The director David Fincher has come a long way since his feature film debut on ‘Alien 3’ but its been five years since his last film ‘Gone Girl’ and though he’s concentrated his efforts on TV series, Mindhunter’ he’s now over half way through shooting his next film, ‘Mank’.
With Scorsese being the latest A-list director to turn to the streaming services to fund their films Fincher’s ‘Mank’ will be for Netflix and is based on a script by the director’s late father Jack Fincher. Fincher’s Mank will tell the true story of Herman J. Mankiewicz (hence, ‘Mank’) as he sets out to write the script for Orson Welles’ masterpiece “Citizen Kane” in the 1940’s which is still rated as one of the best films ever made even now 80 years later.
December 2019 saw the crew filming entirely at Kemper Campbell Ranch in Victorville, California, a location that has direct ties to the Mank’s storyline. Fincher is a notorious perfectionist but one he finds someone he likes working with he remains loyal and a case in point is his location manager William Doyle who has about the ranch, “The place hasn’t changed. You get over that hill into that ranch, and you’re in this tiny time capsule. Here you are where Herman Mankiewicz really sat, and stood and wrote this story.”
Fincher’s Mank has an impressive cast led by Gary Oldman as Mankiewicz in the film and according to Doyle says the film isn’t a straightforward biopic about the legendary Oscar-winning writer who was renowned for his alcoholism which he blamed on the pain from a leg injury due to a car crash. Mankiewicz wrote hundreds and hundreds of draft script pages for over two months so that Welles, to be played by Tom Burke could edit it all down into a shoot-able script.
Fincher’s Mank will have regulars Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross compose the score where they plan to ditch any synthesizers and will use only period-authentic instruments. Fincher’s Mank is set for an Autumn 2020 release.
source: The Daily Press
