Amanda Seyfried found it 'hard' filming Citizen Kane writer biopic Mank

Amanda Seyfried found it "hard" filming so many takes in 'Mank'.

The 34-year-old actress stars as Marion Davies in David Fincher's biographical movie about 'Citizen Kane' scribe Herman J. Mankiewicz and was challenged by the rigorous demands of the filmmaker.

Amanda said: "It was definitely hard. But at the same time, it's like theatre in that you have the luxury of really nailing the tone and the emotion. It does feel like 'Groundhog Day', in a way, but that's how he captures things that most people don't."

Her co-star Charles Dance explained how Gary Oldman – who plays the lead role in the flick – snapped after being asked to do more than 100 takes on a dinner party scene.

He told Total Film magazine: "We did take after take after take after take. And (Oldman) said to David at one point, 'David, I've done this scene a hundred f****** times.' And Fincher said, 'Yeah, I know, but this is 101. Reset!'"

David confessed that he takes a "didactic" approach to shooting scenes and demands that performers give their best.

The Oscar-winning director said: "I'm fairly didactic about, 'These are the things that the scene needs to accomplish for me, and we will continue to play, to look for ways to underline these ideas that are as subtle as we can make them.'

"I don't think I could go into the edit room knowing that I was going to have to cut around somebody who didn't deliver. Part of it is you cast really great people and get the f*** out of the way."