Distant Relatives: Citizen Kane and The Social Network

Robert here with my series Distant Relatives, which explores the connections between one classic and one contemporary film. This week a request from Ryan M. Feel free to make your own requests in the comments.

 

Tell me how you remember it

Last year I compared Citizen Kane and There Will Be Blood as two films about the consequences of achieving the American Dream. Later I compared The Social Network with Raging Bull as two character studies of antisocial overachievers. But all four of these films belong to a sizable sub-genre, the drama about a man who gets everything he wants and nothing he needs. Of the four, the two that go together most closely are Citizen Kane and The Social Network. Citizen Kane, written, directed by and starring Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate (and fictionalized version of William Randolph Hearst) follows the life of this giant, his friends, his marriages, his successes and failures, his ascension and fall. The Social Network stars Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg (a fictionalized version of Mark Zuckerberg) as he too rises to great heights and how this affects his friendships, relationships and life.

The natural comparisons are obvious. Both are films about men who set out to do something great, accomplish it, and lose something even greater in the process. They're films about how lonely it is at the top. But, with many films in this mold, the devil is in the details. Structurally the two are centrally related. Neither of them has a single narrator, nor do they have necessarily reliable narrators. Both are told in flashback in mostly but not always chronological order. Both stories are told by individuals attempting to answer a question after the fact. In Citizen Kane the question is the meaning of Kane's last words "rosebud" for a news story. In The Social Network, the question is Zuckerberg's intent to steal the idea of Facebook and force out his partner for the sake of a lawsuit. Now we come to our first juxtaposition of the good old days against the new. But it hardly matters. The point is the device which gives a sense of immediacy and relevance to things already past.

Love and Money

Both of these films are certainly about immediacy. These two men make their living not through oil or sport or some old established profession but through media, new media. They influence the world they control and control the world they influence. In their work they shape public opinion, yet ultimately they cannot find a way to shape it in thier favor. There's an irony to the fact that their talents have won them extensive influence, but that extensive influence cannot convince anyone to love them. And love, and acceptance are what these two men are truly after. Kane's friend Jed Leland says as much, that what he really wanted was to be loved. Zuckerberg too demonstrates his desires through his continual search for approval from Erica, the girl who got away. And perhaps it's just a slight bit of spite toward the Winklevoss twins, members of the crew team, the epitome of Erica's "type' in a mere throwaway comment, that motivates Zuckerberg to be the jerk that he becomes. Much in the same way Kane's initial pure intentions are tainted every so obviously by the way the newspaper business allows him to expose and punish his foster father.
 
Yet we've barely scratched the surface of these two films. Within these worlds there are also smaller tales of ego-driven misogyny, domination over and objectification of women, of friendships terminated with a termination, of defiance in the arms of authority, of paths never taken. That last one may be a key too. To many, the most memorable moment in Citizen Kane doesn't involve its star at all. It comes in a brief monologue by Everitt Sloane's Mr. Berenstein who speaks of a pretty girl with a parasol he saw once and has never forgotten. These are films about memories, the remembered lives of men who build empires to compensate for the shadows of their pasts. And those pasts are forged by regret of actions not taken or actions not possible (like Mr. Berenstein's lost girl), and the desire to rise above them, take control of a life and become a giant. Citizen Kane and The Social Network are films about men who are giants who can't escape the small truths of their lifes.

Other Cinematic Relatives: Giant (1956), The Godfather part II (1974), The Aviator (2004), There Will Be Blood (2007),

Absolutely Linkulous

THIS JUST IN: Brett Rattner has resigned as producer of the Oscar telecast after his gay slur this weekend at a Q&A. So we don't even need to link you to Mark Harris's sharp opinion piece about why they should fire him. Good. Let us wash our hands of this one and move on... although I'm still more worried about him ruining Wicked for all time than ruining the Oscars for one year. The Oscars survive everything.

Coming Soon we're going to get a youth-centric fictional film about the adventures of the young Leonardo da Vinci.
Hollywood Reporter interviews the recipients of the upcoming honorary Oscars including Her Oprahness 
Tom and Lorenzo object to this new pictorial of Chloe Moretz
VGL Bruce Weber shoots Weekend star Tom Cullen (left). I think this is the most clothed I've ever seen a Weber shoot but beautiful pics. I hope Cullen and co-star Chris New have the offers rolling in now. (For movies, not more photoshoots!)
Buzz Feed speaking of photoshoots -- that's three links in a row. it's all about eye candy today I guess -- here's Jonathan Lipnicki the tiny tot from Jerry Maguire more than all grown up.
Empire Stephen King's bizarre "Rose Madder" novel is coming to the screen with Naomi Sheridan (In America) winning screenplay duties.

Deadline an AbFab movie to follow three television specials. Patsy and Edina will live forever
Rookie Magazine Really really fantastic interview with Joss Whedon on his Shakespeare movie Much Ado About Nothing (see previous post), The Avengers, his fascination with tough and capable teenage girls, and how Wonder Woman was a bit Angelina Jolie-ish.
Twitch Film first stills from Rodrigo Cortes Buried follow up, a thriller called Red Lights with Cillian Murphy. Robert DeNiro, Sigourney Weaver and Elizabeth Olsen co-star. 
i09 has clips from Arthur Christmas, one of our animated feature contenders, and they label it "kind of fun" 

Quote of the Day from Vanity Fair

We’ve finally answered the question, ‘Apples or oranges?’.”

The opening of David Fincher's unused Best Director acceptance speech earlier this year. Ha! Perfection. I didn't think I could love him more but I was wrong. Aaron Sorkin wrote the article that's attached to so, duh, it's a great read.

Yes, No, Maybe So: "...Dragon Tattoo"

I've waffled on whether or not to give the trailer to David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo the yes, no, maybe so treatment. The teaser was an explosive example of what film advertising can be when it escapes its rigid little box. That rush of images and punk spirit promising the 'Feel. Bad. Movie. Of. Christmas.' just Felt.Good. in an A+ way. But did you ever see it in a theater? I did a couple of times and felt nothing from the audience (you know how you can sometimes absorb the collective excitement levels when a teaser/trailer is playing or at least the second it ends?) so maybe Moviegoers and Hollywood need the rigid little box of 2 and ½ minute plot and character intros as security blanket and insurance policy respectively. 

So now they give us the normal kind of trailer introducing us to the plot and characters that 75 million are intimately familiar with already. Meet anti-social, abused, violent, brilliant Lisbeth Salander, now played by Rooney Mara with sick earrings, mad multiple hairstylings and a wondrous lack of comforting eyebrows.

the breakdown plus the new trailer after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Unsung Heroes: The Casting of 'Zodiac'

Hey there, film experiencers. Michael C here from Serious Film. After nearly two dozen episodes of this series I think it’s about time I touched on what is probably the most important under-the-radar job there is: the casting director.

Think about the challenges casting director Laray Mayfield was up against filling out the cast of David Fincher’s Zodiac (2007). 

The sprawling, decade-spanning narrative covers dozens of important speaking roles, various cops, reporters, and victims, which the viewer is expected to keep straight as they appear and reappear over the course of the story. Actors have to be cast who can embody the personality of the character in a way the script doesn’t have time to explain. Yet within those types, she has to find performers who can deliver a unique flavor that stands out from the pack. Dermot Mulroney, Donal Logue, and Elias Koteas all make believable cops, but no one is going to confuse one with the other.

John Carrol Lynch, loveable "Norm" no more.When it came to casting Zodiac himself, Fincher went with the bold choice of having different actors appear as the killer in order to fit the conflicting descriptions the surviving victims gave in each incident. Mayfield and Fincher somehow manage to pull it off without distracting or confusing the viewer. Each of the various Zodiac incarnations has a distinct feel – the Zodiac at the lake is more thuggish than the sinister Zodiac who threatens the woman and her baby on the highway – but the technique never calls attention to itself.

Mayfield outdid herself with the casting of the more substantial roles of the Zodiac suspects. With a story this maddeningly ambiguous the suspects need to project everything and nothing. We need to believe we may be in the presence of evil, but not tip the scales so far that we can’t buy it when the leads don't pan out as hoped. The casting of John Carroll Lynch – loveable Norm from Fargo – as lead suspect Arthur Leigh Allen is a particular masterstroke. In that riveting interrogation scene the viewer studies Lynch’s face along with the cops trying to decipher if they are witnessing the sneering arrogance of the Zodiac or just dumb belligerence. 

Along with her intuitive casting choices, Mayfield distinguishes herself with the depth of her talent search. Names like Anthony Edwards, Ione Skye and Charles Fleischer aren’t exactly at the top of every casting director's  A-List, but they’re perfectly deployed in Zodiac. They slide into their roles with utter believability and their underused star power in small roles adds immeasurably to the film.

It’s outside the box thinking like this that led Mayfield to provide The Social Network with one of the most memorable ensembles of recent years.

There is little fame and glory to spare for the casting director, yet one hears over and over that it is in the casting that most films are made or doomed. As a viewer, all I can judge is the finished project, and going by those results I think it’s safe to say Laray Mayfield is doing her job as well as anyone working today.

The Highs and Lows of Oscar Afterglow

Kurt here from Your Movie Buddy

Even barring the obvious perennial faves like Meryl Streep and Randy Newman, don't the Oscar nominations continually feel like class reunions? For every John Hawkes, there's an Amy Adams. For every Aronofsy, a Coen brother. Of this year's nominees in the eight major categories (that'd be producers, actors, directors and writers), 20 of them earned prior nominations within the last six years. Now, this is of course partly due to the fact many of these folks are indeed the best in the business (if Scott Rudin promises to produce a movie like The Social Network every year, I'll start digging a mine just for the purposes of throwing gold at him), but it also joins December's annual jam-packed awards-bait schedule as further proof that the Academy's short-term memory dictates much of their decision-making.

And that can yield some positive outcomes for Oscar-watchers. Harvey Weinstein's gag-me-with-a-doily campaign for The King's Speech aside, Colin firth deserves every bit of the praise – if not, perhaps, every freakin' award – he's received for his heroic star turn, and if his recognition for A Single Man helped that along, then all the better. Likewise, if a recent victory at the Kodak podium is what caused a performance like Javier Bardem's in Biutiful to derail a veteran bone-throw to Robert DuVall, I'm all for it.

YOU AGAIN: Bardem, Firth, Bridges

But then there's the issue of undeserved honorees who choke out the worthy competition because of who they are and how freshly familiar they are among the comfort-over-quality voters. I don't think there's any way Melissa Leo's LOOK AT ME!! white-trash theatrics weren't going to get the attention they demanded, so I won't waste sentences describing my personal distaste for the performance (I know Nathaniel feels differently)and the belief that a Frozen River paved her road. But how about Jeff Bridges? Isn't his Rooster Cogburn, however amusing, a rather snoozy portrayal that would have been passed over if not for the newly-Oscared man behind the eye patch?

The Coens: Oscar's power coupleAnd what about those Coens? It's thrilling that their richly deserved No Country For Old Men win has given them carte blanche in Hollywood, but did they really need to be in the running yet again? They already snagged a preposterous, space-filling Best Picture nod last year with their most outre effort to date, and now they've unseated Christopher Nolan, which they themselves have acknowledged with innuendos. What's it going to take for them to alleviate all the Academy swooning? A black-and-white, foreign-language documentary about black transgendered prostitutes? (Get crackin', boys!)

Of course, this whole phenomenon isn't new (one need only look at the careers of guys like Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp for evidence of Oscar's afterglow tendencies), but it does seem to be an increasing norm, and not just because the nominees are pros in their primes. Per the pattern, we don't exactly need a crystal ball to envision which of this year's hopefuls may well be back in 2012. David Fincher has The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which already has the combination of proven craft and surefire box office to make it a contender. If Like Crazy can ride the same Sundance-to-Oscar wave as Winter's Bone, then co-star Jennifer Lawrence could find herself in the discussion again. And we're certainly all familiar with James Franco's output. Who's to say he won't be the next to shine in the afterglow light?

Fincher, Lawrence and Franco: Future afterglow beneficiaries?

Do you think Oscar afterglow is good? Bad? Both? Some of this year's nominees will surely be benefitting soon.