Mank

star Amanda Seyfried shares her pᴀssionate defense of director David Fincher’s love of doing a lot of takes for every scene. Released in 2020, the Netflix historical drama chronicles the life of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, as played by Gary Oldman, as he races to finish the screenplay for Citizen Kane (1941) in 1930s Hollywood. Mank reviews were generally positive from critics, and the film earned a number of Oscar nominations, including one for Seyfried, who played starlet Marion Davies.

In a recent video for GQ in which she breaks down the most iconic roles from throughout her career, Seyfried reflects on her time filming Mank, explaining why Fincher’s infamous method of doing dozens of takes for every scene was freeing for her as an actor. Acording to Seyfried, this approach, which is rare in Hollywood due to the time and money it involves, allowed her to truly become the character of Marion, getting a feel for how she would move through a space and how she would talk until it became second nature. Check out Seyfried’s explanation below:

“David like to rehearse on set for a full day before we film. In no way is that luxury something I take for granted because it just doesn’t happen anymore. No one has that kind of money or time to have the space to explore. That’s what makes his work so wonderful.

“And these are really long scenes with some insane monologues, and so we need every minute that we can get together on the set, knowing how our bodies feel on the concrete, how we’re going to move around each other, around the fountain, and how we’re going to see the CGI animals, and what the bench looks like, and become comfortable with your surroundings. We never get that.

“For Mank, we all were together a lot. All the actors came together a lot to rehearse the scenes on set, days before shooting. David Fincher doesn’t mince words. He’s very clear as to what he wants, and he’s also very patient. Patience is also really hard to find in a director, but all the good directors are, they’re very patient.

“And so, although I thought, ‘What am I doing in this movie? I do not belong here. I’m too contemporary. I don’t know who this woman is even though I read everything I could read on Marion Davies. We had somebody whose sole job was to unearth old recordings and information about all these characters. I did listen to scratchy recordings of Marion Davies. I did work on my Flatbush accent, which comes a lot easier than Manchester, I’ll tell you that much.

“The physicality of Marion would not have happened without all the time I got to spend with her before we rolled. You gotta live in it for a long time in order to feel like it’s second nature, you’re not thinking about it, because there’s so much of these characters that you need them to be second nature, but you don’t have enough time, and so you’re constantly thinking of juggling eight things before the director even brings you notes.

“In a way, we’re very prepared for these moments of having too much to think about, but it’s always too much to think about. And so it would be nice if there was less.

“What you get in a David Fincher movie, or at least I feel like I got, was another chance, always another chance. Because 99% of the time I walk away from a scene and I’m like, ‘Ugh, I don’t wanna do that again, I really don’t wanna do that again, but I bet I could have done that better.’ I got everything I needed to get, and he got everything he needed to get, and we could all go to sleep at night. Like, we f**king did it.

“And after that first bonfire scene, I definitely walked away feeling like, I don’t know who this person is yet, I’m struggling here. My sister was having a baby that day. I was present, but I was insecure. And when I found out we were shooting it again, I was like, ‘Oh God, what? How long is that gonna take?’ And then I was like, ‘Oh my God, I could make this the best scene in the movie for me.’ And I did, because we were there for another three days.

“And I was pregnant with my other kid. And there was smoke, I was smoking. It was just like, it could have been madness, but it was joy. And we were just there all day, and the next day and the next day. And it was cold in the morning and warm at night. We were making movies like the way they used to make movies and it was just so iconic in my mind.

“And I knew how to say that line. ‘Your Flatbush is showing,’ he says to me. And I was like, ‘Mr. Mankiewicz, I need a ciggy-boo.’ Like it was just so, ugh, I was fully her, I fully got it. And there’s no way I would’ve ever felt that any of that validation and that credit was earned if we had seven takes to do it.

“Because I wouldn’t have done that hard work, because I’m not built that way, I’m lazy. I know I do good work and I do get to where I need to do and I work my ᴀss off. But David asks you to work your ᴀss off to the tenth power and that is why I’d do it again. It’s hard work though.”

What Amanda Seyfried’s Defense Means For David Fincher

Fincher’s Directing Style Explained

Fincher is known for being very exacting as a director. He is said to have a very clear vision of what he wants from every scene, from the performances down to the smallest and seemingly most inconsequential details regarding blocking and production design. The most well-known example of Fincher’s directing style involves the opening dialogue scene from The Social Network (2010), which apparently took 99 takes for Jesse Eisenberg and Rooney Mara to get exactly right.

The approach evidently paid off for The Social Network, but it did for Mank as well. Even though the 2020 Netflix drama may not be among Fincher’s most popular movies, with movies like Se7en (1995), Fight Club (1997), and Zodiac (2007) generally being more buzzy тιтles, it was an awards success. Mank was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, ultimately winning two for Best Production Design and Best Cinematography. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film enjoys a strong 83% critics’ score.

Our Take On Fincher’s Many-Takes Directing Style

Fincher Enjoys A Luxury Not All Directors Get

Fincher’s approach of doing sometimes many dozens of takes for scenes is all about the actors. While certain stars may find that kind of approach frustrating, it’s clear that it can be a great ᴀsset, allowing actors to spend more time with their characters, truly getting to the heart of every scene. It’s worth noting, too, that Fincher is in a unique position to adopt this kind of approach, and less experienced or lesser-known directors may not be given the time or resources to be able to pull this off.

Seyfried’s explanation helps to explain why so many actors want to work with a great filmmaker like Fincher, and his future films are sure to continue to feature leading talent in Hollywood. After the positive reception to The Killer (2023), it’s not clear what Fincher will be tackling next, but it’s clear that Seyfried would likely jump at the opportunity to collaborate with him again.

Source: GQ