Trailer for Mank, about alcoholic Citizen Kane screenwriter

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/08/trailer-for-mank-about-alcoholic-citizen-kane-screenwriter.html

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I am anxious to see that soon! Or in 2021! Or 2022!

My guess is it will stick with this year though. They need things for the Oscars, and that seems like Oscar fare, without a huge gamble losing huge box office because theaters are closed.

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Hollywood freaking LOVES stories about Hollywood.

I wonder if they managed to get permission to shoot any of this on location at Hearst Castle. That would certainly set WRH’s corpse a-spinning.

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Now that’s a great trailer. Love the little nod at the end with the bottle dropping instead of the snowglobe.

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The bottle falling out of the hand should have a whispered, “Four Roses,” to accompany it in order to be even more like “Citizen Kane.”

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If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet the 1996 PBS American Experience documentary “The Battle Over Citizen Kane” is worth a watch. It includes interviews with Mankiewicz’s son (who talks about his father’s brilliant but self-destructive nature) among others.

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I was interested to hear that this film was shot using a RED Monochrome digital camera (RED is the brand name) so there’s no color footage of this movie in existence, even in the editing booth. This is one of the first feature films made with this type of monochrome digital camera.

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Eh. Some good parts here and there, but the repeated attempts to equate Orson Welles with Hearst were both trite and contemptible. There is no way Welles caused as much harm to the world as Hearst, but one would scarcely get that from this doc.

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That’s wild. I didn’t know they made a monochrome camera. Beyond the commitment of the filmmakers to B&W, there seems to be a substantive difference in the sensors that makes the choice even more appropriate to get the classic look they want.

https://www.red.com/red-101/color-monochrome-camera-sensors

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Unfortunately most of us won’t be able to view the film in the format that takes full advantage of this tech: a 4K black & white television.

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I was just about to commit to watching Citizen Kane again recently. Really looking forward to the triple bill documentary and biopic. Good shout @Brainspore!
@Otherbrother, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went all in on top of the line cinematography as a nod to all the innovations used at the time of making Citizen Kane. Bold move to use a monochrome camera, but you can bet their lighting will be near perfect.

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The “Citizen Kane” of movies about Citizen Kane

I’ve always wanted to be a film nerd, but I’ve never actually met film nerds. At least not any that weren’t annoying!

I used to stay up late watching MST3K with my brother and talking about MST3K with some friends on IRC back in the late 90s but that was about as close as I got :wink:

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