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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Genres:

Biography | Drama

---

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

The title refers to the production number given by RKO to Citzen Kane.

---

Goofs

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

---

Quotes

Orson Welles: I expected better of you, Mank.
Herman J. 'Mank' Mankiewicz: Me too, but I got used to it.

---

Connections

Featured in The 57th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2000)

---

Soundtracks

"I'm Getting Sentimental Over You"
Written by George Bassman and Ned Washington

User Reviews

Fresh look of Citizen Kane

Near perfect movie about the making of CITIZEN KANE does not succeed 100% on document accuracy but for a movie, this is really good! Liev Shreiber plays surprisingly good for Orson although it is hard to detach him from the SCREAM trilogy. If you loved the masterpiece of CITIZEN KANE than maybe the movie is not meant for you. A surprise that this movie would not make it to the larger screen, probably because the target audience is too narrow. Anyone under 18 and/or has not watched the classic may need some guidance as to what the characters are actually saying. If you want a further look into CITIZEN KANE, this is your best bet unless you like the library!