RKO 281

"[to George] Everything I am, everything I could be is in that picture!"

"Who are these men you're afraid of? Who are these tiny fucking men? They're accountants."

"[Addressing the RKO shareholders] Good afternoon. Today, a man from Germany invaded Greece. He's already swallowed Poland, Denmark, Norway and Belgium. He's bombing London as I speak. Everywhere this man goes, he crushes the life and the freedom of his subjects. He sews yellow stars on their lapels, he takes their voices. In this country, we still have our voices. We can argue with them, and we can sing, and we can be heard because we are, for the moment, free. No one can tell us what to say or how to say it, can they? Gentlemen, I am one voice; that is all. My picture is one voice, one view, one opinion, nothing more. Men are dying in Europe now, and Americans soon will be so that we can surmount the tyrants and the dictators. Will you send a message across America that one man can take away our voices? So, who is Mr. Hearst, and who is Mr. Welles? Well, Mr. Hearst built a palace of brick and mortar, and little wars and corpses piled high. Mr. Welles built a palace of illusion. It's a, what we call a matte painting, it's a camera trick, it's nothing. Nothing but a dream. Today, you have the chance to let the dream triumph. Thank you."

"Every man loves, Orson. Or has loved."

"There is nothing to understand. Only this: I am a man who could have been great, but was not."

"Welles's Mother: Orson, come into the light. Never stand in the shadows -- you were made for the light. Always remember that."

"What went on the screen was nothing compared to what went on behind the scenes."

"The true, behind-the-scenes story of the making of the greatest movie of all time, Citizen Kane."

"Orson Welles used all his genius to create "Citizen Kane". William Randolph Hearst used all his power to try and destroy it."

"Liev Schreiber - Orson Welles"

"John Malkovich - Herman J. Mankiewicz"

"Roy Scheider - George Schaefer"

"James Cromwell - William Randolph Hearst"

"Melanie Griffith - Marion Davies"

"Liam Cunningham - Gregg Toland"

"David Suchet - Louis B. Mayer"

"Brenda Blethyn - Louella Parsons"

"Fiona Shaw - Hedda Hopper"

"Lucy Cohu - Dolores del Río"