The Social Network (2010)

Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking website that would become known as Facebook, but is later sued by two brothers who claimed he stole their idea, and the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.

Director:

David Fincher

Writers:

Aaron Sorkin (screenplay), Ben Mezrich (book)

Stars:

Jesse Eisenberg, Rooney Mara, Andrew Garfield

Won 3 Oscars. Another 102 wins & 86 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jesse Eisenberg	...	Mark Zuckerberg
Rooney Mara	...	Erica Albright
Bryan Barter	...	Billy Olsen
Dustin Fitzsimons	...	Phoenix Club President
Joseph Mazzello	...	Dustin Moskovitz
Patrick Mapel	...	Chris Hughes
Andrew Garfield	...	Eduardo Saverin
Toby Meuli	...	Phoenix Member Playing Facemash
Alecia Svensen	...	Girl at Phoenix Club
Jami Owen	...	Student Playing Facemash
James Dastoli	...	Student Playing Facemash
Robert Dastoli	...	Student Playing Facemash
Scotty Crowe	...	Student Playing Facemash
Jayk Gallagher	...	Student Playing Facemash
Marcella Lentz-Pope	...	Erica's Roommate

Storyline

On a fall night in 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and heatedly begins working on a new idea. In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his dorm room soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication. A mere six years and 500 million friends later, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history... but for this entrepreneur, success leads to both personal and legal complications.

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Plot Keywords:

facebook | harvard | website | twin | computer | 

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Taglines:

You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug and alcohol use and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

1 October 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Red social

Filming Locations:

Andover, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,486,454 (UK) (15 October 2010)

Gross:

$96,917,897 (USA) (25 February 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Scott Rudin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Andrew Garfield was originally asked to audition for Mark Zuckerberg but David Fincher decided he was too good at wearing his heart on his sleeve to play such an emotionally guarded character. Garfield found it helpful to go from reading for Mark to reading for Eduardo, because he felt that Eduardo tried to understand Mark through Mark's point of view.

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Goofs

When the Winkelvi go up to Mark Zuckerberg for the first time after he walks out of class. You can see that Josh Pence's face is not replaced for that brief moment, after he is nudged by Armie, revealing that two separate people played the part.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mark Zuckerberg: Did you know there are more people with genius IQs living in China than there are people of any kind living in the United States?
Erica Albright: That can't possibly be true.
Mark Zuckerberg: It is.
Erica Albright: What would account for that?
Mark Zuckerberg: Well first, an awful lot of people live in China. But, here's my question: how do you distinguish yourself in a population of people who all got 1600 on their SATs?
Erica Albright: I didn't know they take SATs in China.
Mark Zuckerberg: They don't. I wasn't talking about China anymore, I was talking about me.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.101 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"West Coast Poplock"
Written by Mikel Hooks, Ronnie Hudson,
Larry Troutman and Roger Troutman
Performed by Ronnie Hudson
Courtesy of Thump Records

User Reviews

Just as Fincher gave us the definitive Generation X film with "Fight Club", he and Aaron Sorkin give us a definitive Generation Y film...

...and that's "The Social Network".

It joins the ranks of his best, and just like many of his his previous works, has been reviled before it was properly understood.

For months before it came out, it was the laughing stock of people who were off-put by the idea of a "movie about Facebook" (even though it's easy to look and see that it's about the founding of Facebook and the people behind it), just like "Fight Club" is dismissed as a violent film about people fighting, or that "Se7en" is just a serial killer movie.

Not to get sidetracked, though.

"The Social Network" is filmmaking and storytelling of a high order, that shows the grand irony of a socially inept Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg who ended up creating one of the largest social phenomena of the twenty-first century (and love Facebook or hate it, it most certainly is that). The story works as an engaging, fascinating character study; at the beginning of the story, Mark is a socially maladjusted reject, and even after several million 'friends' and a few billion dollars later, he remains pretty much the same.

The outstanding acting, style and direction, as well as the great script armed to the teeth with sharp dialogue is what people are likely to miss by dismissing it as a mere 'Facebook movie'.

Even if it were just a "movie about Facebook", why is such subject matter off-limits? Things that have become a large part of our culture shouldn't be reflected in our art? Or, is it because of that? That technology is such a scary thing and needs to be dismissed? The indisputable fact is that everything that's going on with social networking and the world of the Internet is incorporated into the ideas of a certain corner of history, this one, which will be remembered as such, and "The Social Network" may very well be remembered as a film to define that era.

So please, this is one of the films to see this year. Don't get hung up on the idea that it's just a silly "Facebook movie", or else you'll be missing out on an excellent picture.