Earlier today I had the distinct honor to attend the The Social Network press conference over at Lincoln Center for the New York Film Festival. In a room full of veteran reporters and a couple of young adults who grew up with Facebook, there is a chance that most of the people in that room didn’t even have a Facebook account or understood the magnitude of its arrival on college campuses. I may not have had a recorder in hand but Sony did video the entire conference so after the jump you will find some interesting bits of information from David Fincher (Fight Club), Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield (Red Riding), Jessie Eisenberg (Zombieland) and Aaron Sorkin (writer-A Few Good Men) about their new film, The Social Network.
While there were many things discussed during the press conference, there were a few pieces that really stood out to me as each member of the film’s creative process spoke about the film. The following are just some fun pieces from the press conference but I have posted the entire conference below for your enjoyment. If you don’t want to watch it at least listen to David Fincher talk, he’s also the director of Flight Club which I’m sure many of you have heard of, because it is a real treat to hear his thoughts on the film.
- -Only one of the five men on stage actually had a Facebook account prior to preproduction. Andrew Garfield was the lone ranger and a casual user of facebook before the film began but once the film actually finished shooting he stopped using it. “I’m three months clean” he stated to a crowd full of laughing press folk.-Both Sorkin and Eisenberg created an account after joining the process and once the film wrapped they either deleted it or stopped using the popular social networking tool. Fincher stated he “has seen it on a screen while looking over someone’s shoulder” but has never used it himself while Justin Timberlake only uses it for philanthropic purposes, he doesn’t have a personal account.
- -Eisenberg also talked about his research to play the role of the youngest billionaire. He stated: “I did a lot of research during rehearsals… But if I didn’t, and only had Aaron’s script, it would have been perfectly sufficient. As Aaron said, it really was not a movie about Facebook as much as it was about these more substantive themes, and in the same way it was not this traditional biography where I’m trying to do an imitation of Mark Zuckerberg. And so I was really just focused on playing Aaron’s characterization of Mark Zuckerberg.”
- -“Nothing in this movie was invented for the sake of hollywoodizing it” according to Sorkin from a gentleman who asked about how much was sexually embellished or overly embellished in the movie. Sorkin stayed away from using sensationalism for this movie but had to do a bit of dramatization because no one exactly knows what happens when two people are locked up in a bedroom, for example. I don’t think Zuckerberg plans on revealing his entire life story to the public, except for maybe on Oprah (which he actually went on).
- -One other aspect that I really enjoyed was hearing Fincher discuss the use of technology in filmmaking. He states that “technology will never make movies better,” it has only given the filmmakers more options and has allowed them to “iterate faster” rather than make them faster.
While the last little blurb may be of little use to some, those that are aspiring filmmakers will really enjoy his piece on technology. You may notice some cuts in the videos because the filmmakers did swear from time to time but it always lead to laughs so you don’t miss anything. Check out the press conference below and go discuss it wherever your heart desires.
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