Gary Oldman to star in David Fincher’s black and white Netflix film Mank

After years distracted by aborted television series, Netflix’s Mindhunter and whatever happened with that World War Z sequel, David Fincher is finally stepping back behind the camera for a new movie, with Gary Oldman set to star.

Mank, which has been set up at Netflix, will take place during the Golden Age of Hollywood and tell the story of Herman Mankiewicz, a journalist turned screenwriter who wrote the script for Citizen Kane and has been credited with transforming American cinema throughout the 1930s.

He also worked on films including The Wizard of Oz and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and famously feuded with filmmaker Orson Welles over writing credits on Citizen Kane. Oldman will play Mankiewicz.

The film has been a long-time passion project for Fincher, with the filmmaker attempting to bring the project to life after his completion of the Michael Douglas thriller The Game in 1997. But the project repeatedly stalled, apparently due to resistance from studios to allow the film to be black-and-white. Netflix, however, has permitted Fincher to run with his vision.

Fincher’s father, former Life Magazine editor Jack Fincher, wrote the film’s script. But he never got to see it put into production, having died in 2003. Mank will reportedly be released next year.