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»» moblog:

» On 2/10/2022 04:30:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Mank (2020).

A black-and-white biographical drama about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) and his development of the script for Citizen Kane (1941). It was directed by David Fincher based on a screenplay by his late father, Jack Fincher. Also starring Tom Burke as Orson Welles and Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies ("Rosebud"), the paramour of William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance).

Interesting trivia - Mankiewicz reportedly sent a telegram from Hollywood to New York in 1926 to his journalist-friend Ben Hecht: "Will you accept three hundred per week to work for Paramount Pictures? All expenses paid. The three hundred is peanuts. Millions are to be grabbed out here, and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around." ($300 in 1926 = $4,765 in 2022.)

Excerpts from the Mank screenplay:

M.G.M. studio head LOUIS B. MAYER (Arliss Howard): This is a business where the buyer gets nothing for his money but a memory. What he bought still belongs to the man who sold it. That's the real magic of the movies and don't let anybody tell ya different.

WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST (Charles Dance, to MANK - Gary Oldman): Are you familiar with the parable of the organ-grinder's monkey? Now, the organ-grinder's monkey is tiny in stature, and having been taken from the wild, he's naturally overwhelmed by the enormous world around him. But every morning, a sweet elderly woman dresses him in a fine suit of clothes. She fits him with a red velvet vest adorned with pearl buttons and a handsome red fez with a silk tassel... she slips on brocade shoes that curl at the toe... and he's paired with a fine gilt music box on an exquisite gold chain, fastened to his neck, and his neck alone. Whenever he ventures into the city to perform he thinks: what a powerful fellow I must be. Look how patiently everyone waits just to watch me dance. And wherever I go, he thinks... this music box must follow - and with it, this poor, downtrodden man. And if I chose not to dance, this sorry street peddler would starve... And every time I do decide to dance - every time - he must play. Whether he wishes to or not.

LATER:
ANNOUNCER: And the winner of the best original screenplay is... Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles for Citizen Kane! This is the first nomination and first win for Mr. Mankiewicz and Mr. Welles. Neither were able to attend tonight. Accepting for both is president of RKO Radio Pictures, Mr. George Schaefer.

STILL LATER:
REPORTER #3: Mister Welles, Kane was nominated in nine categories, including best actor. Aren't you disappointed that it only won one Oscar?
ORSON WELLES (Tom Burke): Well, that, my good man, is Hollywood.
REPORTER #4: Do you have anything you'd like to say to your co-author, Mr. Mankiewicz?
WELLES: I do have a brief message. You may tell him from me, "Mank, you can kiss my half."

AND EVEN LATER:
MANK (Gary Oldman, to a separate group of reporters): You ask me what my acceptance speech might have been? Well here goes... I am very happy to accept this award in the manner in which this screenplay was written, which is to say,.. in the absence of Orson Welles.