The Social Network (2010)
- To accurately portray their role in The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg spent weeks conducting hands-on research and rehearsing directly with director David Fincher.
- The Social Network utilized mostly practical sets and locations to ground the story, a specific choice insisted upon by David Fincher.
The Social Network is a 2010 American biographical drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, chronicling the founding of Facebook and the legal disputes that followed. Jesse Eisenberg stars as Mark Zuckerberg, a brilliant but socially abrasive Harvard sophomore who creates a social networking site in 2003 that rapidly grows into a global phenomenon, ultimately making him the youngest billionaire in history while destroying his closest friendship and embroiling him in lawsuits from former allies who claim he stole their ideas. Aaron Sorkin's screenplay, adapted from Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires, was structured around two simultaneous depositions β Zuckerberg being sued by his former best friend Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, and by the Winklevoss twins, played by Armie Hammer through digital face replacement β with flashbacks revealing the events in question.
The Social Network was immediately recognized as one of the defining films of its era, capturing the moment when social media transformed human connection, communication, and power. Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal of Zuckerberg as a character of paradoxical qualities β simultaneously brilliant and emotionally stunted, sympathetic and infuriating β was a career-defining performance. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's electronic score won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and established a template for tech-film soundtracks.
The Social Network earned $224 million worldwide and won three Academy Awards from eight nominations. David Fincher's precise, cool direction and Sorkin's rapid-fire dialogue created a film often called the "Citizen Kane of the 21st century."
