RKO 281

RKO 281 dramatizes the events leading up to Orson Welles's first feature film. In 1939, Welles leaves New York, where he has built a reputation in radio and theater, and moves to Hollywood under contract to RKO Pictures. Searching for a subject for his debut, he crosses paths with the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, whose life and influence become the model for the film's central character. Hearst retaliates, trying to stop the production from reaching audiences. Liev Schreiber plays Welles and James Cromwell plays Hearst, with Melanie Griffith as Marion Davies, John Malkovich as Herman Mankiewicz, Liam Cunningham as cinematographer Gregg Toland and David Suchet as studio chief Louis B. Mayer.

The film was directed by Benjamin Ross, his first feature as director, from a screenplay by John Logan, and produced by Su Armstrong. It is a television drama made for HBO, running 84 minutes, with a budget of 12 million dollars. It sits between Ross's debut and his later work on the thriller Thorne: Scaredycat, made in 2010.

Audience response is favourable: on IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from roughly 6,700 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.5 out of 10 from about 100 votes. The larger vote count on IMDb gives that figure more weight, though both indicate a generally positive reception.