David Fincher’s new Netflix movie includes a scene that took 200 takes and one week to film

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Fincher’s gonna Fincher

(Image credit: Getty Images)

David Fincher has, to put it mildly, a keen eye for movies. The Social Network director’s attention to detail – and the methods used on-set to achieve his desired outcome – are legendary. Still, you’ll feel tired just reading Amanda Seyfried describe her experience on Netflix’s Mank.

“Honestly, it is the hardest I’ve ever worked. But I am so thrilled with it,” Seyfried told Collider of the upcoming Netflix movie, due for release later this year.

“First of all, it came out of nowhere. Then I spoke with David Fincher … I had to download Zoom. Didn’t know what it was. And I spoke to him for like an hour and a half hour about it, the script. I was pretty sure I was going to do it, but I didn’t know, it was up to him. But I was just also like, how the fuck am I going to play [actress] Marion Davies? She had the accent. And how many takes?”

The accent training (and Zoom downloads) certainly paled in comparison to Seyfried’s other concerns. True to form, the takes and on-set work sounded hellish – even though Seyfried barely contributed to certain scenes.

“I was part of scenes with tons of people in it and we would do it for an entire week,” she recalled. “I can’t tell you how many takes we did, but I would guess 200, maybe I could be wrong and could be way off. I could be underestimating by five days of one scene when I didn’t have one line.”

Mank, which will explore the life of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and the controversy that surrounded his time working on Citizen Kane, may yet give David Fincher his third Best Director nominee in 2021 – if nothing else, his actors also deserve a medal just for working with him.

Bradley Russell
Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.