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The Social Network

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The Social Network
File:Social network film poster.jpg
Teaser poster
Directed byDavid Fincher
Screenplay byAaron Sorkin
Story byBen Mezrich (book)
Produced byScott Rudin
Kevin Spacey
Dana Brunetti
Michael De Luca
Ceán Chaffin
StarringJesse Eisenberg
Andrew Garfield
Justin Timberlake
Brenda Song
Rooney Mara
Armie Hammer
Max Minghella
CinematographyJeff Cronenweth
Edited byKirk Baxter
Angus Wall
Music byTrent Reznor
Atticus Ross
Production
companies
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • October 1, 2010 (2010-10-01)
Running time
121 minutes[1]
CountryTemplate:Film US
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUnder $40 million[2][3]

The Social Network is a 2010 drama film about the founding of the Internet social networking website Facebook. The film was directed by David Fincher and features an ensemble cast—Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song, Max Minghella, Rooney Mara, and Armie Hammer.

Aaron Sorkin adapted his screenplay from Ben Mezrich's nonfiction novel The Accidental Billionaires (2009). No Facebook staff or employees, including founder Mark Zuckerberg, were involved with the project, although Eduardo Saverin was a consultant for Mezrich's story.[3] The film is distributed by Columbia Pictures and was released on October 1, 2010, in the United States to critical acclaim.

Plot

The film opens with Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend, Erica Albright, having drinks at a Cambridge bar. During a rapid fire conversation about his desire to join an exclusive Final Club at Harvard University, Mark manages to unintentionally insult Erica several times by implying that she had slept with the doorman at the bar, that Boston University, which she attends, is a less academically rigorous school than Harvard, and that her future life would be less prestigious than his. Erica announces that she is breaking up with Mark saying that dating him is exhausting. She predicts that he will go on to great success but adds that he will be wrong when he thinks that women don't like him because he is a nerd, rather that they don't like him because he is personally unpleasant.

Mark hurries back to his dorm room where he begins drinking and posting unflattering comments about Erica on his Livejournal account. Based on an offhand comment by one of his roommates he gets the idea to create a web site which rates the attractiveness of female Harvard undergraduates. Since Harvard lacks a unified database of student names and pictures, Mark hacks into the databases of various residence halls and downloads the pictures. Using an algorithm supplied by his best friend Eduardo Saverin, Mark creates a page called "Face Mash" where people are asked to vote on which of two women are more physically attractive. The site quickly becomes highly popular among the male community at Harvard and scandalous among the female community, including attendees at a raunchy party at one of the Final Clubs. By four a.m. that night, the "Face Mash" site is getting thousands of hits an hour and ends up crashing the Harvard web servers.

Zuckerberg is brought before the Administrative Review Board of Harvard facing charges of violating personal privacy and disrupting campus security, as a result he is punished with six months of academic probation and becomes vilified among most of Harvard's female community. However, the popularity of "Face Mash" and the the fact that he created it in one night, while drunk, brings him to the attention of Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, identical twins and members of Harvard's rowing team, and Divya Narendra their business partner. The three explain to Zuckerberg that they are looking for a programmer to help bring to life their idea for a new web site ConnectU. They explain to Zuckerberg the premise of the site and insist that it will be an opportunity for him to redeem his good name following the "Face Mash" scandal, he agrees to help them with the site. Soon afterwards, Mark approaches Eduardo, who has recently been invited to pledge the Phoenix S-K Final Club. Mark has an idea for what he calls "The Facebook", an online social networking tool where people can put personal information, the site will be exclusive to those with a harvard.edu email account and social connections will be made through invitation only. He explains this as being the best aspects of "Face Mash" which he argues was successful because the women were people who site visitors knew, and removing the worst aspects of it: the invasion of privacy. Eduardo agrees to help Mark, giving a thousand dollars to help start the site.

Zuckerberg dodges the attentions of the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra while he spends weeks writing the programming for the original Facebook. As Zuckerberg repeatedly cancels meetings and refuses to respond to their attempts to contact him, the three investors become more concerned about what he is doing. Zuckerberg and Saverin eventually launch Facebook, by distributing the link to Saverin's connections at the Phoenix. The site quickly disseminates throughout the student body and becomes very popular. Divya Narendra learns about The Facebook and informs the Winklevoss twins that he thinks Zuckerberg stole their idea. This impression is strengthened when they read an interview Zuckerberg gives to the campus newspaper, the Harvard Crimson where he states that part of his motivation for making the new site is to atone for his wrongdoing in the "Face Mash" incident. This is precisely how the Winklevoss twins had presented their business opportunity to him and they take the statement as a deliberate attempt to rub their noses in Mark's theft of their idea. Cameron and Divya argue for suing Zuckerberg for intellectual property theft, but Tyler insists that they are "gentlemen of Harvard" and that they instead begin by sending a "cease and desist" letter.

At a lecture by Bill Gates, Eduardo and Mark meet the attractive young Harvard University female student, Christy Lee and her best friend Alice, who are impressed to meet the creators of Facebook and ask to have drinks with them. The four of them go out for drinks later that night. While the women straighten up, Mark and Eduardo marvel that they now have "groupies". Christy and Eduardo decide to meet in the bar's public toilet to have sex, Christy's friend Alice and Mark also decide to do the same thing. Mark later spots Erica and tells her he wants to speak with her in private, she refuses and berates Mark for posting unflattering and sexist comments about her on the internet. Christy, Mark and Eduardo then return to Mark's room where they outline the structure of the company and their plan for moving forward. As Facebook grows in popularity they expand to other schools, first in the Boston area and the Ivy League and beyond. Eduardo suggests that they also expand Facebook, which has so far been confined mostly the Northeast, to include Stanford University in Palo Alto California in order to attract the attention of Silicon Valley venture capitalists. At the same time, Eduardo pushes Mark to begin to "monetize" the site by putting advertising on it, something which Mark resists since he feels that ads will spoil the social cachet of Facebook.

As Facebook continues to grow in popularity, the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra become more angry at seeing what they believe is their idea advance without them. However, Tyler still refuses to go along with the idea of a lawsuit. Instead he comes up with the idea of going to the President of Harvard and accusing Zuckerberg of violating the Harvard student code of conduct. Through their father's connections they arrange a meeting with then Harvard President Larry Summers. However, Summers is dismissive of them and is unable to see the potential value in Facebook.

Through Christy Lee, who is now Eduardo's girlfriend, Eduardo and Mark arrange a meeting with Napster founder Sean Parker. Eduardo is skeptical of Parker, noting the man's problematic personal history and his troubled history with the companies he has been involved in. Mark, however, is charmed, as Parker presents a vision of Facebook which largely agrees with Mark's own expansive vision. Parker also suggests dropping the article "the" from the site's title.

While Eduardo stays in New York to try and drum up advertising support, Mark and Dustin Moskovitz, on the suggestion of Sean Parker, move the company's base of operation to Palo Alto. Using money provided by Eduardo, they rent a house which, unknown to them, is right across the street from one rented by a girlfriend of Sean Parker's. While out celebrating, Parker encourages Mark to dream big and Mark eventually invites Parker to move into the house with them. When Eduardo visits from New York, he is dismayed to discover that Sean Parker is living at the house and is making business decisions for Facebook. After a falling out with Mark, Eduardo freezes the bank account which he had set up for the company and returns to New York. Upon returning to New York, he gets into an argument with Christy, who Eduardo claims is 'insanely jealous' of his success and fears that he cheats on her. Christy refuses to believe that he does not know how to update his Facebook profile, which still lists him as "single", Christy and Eduardo break up as a result. Further on, Christy sets fire to his room by burning a gift Eduardo gave her due to jealousy. As Eduardo extinguishes the fire Christy causes, he receives a call from Mark castigating him for freezing the company's funds, thereby jeopardizing the whole company. Mark also informs him that they have secured money from an angel investor named Peter Thiel and that Eduardo will have to fly out to California to sign papers.

While rowing in a competition in England, the Winklevoss twins learn Facebook has now expanded to universities in the United Kingdom. Further outraged, they decide to sue Zuckerberg. Traveling to the new headquarters of Facebook, Eduardo signs papers outlining the new corporate structure of Facebook, including reduced shares for him and Mark and single digit share percentages for Sean Parker, Dustin Moskovitz, and Peter Thiel. Some time later, as Facebook is about to reach its one millionth subscriber, Eduardo learns that Mark and Sean have cheated him. A new stock issue is made and Eduardo's share of the company drops from around a third to less than 1%. Furious, Eduardo becomes determined to sue Mark after physical confrontations with both of them.

At a party to celebrate the one millionth subscriber milestone, Sean Parker and several Facebook interns get ready to snort cocaine, and presumably have sex. However, the police arrive at the raucous party after responding to a noise complaint. As the party is broken up the police discover the cocaine and arrest Parker and the interns, news which does not please Mark. Mark then goes in a conference room at his lawyer's office where he has been present for depositions in the two lawsuits which Eduardo and the Winklevoss twins have brought against him. A junior lawyer for the firm informs him that they will be settling with Saverin, since the more sordid details of Facebook's founding will make Mark unsympathetic to a jury trial. She then informs Mark that thinks he is a nice guy but that his actions often end up alienating others. When she leaves, Mark makes a friend request on Erica's Facebook page. He sits there, refreshing the page every so often, waiting for her to respond.

Cast

Production

Casting

Casting began in early August 2009, and open auditions were held in various states. Jesse Eisenberg was first announced to be attached to the project in September 2009.[6] (Coincidentally, in an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer, Zuckerberg revealed that Eisenberg's cousin, Eric, was a Facebook product designer.) Several days later, Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield were confirmed to portray the roles of Sean Parker and Eduardo Saverin. In October 2009, Brenda Song, Rooney Mara, Armie Hammer, Shelby Young, and Josh Pence were cast. [7] Max Minghella and Dakota Johnson were also confirmed to star in the film.[7] In a 2009 interview with The Baltimore Sun, Eisenberg said, "Even though I've gotten to be in some wonderful movies, this character seems so much more overtly insensitive in so many ways that seem more real to me in the best way. I don't often get cast as insensitive people, so it feels very comfortable: fresh and exciting, as if you never have to worry about the audience. Not that I worry about the audience anyway - it should be just the furthest thing from your mind. The Social Network is the biggest relief I've ever had in a movie."[8]

Filming

Filming for The Social Network began in October 2009 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[9] Scenes were filmed around the campuses of two Massachusetts prep schools, Phillips Academy and Milton Academy.[10] Additional scenes were filmed on the campus of Wheelock College, which was set up to be Harvard's campus.[11] (Harvard has turned down most requests for on-location filming ever since the filming of Love Story (1970), which caused significant physical damage to the campus.[12]) Filming took place on the Keyser and Wyman quadrangles in the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University from November 2–4,[13] which also doubled for Harvard in the film.[14] From November 16–22, scenes were filmed at California State University, Dominguez Hills.[citation needed]. The first scene in the film, where Zuckerberg is with his girlfriend, took 99 takes to finish.[3] The film was shot on the Red One camera at 4K resolution.[15] The rowing scenes with the Winklevoss brothers were filmed at Community Rowing Inc. in Newton, MA.[16]

Soundtrack

Main article: The Social Network (soundtrack)

On June 1, 2010, it was announced that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross would score the film.[17] The soundtrack was released September 28 in various formats under the Null Corporation label.[18] Leading up to the release of the soundtrack, a free 5-track EP was made available for download.[19]

Marketing

The first theatrical poster was released on June 18, 2010.[20] The film's first teaser trailer was released on June 25, 2010.[21] The second teaser was released on July 8.[22] The full length theatrical trailer debuted on July 15, 2010, which plays an edited version of the song "Creep", originally by Radiohead, covered by the Belgian choir group Scala & Kolacny Brothers.[23] The trailer was then shown in theaters, prior to the films Inception, Dinner for Schmucks, Salt, Easy A and The Other Guys.[24]

Response

The film's script was leaked on the Internet in July 2009.[25][26] In November 2009, executive producer Kevin Spacey said, "The Social Network is probably going to be a lot funnier than people might expect it to be."[27] The Cardinal Courier stated that the film was about "greed, obsession, unpredictability and sex" and asked "although there are over 500 million Facebook users, does this mean Facebook can become a profitable blockbuster movie?".[28] At the D8 conference hosted by D: All Things Digital on June 2, 2010, host Kara Swisher told Zuckerberg she knew he was not happy with The Social Network being based on him, to which he replied, "I just wished that nobody made a movie of me while I was still alive."[29] He stated to Oprah Winfrey that the drama and partying of the film is mostly fiction. He also pointed out that he has worked much harder than in the on-screen depiction.

Facebook programmer Dustin Moskovitz called the film a "dramatization of history ... it is interesting to see my past rewritten in a way that emphasizes things that didn't matter," he said. According to Moskovitz, "A lot of exciting things happened in 2004, but mostly we just worked a lot and stressed out about things; the version in the trailer seems a lot more exciting, so I'm just going to choose to remember that we drank ourselves silly and had a lot of sex with coeds.... The plot of the book/script unabashedly attacked [Zuckerberg], but I actually felt like a lot of his positive qualities come out truthfully in the trailer (soundtrack aside). At the end of the day, they cannot help but portray him as the driven, forward-thinking genius that he is."[30]

Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons and a Professor at Harvard Law School, critiqued the message of The Social Network, while praising its value as a film. Walking into the theater, he hoped that a storyteller with the reputation of Sorkin would portray the idea of network neutrality, the conditions which allowed Zuckerberg to prosper, as the main point of the film. He writes: "His [Sorkin's] film doesn’t show it. What it shows is worth watching. But what it doesn’t show is an understanding of the most important social and economic platform for innovation in our history." [31]

Reception

The Social Network has been met with critical acclaim. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 97% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 162 reviews, with an average score of 9.2/10 and a critical consensus of: "Impeccably scripted, beautifully directed, and filled with fine performances, The Social Network is a riveting, ambitious example of modern filmmaking at its finest."[32] The film also holds a score of 97 based on 40 reviews on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim".[33] Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, giving it four stars wrote: "David Fincher's film has the rare quality of being not only as smart as its brilliant hero, but in the same way. It is cocksure, impatient, cold, exciting and instinctively perceptive." [34] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, gave the film his first full four star rating of the year and said: "The Social Network is the movie of the year. But Fincher and Sorkin triumph by taking it further. Lacing their scathing wit with an aching sadness, they define the dark irony of the past decade." [35] The Harvard Crimson newspaper review called it "flawless" and gave it five stars.[36]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Social Network". BBFC. September 21, 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
  2. ^ Lovece, Frank. "Friends or Faux?: Truth and fiction collide in 'The Social Network,' about the creation of Facebook", Newsday, September 26, 2010, p. C8. Online version (requires subscription). "[Director David Fincher's] concerns were more simply logistical after getting the script and agreeing to do the movie — which, [producer [Scott] Rudin says, discrediting Internet rumors, cost 'substantially under $40 million' to make."
  3. ^ a b c Harris, Mark, "Inventing Facebook", New York, September 17, 2010.
  4. ^ Tomio, Jay (December 9, 2009)."Rashida Jones in Fincher's The Social Network". BSCreview. Retrieved on February 5, 2010.
  5. ^ Nemiroff, Perri (July 8, 2010)."The Social Network's Second Teaser Trailer Makes Its Point Via Status Updates". Shockya. Retrieved on July 9, 2010.
  6. ^ "Facebook Cast Confirmed". September 23, 2009. The Playlist. Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
  7. ^ a b "0/20/2009 Max Minghella, Rooney Mara, Dakota Johnson & More Join David Fincher's 'Social Network'". October 20, 2009. The Playlist. Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
  8. ^ "Jesse Eisenberg takes on a darker role as one of the founders of Facebook". November 13, 2009. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
  9. ^ Fischer, Russ (October 20, 2009). "Casting Notes: Selena Gomez in Teen Rom Com; The Social Network Gets New Kids; The Whistleblower Gets Proven Talent". /Film. Retrieved on October 20, 2009.
  10. ^ "Facebook Movie Shoots on Campus". 2009. Phillips Academy. Retrieved on November 3, 2009.
  11. ^ "Major motion picture filmed at Wheelock". October 19, 2009. Wheelock College. Retrieved on March 20, 2010.
  12. ^ Nathaniel L. Schwartz, "University, Hollywood Relationship Not Always a 'Love Story'", Harvard Crimson, 21 September 1999.
  13. ^ O'Neill, Nick (November 2, 2009)."Pictures Of Today's Filming Of "The Social Network" At Johns Hopkins". Allfacebook.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
  14. ^ "Hollywood crew arrives at Homewood for Facebook movie: Color us crimson". November 3, 2009. The JHU Gazette. Retrieved on November 3, 2009.
  15. ^ O'Neill, Justin (2009-10-15). ""The Social Network" Shot on RED – Royal Galactic Cinema". Camerarentalz.com. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  16. ^ McCarthy, Caroline (June 2, 2010). "Gossip: 'Social Network' filming will row across the pond". CNET. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  17. ^ Siegler, MG (July 2, 2010). "Trent Reznor To Score Facebook Movie. "It's Really F* cking Good. And Dark!"". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
  18. ^ "The Social Network Soundtrack". The Null Corporation. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
  19. ^ Previous post Next post. "Download Trent Reznor's Social Network Sampler for Free | Underwire". Wired.com. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  20. ^ Raup, Jordan (June 18, 2010). "David Fincher's The Social Network Poster". The Film Stage. Retrieved June 18, 2010. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  21. ^ Warren, Christina (June 25, 2010). "EXCLUSIVE: First Teaser For "The Social Network" [VIDEO]". Mashable. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
  22. ^ Weintraub, Steve (July 8, 2010). "2nd Teaser Trailer for THE SOCIAL NETWORK". Collider. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  23. ^ Roberts, Soraya (2010-07-16). "'Social Network' trailer premieres and represents Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, as a 'creep'". New York Daily News. New York. Retrieved 2010-08-21. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  24. ^ [1][dead link‍]
  25. ^ McCarthy, Caroline (2009-07-08). "Facebook movie screenplay reportedly doesn't suck | The Social - CNET News". News.cnet.com. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  26. ^ Harlow, John (2010-05-16). "Movie depicts seamy life of Facebook boss". Timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  27. ^ Ditzian, Eric (October 11, 2009)." Kevin Spacey Says 'The Social Network' Will Be 'A Lot Funnier' Than You Think". MTV. Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
  28. ^ Stokes, Jessica. "Facebook the movie?". The Cardinal Courier. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
  29. ^ Fried, Ina (June 2, 2010). "Zuckerberg in the hot seat at D8". CNET. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
  30. ^ Moskovitz, Dustin (July 16, 2010). "What does Dustin Moskovitz think of the Facebook movie?". Quora. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  31. ^ "Sorkin vs. Zuckerberg". The New Republic. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  32. ^ "The Social Network Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
  33. ^ "The Social Network Movie Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
  34. ^ "Reviews, The Social Network". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
  35. ^ "The Social Network, Rolling Stone Movies, News and Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
  36. ^ Leskowitz, Ali R., "Ambition and Obsession Drive Fincher's Flawless 'Social Network', The Harvard Crimson, Thursday, September 30, 2010

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