RKO 281 (1999) started life as a planned grand film with a mega-star cast but eventually dwindled to a TV movie made in England. As such it was a critical hit in its day, wracking up Emmy and Golden Globes nominations and wins. I pretty much hated it.
It's the story of the making of CITIZEN KANE from Orson Welles' viewpoint. So of course Welles is the driven but innocent genius (played by Liev Schreiber) who rescues Herman Mankiewicz (John Malkovich) and bravely insists he get co-writing credit after a secretary or someone carelessly omitted his name from the front page of the script. That sounds like Welles, who had a track record of always blaming someone or something for his own ego.
The studio heads, from Mayer to Disney (?) are portrayed as a bunch of dopes. William Randolph Hearst (James Cromwell) is played as a tinpot despot (despot maybe, tinpot never) who reigns over MGM's Mayer (David Suchet) and badgers Louella Parsons (Brenda Blethyn) as though she were a scullery maid. And then there's the worst portrayal of Marion Davies I've ever seen.
Here we have Melanie Griffith playing Davies as Judy Holliday played Billie Dawn ... a voice that Davies never had. Here we have Davies as a caged animal held captive in a castle, bemoaning to Carole Lombard all she ever wanted to do was comedy but Hearst never let her do comedy (hence the many great comedy performances). This Davies is a powerless cluck. The irony here is that while the movie bemoans Welles' assassination of Davies' reputation as a woman and actress via Susan Alexander, the movie itself portrays Davies as a brainless pawn in a king's castle.
Others in the film include Roy Scheider as RKO's George Schaefer, Fiona Shaw as Hedda Hopper, Liam Cunningham as Gregg Toland. And while I didn't like the film much I will say that Cromwell and Malkovich gave good performances.
The film re-hashes the old baloney (now debunked) about Thomas Ince's death, perpetuates the "rosebud" myth (which I for one don't buy since it was a snide joke initiated by drunks), shows Hearst and Davies screening KANE (highly doubtful, Davies always insisted she never saw it), has them dancing in an empty castle after Hearst is forced to liquidate (never happened, he sold off stuff from his warehouses), and has Parsons fleeing a screening of the film halfway thru only to report to Hearst what the ending of the film was (was she clairvoyant?). This version also has Welles as a dinner guest at San Simeon in 1939 or 40 which never happened. Welles himself claimed he only ever met Hearst once ... in an elevator.
Stick with the 2020 film MANK.
It's the story of the making of CITIZEN KANE from Orson Welles' viewpoint. So of course Welles is the driven but innocent genius (played by Liev Schreiber) who rescues Herman Mankiewicz (John Malkovich) and bravely insists he get co-writing credit after a secretary or someone carelessly omitted his name from the front page of the script. That sounds like Welles, who had a track record of always blaming someone or something for his own ego.
The studio heads, from Mayer to Disney (?) are portrayed as a bunch of dopes. William Randolph Hearst (James Cromwell) is played as a tinpot despot (despot maybe, tinpot never) who reigns over MGM's Mayer (David Suchet) and badgers Louella Parsons (Brenda Blethyn) as though she were a scullery maid. And then there's the worst portrayal of Marion Davies I've ever seen.
Here we have Melanie Griffith playing Davies as Judy Holliday played Billie Dawn ... a voice that Davies never had. Here we have Davies as a caged animal held captive in a castle, bemoaning to Carole Lombard all she ever wanted to do was comedy but Hearst never let her do comedy (hence the many great comedy performances). This Davies is a powerless cluck. The irony here is that while the movie bemoans Welles' assassination of Davies' reputation as a woman and actress via Susan Alexander, the movie itself portrays Davies as a brainless pawn in a king's castle.
Others in the film include Roy Scheider as RKO's George Schaefer, Fiona Shaw as Hedda Hopper, Liam Cunningham as Gregg Toland. And while I didn't like the film much I will say that Cromwell and Malkovich gave good performances.
The film re-hashes the old baloney (now debunked) about Thomas Ince's death, perpetuates the "rosebud" myth (which I for one don't buy since it was a snide joke initiated by drunks), shows Hearst and Davies screening KANE (highly doubtful, Davies always insisted she never saw it), has them dancing in an empty castle after Hearst is forced to liquidate (never happened, he sold off stuff from his warehouses), and has Parsons fleeing a screening of the film halfway thru only to report to Hearst what the ending of the film was (was she clairvoyant?). This version also has Welles as a dinner guest at San Simeon in 1939 or 40 which never happened. Welles himself claimed he only ever met Hearst once ... in an elevator.
Stick with the 2020 film MANK.