MANK, directed by David Fincher
An excellent podcast "The Spoiler Master" (currently in Polish by otherwise working in both languages Michal Oleszczyk) analyzed "Mank" and wasn't convinced with the casting of the role of Orson Welles there. My jaw dropped because one doesn't criticize David Fincher, does one?
That audacious lack of enthusiasm toward the Maestro opened up something in me. It allowed to dig into my reactions to the film which were that something didn't sit right with me while watching it. So I was pleased to hear a learned critic to formulate his concerns.
Then I remembered my recent Breaking Bad and El Camino binge and my many highs and a few lows about those titles. The raised brows had to do with El Camino, since I am floored by BB in general and consider Better Call Saul a masterpiece of the medium.
In El Camino and the last season of BB there was one small stone in a shoe. It was Jessie Plemons, a fabulous actor, and jet somehow always sticking out of the wonderful gallery of crooks, villains and murderers there. Every time he appeared I had to tell myself - that's a fresh "out of the box" casting, just enjoy. So I did. That wasn't too difficult because he was great.
However after hearing "The Spoiler Master" remarks about the casting of Welles role in Mank I started wondering: shouldn't it be Jessie Plemons to play Orson there. Wouldn't that make Mank more perfect? Was this a case of miscast-ed casting - lost in time and space? A case where a perfect actor hasn't met his perfect part? To be corrected?
