RKO 281 (TV 1999)

Orson Welles produces his greatest film, Citizen Kane, despite the opposition of the film's de facto subject, William Randolph Hearst.

Director:

Benjamin Ross

Writers:

John Logan, Richard Ben Cramer (documentary "The Battle Over Citizen Kane"),

Stars:

Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith

Won 2 Golden Globes. Another 7 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Liev Schreiber	...	Orson Welles
James Cromwell	...	William Randolph Hearst
Melanie Griffith	...	Marion Davies
John Malkovich	...	Herman Mankiewicz
Brenda Blethyn	...	Louella Parsons
Roy Scheider	...	George Schaefer
Liam Cunningham	...	Gregg Toland
David Suchet	...	Louis B. Mayer
Fiona Shaw	...	Hedda Hopper
Anastasia Hille	...	Carole Lombard
Roger Allam	...	Walt Disney
Simeon Andrews	...	John Houseman
William Armstrong	...	Mr. Lewis
Jay Benedict	...	Darryl Zanuck
Ron Berglas	...	David O. Selznick

Storyline

Coming to Hollywood as a celebrated boy genius featuring a spectacular career arc in New York including his "War of the Worlds" radio hoax, Orson Welles is stymied on the subject for his first film. After a dinner party at Hearst Castle, during which he has a verbal altercation with Hearst, Welles decides to do a movie about Hearst. It takes him some time to convince co-writer Herman Mankiewicz and the studio, but Welles eventually gets the script and the green light, keeping the subject very hush-hush with the press. When a rough cut is screened, Hearst gets wind of the movie's theme and begins a campaign to see that it is not only never publicly screened, but destroyed.

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Plot Keywords:

film director | movie studio | reference to thomas ince | director | reference to david o selznick | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some graphic sexual images

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 November 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

RKO 281: The Battle Over Citizen Kane

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Sign, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Pictures, WGBH, Scott Free Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9

Did You Know?

Trivia

On the script are various other narratives of Orson Welles' work with his Mercury Theatre and his move from New York plays to Hollywood movies (mostly under the supposed "VOICE" character).

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Goofs

When Welles is shown crossing out dialogue in the "Citizen Kane" script, he is actually marking up pages from the "RKO 281" script!

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Quotes

Orson Welles: Everything I am, everything I could be is in that picture.

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Connections

References The Long Voyage Home (1940)

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Soundtracks

"Finale"
from Citizen Kane
Music by Bernard Herrmann

User Reviews

entertaining, but seems too simple

I didn't know the history of the making of Citizen Kane, and while I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, I still doubt that I know much about it. The movie is attractive, I imagine that it's more or less factually correct, and the cast is generally good, but it doesn't feel "real". Hardly anything is ever as black and white as most of the movie, and even more to the point, the character doesn't manage to capture any of the "zing" that Wells had even as an old man. It's fun, but don't expect too much...