Fincher directs The Social Network almost like a horror movie at times – the opening scenes shot around the Harvard campus are dark and even a little spooky, as if a ghost or a serial killer is lurking somewhere in the shadows. Thankfully, he had Fincher on hand to take control and get the movie to exactly where it needed to be. Sorkin is a whiz when it comes to snappy dialogue, but he can often stumble over his own worst impulses. On top of that, even though Eisenberg portrays Zuckerberg as ultimately unlikable, he also portrays him as a fast-talking, quick-witted, occasionally charismatic guy, something anyone who has watched the real Zuckerberg testify before Congress can tell you isn't accurate at all.ĭespite all this, The Social Network remains a masterpiece. He jettisons real people from Zuckerberg's life in order to better suit the film's story. To be fair, Sorkin's screenplay plays very fast and loose with the facts. Even Fincher, someone many of us think of as cynical, sounds apologetic towards Zuckerberg during the movie's Blu-ray/DVD commentary track.
When screenwriter Aaron Sorkin scored an Oscar for his screenplay he even made sure to more or less apologize to Zuckerberg in his acceptance speech, claiming that the Zuck had mended his wicked ways and become an upstanding philanthropist. At the time, many critics thought the film was "too hard" on Zuckerberg. Simply put, we had no idea how bad Mark Zuckerberg really was.Īnd that was a big part of the film's release. That it would become a haven for insane, vile conspiracy theories, and that Zuckerberg would make it company policy to let those conspiracy theories run wild with almost no oversight. We had no idea that his platform would contribute to the destruction of democracy. But we had no idea how bad Zuckerberg would get. Yes, the film paints Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, played expertly by Jesse Eisenberg, as a creep. Ten years later, The Social Network almost seems quaint. It was going to be a twisted story about what went down behind the scenes. The trailer did the trick: this was not going to be a fun celebration of Facebook. It was also the first trailer to use the now-cliched "creepy, slowed-down pop music cover," and as sick of that as you might be today, trust me, back in 2010, it seemed mind-blowing. Even when David Fincher was revealed as the man behind the camera, skepticism prevailed.Īnd then that trailer dropped. Primarily because all we really knew of the movie was that it was "about Facebook," which made it sound like some sort of celebration of the social media site. I can't remember exactly when I learned that a movie about Facebook was in the works, but I remember my reaction: "Wow, that's dumb." And pretty much everyone I knew at the time was in agreement: it sounded like a really silly idea. David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin took what seemed like a laughable idea – a movie about Facebook! – and worked it into the definitive story of the social media generation. Why It's Essential Quarantine Viewing: The Social Network is turning 10-years-old in October, and a decade later, it remains one of the best movies of the 21st century.
The Pitch: "What if we made a movie about Facebook?"
The social network full movie stream series#
(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they've been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.)