Main Cast: Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith, John Malkovich, Brenda Blethyn, Roy Scheider
Release Year: 1999
Country: UK/US
Run Time: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
When RKO Pictures began work on production number 281, no one could have imagined that they were making perhaps the greatest American film of all time. But the moment Orson Welles (played by Liev Schreiber) announced that he intended to make a film based on the life of tyranical multi-millionaire publisher William Randolph Hearst (James Cromwell), they knew that they had trouble on their hands. Welles, the enfant terrible of American theater and a household name thanks to his infamous radio adaptation of H.G. Wells's "The War Of The Worlds," was signed to direct films for RKO, and he was given an unusually free hand to make whatever sort of film he wanted. But what Welles didn't count on was the power of Hearst to keep his film from being seen. RKO 281 is based on the true story of the making of Citizen Kane and the war of words between Welles and Hearst. It also stars Melanie Griffith as Hearst's mistress Marion Davies, John Malkovich as screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, Brenda Blethyn as Hearst's movie columnist Louella Parsons, and Roy Scheider as George Schaefer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
David Suchet - Louis B. Mayer; Fiona Shaw - Hedda Hopper; Liam Cunningham - Gregg Toland; Lucy Cohu - Dolores Del Rio; Kerry Shale - Bernard Herrmann; Tim Woodward - Jack Warner; Ron Berglas - David O. Selznick; Geoffrey Hutchings - Harry Cohn; Roger Allam - Walt Disney; Jay Benedict - Darryl F. Zanuck; Anastasia Hille - Carole Lombard
Credit
Lora Kennedy - Casting, Joyce Nettles - Casting, David Daniels - First Assistant Director, Benjamin Ross - Director, Alex Mackie - Editor, Ridley Scott - Executive Producer, Tony Scott - Executive Producer, Chris Zarpas - Executive Producer, Diane Minter Lewis - Executive Producer, John Altman - Composer (Music Score), Mike Southon - Cinematographer, Su Armstrong - Producer, Clive Derbyshire - Sound/Sound Designer, John Logan - Screenwriter, Mark Taylor - Re-Recording Mixer
The film examines the struggles of a young Orson Welles (Schreiber), RKO studio head George Schaefer (Scheider), and screenwriterHerman J. Mankiewicz (Malkovich) in making the greatest American film of all time, Citizen Kane. After learning the movie is actually a thinly-veiled and exceptionally unflattering biography, publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst (Cromwell) uses his immense power and influence to try to bury the picture.
