Discussing films about real screenwriters on this episode of Be Reel, we dig into David Fincher's "Mank" (2020)—the new Netflix film about Herman Mankiewicz and the origins of "Citizen Kane." Then, we leap to the 21st century to reappraise Charlie Kaufman fictionalizing and splitting himself in "Adaptation" (2002) as he labors to adapt Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief." Finally, it's Dalton Trumbo's quest against the Hollywood Blacklist in "Trumbo" (2015). Each film comes with its own indulgent, even seductive spin on history, but isn't that what Hollywood does anyway? Now, we're just watching the mythologizers get mythologized. Oh, and don't forget to take a whiskey break between cigarettes.
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