Mank: First trailer offers look at Fincher’s take on old Hollywood

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

We were recently treated to a teaser for David Fincher's MANK, the director's first film since 2014's GONE GIRL, but now Netflix has unveiled its first official trailer for Fincher's take on 1930s Hollywood and it looks like it's going to be one of the most talked-about films of the year.

The film follows the 1930s Hollywood story about Herman J. Mankiewicz, the screenwriter who wrote the screenplay for CITIZEN KANE – although director Orson Welles later tried to take most of the credit, and various different accounts of what really happened have muddied the waters a bit. Gary Oldman plays Mankiewicz, leading a cast that includes Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Burke, and more.

MANK is bound to be a very personal project for Fincher since his father Jack Fincher penned the screenplay. The director has also been hoping to make this movie since at least 1997 and apparently he wanted his SE7EN actor, Kevin Spacey,  as Mankiewicz and PANIC ROOM's Jodie Foster as Marion Davies. Obviously, that didn’t happen. But Fincher never gave up on the idea, and now he’s finally made it.  Back in 2009, the director had this to say about the project:

"It was too expensive. Because if you’re going to make a Hollywood insider movie—it’s nothing to do with Hollywood really, it’s Hollywood in the late thirties, early forties—you’ve got to make it really cheaply. We had a chance to make the movie for, like, $13 million, back in 1998 and, um, [guiltily] I wanted to make it in black and white. [Laughs] And that fucked up all those home video and video sell-through and cable deals. I haven’t read it in a while. I probably should"

One person that has already praised MANK is Aaron Sorkin, who worked with Fincher as a screenwriter on 2010s THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Sorkin, who is a fellow Oscar contender this year for Netflix's THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, recently said "Mank is so freaking good! David has directed this movie just magnificently. It's breathtaking even by David Fincher's. standards."

I'd call that a winning endorsement! For MANK David Fincher brings us something new to streaming on Netflix this December 4, 2020, following a limited theatrical release in November. Did YOU like the trailer? Check out the film's official key art below!