Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2010

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How do you create a movie about the life of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and manage to make it interesting? That’s the task screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, director David Fincher and star Jesse Eisenberg faced in their acclaimed film The Social Network.

“What attracted me to this project was not Facebook,” said Sorkin, who was in Japan recently with Eisenberg. “It doesn’t matter whether you are on Facebook or not, whether you have even heard of Facebook or not. That is irrelevant to enjoying the movie. Its elements are as old as storytelling: friendship, loyalty, power, betrayal and jealousy. These are the same themes that have been written about for thousands of years, but set against a modern backdrop.”

The film is based on Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, about Zuckerberg and his estranged Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. The film is populated by antiheroes, starting with Zuckerberg, the arrogant 19-year-old computer whiz, and Napster co-creator Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), who becomes his mentor and maneuvers Saverin out of the business.

Sorkin, best known for A Few Good Men (1992) and the Emmy Award-winning TV series The West Wing, said he felt a lot of pressure. “When you write a screenplay about people who are still alive, you have a great responsibility in your hands because you are dealing with somebody’s life. It’s a bit like the oath doctors take—‘Never to do harm.’”

As a writer, Sorkin says he doesn’t judge the characters that he creates. “That’s up to audiences. I try to empathize with the character and put in characteristics that we have all felt at one time or another—being shy, feeling like an outsider, not belonging. Then you hope that the director will bring the scenes to life and get actors who can humanize what you have written.”

Bringing Zuckerberg to the screen was a big challenge for Eisenberg, who made his movie debut with Roger Dodger (2002). “When I first read the script 18 months ago, I had never seen a picture of Mark Zuckerberg and had never read an interview with him. To me, he was just a character in a movie. Of course, since the movie came out, he has become well-known and all the characters have come to the public’s attention. So if the film were being made today, I might play the character differently.”

Sorkin said that he has met most of the characters portrayed in the movie, with the exception of Zuckerberg, who has generally stayed out of the limelight. “I have to say that Mark has been a class act during this period that must have been very uncomfortable for him. I don’t think that any of us would like a movie made about us when we were 19. But I heard he did take the entire Facebook staff to see the film.”

Interestingly, Eisenberg’s cousin works for Zuckerberg. “He has sort of been the liaison between us,” said Eisenberg. “He told my cousin to tell me that I did a nice job. Well, I was hoping for a more thorough review, but that’s all I got.”

Facebook continues to grow, with more than 500 million users—but Eisenberg and Sorkin are not among them. “I think Facebook is a smart idea, but as an actor, I don’t feel comfortable about having any more info about myself out there,” said Eisenberg. Sorkin put it more simply: “One night a few years ago, I turned into my grandfather and decided I had enough technology in my life and didn’t need any more.”

The Social Network opens in Japan on Jan 15.
Chris Betros is the editor of Japan Today (www.japantoday.com)