From the very get-go (i.e., from the time I saw the very first trailer) my basic Mank feeling was that however accomplished the film might be as a whole, 63 year-old Gary Oldman is too old and too fat to be playing a guy in his mid 40s who was not Oliver Hardy-sized. And I hated the floppy haircut with the nine-inch locks.

Herewith a director speaking to Indiewire‘s Anne Thompson about Oscar preferences:

“Oldman was too old to be in Mank. If he was playing this 20 years ago, great. But there’s something a bit weird, when watching the scene with Tuppence Middleton putting him to bed drunk and pulling off his pants — that’s his wife? She’s [34], Oldman is [63]…is she supposed to be a young wife? It turns out she was the same age as Mank. Why not cast an older actress to play Oldman’s wife?

“Things like that distract from the craft and great performances in that movie. It would have been better with someone else playing that part. He’s an incredible actor, but there’s nothing in the movie to explain why he’s 20 years older.”