- Mr Hearst.
- We're going to need people who honor words,
give them voice.
There's a golden age coming,
when all the world will be a stage.
And you perhaps, their Shakespeare.
- I wouldn't have thought you'd be that keenly interested,
in the honoring of words.
(jazz music)
- Good evening. Name.
- Mankiewcz
- I'm sorry, what--
M A N K I E W C and outta nowhere, a Z.
- How's the leg?
- Thigh bone's connected to the hip bone.
- Excellent. Ready and willing,
to hunt the great white whale?
- Just call me Ahab.
- 60 days and then we can noodle.
- Nothing like a good noodle.
- We see a different kind of paramount picture.
- Tell him about the finale,
Charlie.
- Oh,
well,
the rain turns to sleet,
puts out the fire and entombs the monster in solid ice.
- Thunder, lightening,
blood, fire, religion.
It's director proof.
- [Marion] I know you.
- Well, what's at stake here.
- I need a favor,
but you're going to have to promise you won't laugh.
- Given the state of the world, it's a tall order.
- I'm being burned at the stake,
and I am dying for a ciggie-boo.
(laughing)
- The narrative is one big circle, like it's cinnamon roll.
not a straight line pointing to the nearest exit.
You cannot capture a man's entire life in two hours.
All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.
- I love the old guy, Mank.
Maybe I didn't always,
back when he was my social security.
- I hope, if this gets made,
you'll forgive me.
- And I hope if it doesn't,
you'll forgive me.
- $1 million a year, we spend on stories.
We never even film.
Why not?
I'll tell you.
They don't make me cry.
What makes me cry?
Emotion. Where do I feel emotion?
Here,
here,
and here.
- If you just give people what they need to know,
in an emotional way,
you can expect they'll do the right thing.
- I think what you mean,
if you keep telling people something untrue,
loud and long enough, they're apt to believe it.
- You don't much like Mayer.
- If I ever go to the electric chair,
I'd like him to be sitting in my lap.
- I've never been fired.
- I've never not been fired.
- I don't get fired.
- It's not as unpleasant as you might imagine.
- Ah Nerts!
- What is that?
- Ah pops' radio phones.
Never ever be out of touch with your empire.
- No. No, what's Nerts?
- Nerts is Brooklynese for nuts.
- Jeepers.
(door slams)
- Summer.
- Enez, you are not to let the brothers,
Marx wait in my office ever.
They've been grilling hot dogs again.
- So I vote for Comrade Upton.
His system works in Russia, why not here?
- [Man] Cut.
- What do you think?
- Truthfully Shelly, if the performances were any better,
you'd be ashamed of yourself.
- Only half of them are actors.
It's got the raw newsreel feel, hasn't it?
- But it isn't news,
and it isn't real.
- If I could I'd share with everyone, you know that, Mank.
This Upton doesn't know a thing,
about the real...
(Marion gasps)
Nobody but nobody makes a monkey,
out of William Randolph Hearst!
- Why aren't you contributing,
to MGMs anti Saint Claire fund?
I was taught by my parents to be straightforward,
to ask simply for what I want and expect that I may have to,
elucidate my position.
- I was encouraged by mine to use my imagination,
but I taught myself to avoid the consequences.
- It's 10 bucks,
Mank.
- Why, it's a puffed-up sharp-tailed,
red-ruffled magpie.
- Anybody seen anything good lately?
- I just saw 42nd street.
It blew my wig.
- How do you like the Mojave?
- God's answer for drunks and reprobates.
Perfect place to dry out.
- I've raised your kids kosher, and all, but by myself,
I've put up with your suicidal drinking.
You're a compulsive gambling.
You're silly platonic affairs.
You owe me, Herman.
Don't ask me to give you poor Sarah's seal of approval.
- Why do you put up with me, Schnutz?
My movie star looks or my diplomat's charm?
(upbeat jazz music)