When Orson Welles made Citizen Kane back in the early 1940s, it was considered one of the most controversial Hollywood movies ever made - though not because of violence, foul language, sex or nudity. Rather it was because the film's fictional central subject, Charles Foster Kane, was loosely though obviously not-so-lovingly based on the life of William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper magnate who also happened to be one of the most powerful and influential people in America. While there were many threats and attempts to shut Welles' movie down, the filmmaker powered through, and now Citizen Kane is considered one of the best, most important features ever made. If you want to get the nitty-gritty details of the whole affair, however, I direct your attention to the drunk, bearded fellow telling the story in the video you see above.
The folks behind the Comedy Central series Drunk History have dedicated an episode of their show to some star-studded classic stories from Hollywood's past, and one segment was dedicated to the retelling of how Orson Welles got the information he needed to start working on what would be his first feature film, and arguably his best. Helping to bring the story to life is none other than Jack Black, who plays the legendary filmmaker in the black-and-white re-creations of the storyteller's slurred speech.
The bad news is that this is not the entire segment from the show, and you can only watch it in full over on Comedy Central's website if you have a paid cable subscription. The good news is that there are some other clips from the "Hollywood" episode online as well, including "The Birth of Mickey Mouse," which stars Michael Angarano as Walt Disney and Tony Hale as animator Ub Iwerks.
For more from the "Making Citizen Kane" segment that even the television viewers didn't get to see, head over to the second page. We have deleted scenes! This first deleted scene actually picks up right after the main clip you watched before, though now the storyteller explains how William Randolf Hearst went about "garbagizing" Orson Welles' name:
In this second deleted scene called "Rosebud," the narrator explains what his favorite line from the movie is:
