Jesse Eisenberg recently took to MTV to discuss David Fincher’s upcoming “The Social Network” in which he plays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
“The script is so wonderful,” explains the actor. “[It’s] written by Aaron Sorkin, 170 pages long. The character goes from 19 to 24. It’s hard to look at interviews now with Zuckerberg, who has become the head of a big company and probably has people guiding him along the interview process, and then extrapolate what he might have been like in a dorm room at 19 with his buddies.”
Eisenberg then addresses the misconception of the film as a comedy (probably due to Eisenberg’s recent filmography or the fact people hear Facebook movie and laugh) detailing the film’s focus on Zuckerberg’s dramas with co-founder Eduardo Saverin and Napster founder, Sean Parker.
“It’s certainly not a comedy,” Eisenberg explains. “Most scenes aren’t played for jokes. This is a serious movie. Imagine what happens with something real and you’re telling it honestly. If I had to compare it to something, I’d compare it to an Aaron Sorkin creation, really compelling and clever and full of interesting facts and people who are really bright and are always having entertaining conversations.”
“The main relationship is between Zuckerberg and the guy who bankrolled his initial endeavor and who’s his alleged best friend — although this is all up for debate within the Facebook world — whose name is Eduardo Saverin. He was a business major at Harvard and they were in the same Jewish fraternity. He’s played by Andrew Garfield. The core relationship is the two of them…[Justin Timberlake] plays Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, who comes in after Facebook is established and Zuckerberg becomes infatuated with him to the point where it’s like a platonic love triangle between Saverin, who bankrolled the operation and Parker, who has this Silicon Valley aura and rock star status in the dot-com world.”
Oddly, despite Fincher’s stature, Eisenberg admits to only having “seen his films a few years ago” and only knowing what he knows from “people speaking about [Fincher] so highly, most specifically Fred Durst” (who directed the actor in “The Education Of Charlie Banks”). At least he’s being honest though, and not just kissing ass for the sake of. Eisenberg even goes on to hint at Fincher’s notoriously detailed style adding that the helmer works in “in a completely unique way,” that “the experience is long” and that “you end up doing many more takes than you’d do on another movie.”
With a supporting cast including Rashida Jones, Rooney Mara, Armie Hammer and Max Minghella, “The Social Network” is set to hits theaters October 15th.