The World Is Yours

Mischief, mayhem and misanthropy in David Fincher’s The Social Network

David Liu | 29 September 2010

“For to what purpose,” Adam Smith once wrote in his Theory of Moral Sentiments, “is all the toil and bustle of this world? What is the end of avarice and ambition, of the pursuit of wealth, of power, and pre-eminence?” Had Smith, the patriarch of all our modern innovation-driven societies, lived to witness the conception of a billion-dollar virtual enterprise like Facebook, he likely would have raised similar inquiries.

We have arrived at the Age of Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old self-made entrepreneur who holds Internet communication in the palm of his hand, and The Social Network is both his story and very much our own. Building on the wisdoms and ironies of ages past, director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin have crafted a compelling hybrid of grand entertainment and incisive social commentary, the rare American studio picture that edifies and enlightens.

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The Social Network: Post-Screening Notes

David Liu | 20 September 2010

David Fincher’s latest film screened at the United Artists Berkeley 7 in downtown Berkeley this afternoon. Present at the post-screening Q&A were actors Jesse Eisenberg, Armie Hammer and Andrew Garfield, along with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.

1. Sorkin, on how he became involved with the project: “I’d heard of [Facebook] in the same way I’d heard of a carburetor. I became interested in the story for its classical themes: power, jealousy, ambition, betrayal - things that Aeschylus, Shakespeare or Paddy Chayefsky would have written about.”

2. Garfield, on the extent of his acquaintance with Eduardo Saverin: “I requested his friendship on Facebook. He rejected me, so I played his character badly to get my revenge.”

3. Sorkin, on the film’s original score: “Trent [Reznor] and Atticus [Ross] created hours and hours of music. David [Fincher] showed me the score and tried to explain to me what he wanted out of it and what it would sound like for each individual scene, and at that point I was completely willing to follow him blindly.”

4. Eisenberg, on Justin Timberlake’s presence on set: “His iconic status helped me with my performance, since my character was already supposed to view him as a rock star,” in reference to Mark Zuckerberg’s admiration for bad-boy entrepreneur Sean Parker.

5. Sorkin, on the framing of the film: “It was a very research-intensive project. The film is three different versions of a true story…I preferred to embrace a Rashomon approach and use the concept of unreliable narrators [to let] the audience know that there’s no real truth.”