“Mank” Trailer Is All Old Hollywood Intrigue

It's been six years since David Fincher's last movie, and after many delays and rumors, our first look at Mank is finally here.

Based on a script by his father Jack, Fincher had been hoping to make this film since the late '90s. Academy Award winner Gary Oldman stars as Herman J. Mankiewicz, who wrote dozens of movies including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Pride of the Yankees. But he was best known for co-writing Citizen Kane with Orson Welles, with whom he frequently clashed. The duo won an Oscar for their troubles, even though they famously lost Best Picture to How Green Was My Valley. Still, it's widely considered one of the best – if not the very best –American movie ever made.

In addition to Oldman, Mank has an incredible ensemble cast, including Tom Pelphrey (Ozark) as Herman's brother Joseph, Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) as William Randolph Hearst, and Tom Burke (The Souvenir) as Welles. Fincher will have his dream of shooting in black-and-white brought to life by Erik Messerschmidt, who worked with him on several episodes of his Netflix series Mindhunter.

Check out the trailer below, which pays tribute to the famed studio RKO with a special "Netflix International Pictures" logo. Film fanatics will notice many Easter eggs and homages to Citizen Kane, with even more in the "Reddit Trailer," as featured on Netflix's Film Club channel.

Mank will have a limited theatrical release in November, and hit Netflix on December 4.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.