How we communicate is constantly in flux. It used to be primarily via face-to-face interaction. Nowadays, it is largely via computer. In David Fincher’s riveting new movie The Social Network, based on the book “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich, communication is exploited and exposed in many forms. One of those uses is the heavy, atmospheric score by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, which signals the dark mood that Fincher employs for the story of how the communication mega-site facebook was founded and the power struggle behind the scenes of who came up with the original idea for the 500 million member social phenomenon.

Computer nerd Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg, Zombieland) and businessman Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield, Never Let Me Go) are Harvard students and best friends.  When the concept of social media is introduced to him, Mark creates a program that crashes the Harvard computer system, and the power of how quickly information sharing can spread becomes amplified. Eduardo provides the financial means for Mark to realize his idea and turn it into an opportunity to meet chicks – and much more.

Humbly-beginning, facebook became the entity it is through college students sharing information.  From the dorms of Harvard to law offices in California, from exclusivity to being inclusive of all, facebook’s wide reach touched millions and became worth billions. The non-shocking irony is that the website that connects people worldwide was developed by Zuckerberg, someone who had next to zero connections himself.  He clearly wanted a more social life, and with facebook, succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Fincher’s film details how the site came to be and how it ripped apart the relationships of those involved in its formation.

The Social Network cast isn't staring at internet porn.

Strong performances abound, particularly among the potentially award-worthy leads Garfield and Eisenberg, but also extending to supporting players like Justin Timberlake’s swindler Sean Parker and Armie Hammer’s Winklevoss brothers (yes, he convincingly plays both twins with a bit of Fincher movie magic). Be prepared for Hammer to become a more well-known actor; ditto for Garfield (okay, that was a layup since he is the new Spider-Man).  Even Rooney Mara who plays Mark’s girlfriend Erica is set to blow up soon with the lead role in Fincher’s next film The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Fincher continues to further his oeuvre, transforming himself from a more creative, avant-garde and visual filmmaker into a mainstream, award-worthy, polished storyteller in recent films. Fincher takes what might not be typically exciting subject matter and makes it compelling, telling the story in a series of intercuts between past and present, keeping us engaged throughout.

Aaron Sorkin’s script, which is already being largely buzzed about for an Oscar run and seems the odds on favorite for the award at this juncture, is also noteworthy.  His dialogue crackles, convincingly translating Mezrich’s work into a sharp screenplay for Fincher’s cast and crew to bring to life.  Despite the occasional one-dimensional character and an unnecessary scene here or there, The Social Network is a film worthy of making into a social event. Where there is a money trail, there is often tragedy, and this story is no different. Go see the film, even if you are like me and not on facebook.  Deep down inside, just like Mark, it only wants you to “like” it.

Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor is ready to score David Fincher‘s upcoming thriller The Social Network.  This news comes directly from Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails website.  In addition to scoring the facebook movie, Reznor and NIN’s Atticus will be paring down a number of songs that they have written for the film and plan to have an album or two’s worth of music for the film, which is set to open on October 1st.  Says Reznor about his work on the film:

I couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out. The level of excellence that David operates on is inspiring and the entire process has been challenging and truly enjoyable.

Additionally, he offered his brief opinion on the film without any hint of spoiler:

Speaking of the film… it’s really fucking good. And dark!

I’ve never been a huge fan of NIN’s music, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect their work.  I do have one of their albums, and their dark, often haunting music would certainly lend an extra air of credibility to the concept that The Social Network will not be a mere fluffy biopic of sorts.  (Which I am sure you expected from Fincher, director of Fight Club anyway.)  Still, with the surprisingly light on its feet The Curious Case of Benjamin Button being David’s last film we’ve seen, one had to wonder if he would at least go down the darker path again.

I think the news only enhances what at one point in time sounded like a kind of boring project.  But with Fincher’s involvement the ante was upped significantly for me and now this little additional piece of information helps out as well.  Not enough to get me on facebook, but still.  Maybe Fincher can add to his own list of best movies ever made.  What do you think?  Any NIN fans happy about this?

What was rumored only a few weeks ago has become official. Variety is officially reporting that Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland), Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield will star in David Fincher’s The Social Network, the story behind the founding fathers of Facebook.

Eisenberg will play Mark Zuckerberg while Justin Timberlake will play Sean Parker (Napster co-founder and Facebook founding president) while Garfield will portray Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder who had a major falling out with Zuckerberg once the site made it big.

I have heard from various reports that the script for The Social Network, written by Aaron Sorkin (Charlie Wilson’s War, “The West Wing”), is a dark and black-hearted meditation on greed and corruption along the lines of John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Along with the great David Fincher (directing) and Aaron Sorkin (screenplay), the very busy Scott Rudin and Kevin Spacey are among a plethora of co-producers under the Columbia banner.

With the talent involved and the early script reports, The Social Network should be a movie worth looking out for next year, as production is slated to begin in the coming months.

Jessica Biel has little, if anything, to do with this post.  Yes she dates Justin and that is about as far as it goes.  I merely put the photo there to see if I could get a virus on my computer.  That aside, the post’s title kind of says it all doesn’t it?  Brilliant on my part or not enough of a tease to read on?  Hmmm…nevertheless, Scriptshadow is claiming that Jesse Eisenberg (the upcoming Zombieland) and Justin Timberlake (the past of Cam Diaz) are rumored to be the leading men for David Fincher’s next big movie The Social Network, based on the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg.  Anybody have a guess as to who would play whom here?  Well, if you guessed Justin would play Napster creator Shawn Fanning and Jesse would play Zuckerberg, as Ed McMahon used to say, “Yes, you are correct sir.”  These are still unsubstantiated rumors at this point though, so I caution any super strong reaction positive or negative one way or the other.

There certainly is irony in “The Lake” possibly playing Fanning, considering his music was probably illegally downloaded once or twice through the brilliant Napster service.  Would he bring a venom to the role to make Shawn look like a worse guy than he is?  And while Eisenberg and Zuckerberg both have a similar look and it might make sense for “geek to play geek” for lack of a better term, does Jesse have enough chutzpah to pull this off?  Would a great director like Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) entrust such a large project to an unproven guy?  Hard to know for sure.  We talked about the film before and the film was officially greenlit last week, but beyond that these roles are still up in the air.  You like these choices or do you have a better alternative?  Hit us with ‘em.

Yes, The Social Network is that pesky Facebook film you keep hearing about. The same one that David Fincher is apparently directing. The same one that Kevin Spacey is apparently producing. Finally, the same one Aaron Sorkin has already written. In fact, according to the interview attached below, Sorkin said “Yes” to this film faster than anything else in his life. All it took was three pages into a 14-page book treatment and he was hooked. If you’re wondering what it was that hooked him so quickly, be prepared to keep wondering. Sorkin doesn’t even know the answer to that question.

So, exactly what we can expect from such a story remains to be seen, but there has to be something that would attract top-name talent. We just need to wait longer to find out what that is. At the moment, the film is in pre-production and slated for a 2010 release.

You can tell Sorkin doesn’t spend too much time in front of the camera as he spouts enough “ums” to make Alexander Ovechkin seem proficient in English, but it’s all good. Enjoy the interview.

The long discussed and much ballyhooed (I think I have used that word twice in the span of a week, scary) Facebook Movie apparently has a completed script, and word on the street is that it is very good.  Essentially 4 nests out of 5 good.  This movie has been getting a lot of hype as it was in the news recently that David Fincher was in discussions to direct the film, which spoke volumes as to the expectations of the movie and the profile for this site was raised exponentially as a result.  The first draft, which was written by Aaron Sorkin, is done.  First off, it has a current title now of The Social Network.  Not surprisingly, the film will focus on a Mark Zuckerberg-like character (since he created facebook, and it will follow how it came to be.  ScriptShadow gives us a look at the script in its current form.  They tell us a number of things including the following:

…this is a story about two friends – one a computer genius, the other a business expert – who began a website that became the fastest growing phenomenon in internet history. Three years later, one was suing the other for 600 million dollars (or 1/30th of Mark Zuckerberg’s worth). It’s a story about greed, about obsession, about our belief that all the money in the world can make us happy. But it’s also unpredictable, funny, touching, and sad. It gives us that rare glimpse into the improbable world of mega-success.

That in and of itself is enough to give us a better idea of how Fincher may come into play.  Since we really didn’t know where the focus for the film might lie, i.e., a dude banging away at the computer crunching code (though there is sure to be some shots of that).  Apparently there are hints of a love story in the draft as well, or at least a breakup that would be the impetus to creating the network.  So, a number of things to ponder here.  What do you think of what you hear so far?  Drop it on us.