Actor Gary Oldman on his new film 'Mank' and the future of cinema post-Covid
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Usually at this time of year, the talk in the film world would be of Oscar and Bafta nominations.
Both ceremonies have been pushed back because of the Covid pandemic, and Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman, who has created early awards buzz with his new film Mank, says he doubts the ceremonies will be staged in their usual live format.Mank is the story of screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz and how he was enlisted to work with Orson Welles to create Citizen Kane, a film regularly voted one of the best ever made.
Oldman, who won an Oscar in 2018, can see the benefits in the new and old.
His film Mank is very much Old Hollywood, shot in black and white and set during the heyday of the Hollywood studio giants in the thirties and forties.
But it will come to our screens courtesy of Netflix, whose film output has been prolific during this past year.
The British actor says streamers like Netflix have kept a lot of people in the industry employed at a challenging time.
And, for filmmakers, the nature of the streaming model means the usual pressure over scoring a good opening weekend at the box office is not there. But he admits he’d like more people to have seen the film on the big screen, as he did last year when Mank was released for a short time in cinemas before Christmas.
Now cinemas in the UK are closed because of lockdown and leading filmmakers are urging the government to give the cinema operators more support - for the upkeep of their buildings for example - to ensure they can survive - until they can open again.Oldman says it would sadden him to see cinemas close for good; he says a new generation is coming through who are used to seeing films on small screens.
The makers of the next Bond film are banking on cinemas being open worldwide by April, the delayed date they have set for the release of No Time To Die.It will arrive too late for consideration for this year’s awards.
Unlike Mank. Whatever this years awards event will look like.