We are so much happier now that we’re dead, which is what we are, after seeing these immaculate black-and-white stills of David Fincher’s upcoming Hollywood period piece, Mank. Netflix has released its first look at Fincher’s first movie since 2014’s Gone Girl, which is set to premiere on the streaming platform this fall. Based on these images, it looks like Mank is going to be the Citizen Kane of movies about Citizen Kane. The NetflixFilm Twitter account really whipped out its old-timey clickety-clackety typewriter font to share this line of screenplay:
𝙹𝙾𝙴 (𝚅.𝙾.)
𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚘’𝚜 𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝙱𝚘𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚘 𝚝𝚘𝚎-𝚝𝚘-𝚝𝚘𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚗.
You can just hear the old-timey voice of it all in your head. This snippet of voice-over refers to Orson Welles, who in a bit of cosmically brilliant casting will be played by The Souvenir’s Tom Burke.
And then these stills! There’s Gary Oldman as Herman Mankiewicz, walking away from a nonchalant actress standing atop a massive pyre, which is like a Hail, Caesar! visual gag in the best way. There’s Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies, with those big, expressive silent film eyes. We can gaze at this tweet lovingly for hours, but we’re gonna need that trailer, Netflix. And a release date, Mank-you-very-much.