios to fund this black and white rendering of a vital moment in old Hollywood lore.
On the cover
The title refers to the nickname given to ace scribe, wit and raconteur, Herman J Mankiewicz, and how after years of coasting on his genius, he finally alienates enough professional cohorts to write something big, meaningful and dangerous. The 200 page script he ended up with was named American, but it ended up being released into cinemas (albeit not very many cinemas) under the name Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles. Mank is the story of how that script came into being, but is also a hard-nosed exploration into the malevolent nature of creativity, and the cruel aspect of parlaying real lives into a fictional context.
We worked with the Brooklyn-based illustrator Katherine Lam on a series of portraits inspired by cinema’s arch outsiders for our Shape of Water issue, and so she was our first choice to attack a cover about another fringe Hollywood figure being placed in the limelight. Her stunning portrait of Gary Oldman as Mank is obscured by reels of the film he had an important (but largely spectral) hand in bringing to life.
Inside the issue
A review of David Fincher’s Mank
Hannah Woodhead verbally spars with this sumptuous evocation of classic-era Hollywood.
It’s All True: A Conversation with David Fincher
David Jenkins talks to the master filmmaker about realising a passion project after a 30-year wait.
The Heroine
Caitlin Quinlan profiles one of our favourite actors working today, Tuppence Middleton.
F For Fake
On the magic tricks behind selecting costumes to show up on black-and-white film.
The Dreamers
Adam Woodward scours the credits of Citizen Kane for the lost masters of cinema.
And much more…
The Fincher Analyst 