AVERAGE

WHAT WENT ON THE SCREEN WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT WENT ON BEHIND THE SCENES. 

The story of how a lauded theater man called Orson Welles got the chance to direct a movie, but his choice to make Citizen Kane damn near killed his career. Why? Because he decided to portray the powerful newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst in a not too flattering light.

James Cromwell does the sad, vindictive and anti-Semitic old man well, and Melanie Griffith is not bad as his starlet mistress. Sadly, Liev Schreiber does not dominate the screen as Welles, a larger-than-life icon to any film buff, and we need him to do that.

Certainly an irresistible idea for a movie, but the execution is far from fascinating.

1999-U.K.-U.S. 86 min. Color. Directed by Benjamin Ross. Teleplay: John Logan. Cast: Liev Schreiber (Orson Welles), James Cromwell (William Randolph Hearst), Melanie Griffith (Marion Davies), John Malkovich, David Suchet, Liam Cunningham, Brenda Blethyn, Roy Scheider. 

Trivia: Executive produced by Ridley and Tony Scott. Inspired by the 1996 documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane.

Golden Globe: Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.