Citizen Kane was a film released in 1941 produced by Mercury Productions and distributed by RKO radio pictures with a supposed budget of $500,000 but was likely more as it is now believed to range between $600,000-$900,000 due to set costs and budget setbacks. This wouldn’t of been a problem for RKO if WW2 wasn’t going on at the time and their were economic cuts what hurt funding films. However this small budget likely only affected how fast the film was to complete and the colour of the film. The fact it was black and white helped the movie with its realism but plays into the fact Orson Welles wanted to create his own style and that’s why its believed this film created or brought to the forefront the noir genre. The contract Welles received from RKO president George Schaefer was very incredible deal for the time as he was given creative freedom from while also allowed him to produce, direct and perform of two of his own films. Hollywood Studios did not like the contract with it being consistently mocked in the trade press.
During production Wells only wanted to use Mecury actors as they were new to film and became upset when Gino Carrado was cast in it. However the film were feature film debuts of William Alland, Ray Collins, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Erskine Sanford, Everett Sloane, Paul Stewart, and Welles himself, this launched several of their acting careers. Welles used the cinematographer Gregg Toland who he saw as the best in the world. Toland also wanted to work with Welles as he liked the idea of working with a new director with the unusual role of creative freedom, he saw it as a chance of creating new styles in film.
On June 29th 1940 Citizen Kane started filming and finished on October 24th. Locations used for filming took majority on Stage 19 Paramount Studios and the locations of Balboa Park and San Diego Zoo.
Throughout the films production and first year of release was controversy such as the authorship of the script as Herman. J Mankiewicz wanted credit. This was resolved though as Welles shared credit for the screenplay. Basing Charles Kane on William Hearst brought the most controversy as it enraged him into banning any mention of the movie in his papers and threatened cinema’s to not show it. This is likely the main reason the film failed at the box office. There were other controversies during the production such as Welles being sued by a critic however they are not as notable as the above.