David Fincher’s Mank tells the story of Herman J. Mankiewicz writing Citizen Kane and so, naturally, it features Orson Welles as a key supporting character, but who plays him in the movie? Marking Fincher’s first movie release since 2014’s Gone Girl, Mank charts the development of what is often considered the greatest movie of all time, Citizen Kane, and shows the life events that led to Mankiewicz penning the screenplay for it.
Aside from writing Citizen Kane, Mank follows its titular character – featuring yet another transformative performance from Gary Oldman – as he mixes with many influential Hollywood and media figures, with a cast of notable names. Charles Dance lends his considerable presence to William Randolph Hearst, the man who becomes the inspiration for Kane, while Amanda Seyfried steals every scene she’s in, giving a career-best turn as actress and Hearst’s mistress, Marion Davies.
Welles is slightly less present, but his aura lingers over Mankiewicz’s attempts to write the movie, and he does appear in a few scenes for some key interactions with Mank, especially towards the very end. It’s no easy feat to take on the role of a cinematic giant, and Orson Welles is played in Mank by Tom Burke, who does an admirable job of capturing some of his power and charisma, even if the man himself is somewhat inimitable. While not a household name, Burke should be familiar to audiences. He’s perhaps best known for playing Cormoran Strike in the series Strike, the musketeer Athos in The Musketeers, and Dolokhov in the BBC’s War & Peace. Burke’s movies roles include playing Billy in Only God Forgives, Anthony in The Souvenir, and George Robinson in The Invisible Woman. His other 2020 credits include playing Derek Jennings in an episode of The Crown season 4, and playing Fletcher Dennis in The Show. Burke will next be seen alongside Ruth Wilson in the 2021 movie True Things About Me.
Burke isn’t exactly a dead ringer for Welles but, thanks to the use of make-up, hairstyling, facial hair, and lighting, he does bear enough of a resemblance to the Citizen Kane director/star that it isn’t an issue; combined with his performance, it’s convincing. Interestingly, though, Burke doesn’t just look like Welles in the movie, but also rather like David Fincher himself, with his hair and goatee also making him appear similar to Mank‘s director. While it may just be a coincidence that the actor and director look a bit alike here, it also fits with how Fincher typically inserts an avatar of himself in his movies, and in this case Welles is the perfect candidate.
As noted by The Ringer, Fincher has a tendency to reflect himself – and, most specifically, his meticulous, almost obsessive attention to detail, at-all-costs perfectionism, and need for complete control – in his films, seen in characters ranging from the detectives in Se7en to Tanner Bolt in Gone Girl. With Burke as Welles in Mank, then the presence of Fincher in his own movie is even more overt. Welles is portrayed as the wunderkind director who can’t be tamed or work within the major studio system, similar to Fincher on Alien 3. His clashes with Mankiewicz over story credit on Citizen Kane, meanwhile, take on a deeper meaning knowing that Jack Fincher, the director’s late father, wrote the original script, which his son and Producer Eric Roth later polished, and it’s fascinating to see Burkes’ Welles, while also looking like Fincher, fight for total control over his picture. Mank isn’t as purely entertaining or accessible as many of David Fincher’s movies, but through Tom Burke as Orson Welles, it is among those that best reflects the director himself.
