CinemaBlend I imagine that many of those who had anticipated the December 4th premiere of Mank were especially excited to see the long-awaited return of David Fincher to feature-length filmmaking. I would also hope that most of the filmâs biggest champions had seen Citizen Kane or at least had some knowledge of its place in cinematic history. I would not be surprised, however, if the title role of Herman Mankiewicz, portrayed by Gary Oldman, is someone many had never heard of before. In fact, I would understand if most featured characters in the Netflix original biopic were strangers to anyone without a distinct familiarity for Hollywoodâs Golden Age.