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RKO 281

  • Watchlist
  • 1999
  • 1 hr 26 mins
  • Documentary, Drama
  • R
  • Watchlist

Coming to Hollywood as a celebrated boy genius featuring a spectacular career arc in New York including his radio hoax War of the Worlds, Orson Welles is stymied on the subject for his first film. After a dinner party at Hearst Castle, during which he has a verbal altercation with William Randolph Hearst, Welles decides to do a movie about Hearst. It takes him some time to convince co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz and the studio, but Welles eventually gets the script and the green light, keeping the subject very hush-hush with the press. The movie is about an aging newspaper publisher who controlled his enemies as ruthlessly as he controlled his friends; and whose mistress was destined for fame. When a rough cut is screened, Hearst gets wind of the movie's theme and begins a campaign to see that it is not only never publicly screened, but destroyed.

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Cast & Crew See All

Liev Schreiber
Orson Welles
James Cromwell
William Randolph Hearst
Melanie Griffith
Marion Davies

Featured Video

Rko 281
Rko 281
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Trailers & Videos See All

Rko 281
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Awards

  • 2000 - Golden Globe - Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - winner
  • 2000 - Golden Globe - Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - nominated
  • 2000 - Golden Globe - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - nominated
  • 2000 - Artios Award - Best Casting for TV Movie of the Week - winner

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