David Fincher's electric Mank trailer probes madness behind Citizen Kane

A legend tells the legend of a legend in the first trailer for David Fincher's Herman J. Mankiewicz biopic Mank.

Netflix dropped the awards-hopeful drama's full-length preview Wednesday, teasing Fincher's wild, black-and-white take on the screenwriter's turbulent relationship with Orson Welles during the creation of the iconic 1941 movie Citizen Kane.

The trailer stars Gary Oldman as the titular scribe who, amid struggles with alcoholism and a generally acerbic attitude, clashes with Welles (Tom Burke) while writing the screenplay that would eventually lay the foundation for one of the best movies of all time — the script for which both men notoriously fought over credit for despite their shared Oscar victory for Best Original Screenplay.

Fincher's late father, Jack Fincher, wrote the Mank screenplay before his death in 2003, with the story charting the writer's bumpy ride through Hollywood in the 1930s, from mingling with socialites, power-hungry industry players, and William Randolph Hearst (Game of Thrones' Charles Dance), the man who would inspire Citizen Kane's central character.

Amanda Seyfried also stars in the film as actress Marion Davies, Mank's longtime lover, and Lily Collins as his stenographer Rita Alexander.

Mank — Fincher's first directorial feature since 2014's Gone Girl — is in select theaters throughout November before its Dec. 4 streaming debut on Netflix, ahead of a likely Oscar push. Watch the first full-length trailer above.

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