The Social Network Press Conference – Live for Films was there

Live for Films was lucky enough to be invited to The Social Network press conference in London yesterday. Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Aaron Sorkin were on the panel. LFF reporters, Alan Simmons and Craig Grobler, were there. This is Alan’s report.

On Thursday afternoon I was lucky enough to attend the press conference for what is set to go down as one of the films of the year – the facebook film, The Social Network.

The surprise I felt at being granted admittance to the infinite posh-ness of The Dorchester in silly shoes and an Iggy Pop t-shirt was only outweighed by how knocked out I was by its splendour once inside. Ushered into The Crystal Room, I pulled up a pew at the very front and awaited Aaron Sorkin, Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake – David Fincher was far too busy with his version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. So without further ado, here’s what the writer of A Few Good Men, Columbus from Zombieland, the new Spider-Man and Justin Timberlake had to say for themselves.

Aaron Sorkin (the writer), on how you don’t need to know anything about social networking to enjoy the film, as it’s essentially a Faustian drama:

First, I don’t know anything about facebook or that world of communication, so it’s not surprising that the audience doesn’t need to either. As far as being a Faustian drama, sure, that’s one of the many things it is. You can say “what profits a man, if he gains the world and loses his soul?” with Justin Timberlake in the role of Mephistopheles…

*someone’s phone makes that annoying interference sound over the tannoy*

…it could be Morse code?

Justin Timberlake: I have a metal plate in my head.

Justin Timberlake on why he was so eager to play the part of Sean Parker:

The screenplay, not to embarrass Aaron, was dazzling. So when I came across the character of Sean Parker, there was a lot of layers. You don’t often come across such a well constructed character and complete, tasteful, amazing screenplay like this. I remember reading 162 pages in what felt like five minutes. I auditioned for the part a couple of times and not so much threw my hat in the ring as kicked the door down!

Andrew Garfield on whether he thinks his character (Eduardo Saverin) is essentially the hero of the film:

(joking) I agree with you. He is the hero. He is the only righteous man… no, no, no. I think it’s valid that you had that feeling about Eduardo and it fills my heart with warmth because I care about him deeply as well. Of course I believe that he was the only character who behaved properly, but I bet if you were to ask Jesse or Justin the same question they’d feel the same about their characters. I think that’s a testament to Aaron’s script and the story. I don’t think you often get the chance to sit in a movie theatre and be confused and be torn about grey characters. I think this film asks us to make our own minds up and use our brains, which can’t be a bad thing.

Jesse Eisenberg on preparing to play Mark Zuckerberg:

Erm… Mark is arguably the most accessible person in the world because he’s created this thing that allows us to all be as accessible as we would like to be. Erm… In that way he’s a very interesting character. There’s a lot to find out about him and the more you find out, the more mysterious he may become. I found out everything I could about the real person, but was primarily playing Aaron’s version of Mark.

Everyone’s thoughts on facebook. Do they have to use aliases and if they don’t use it at all, if they feel like they’re missing out:

Justin Timberlake: I don’t use an alias to go on facebook. If I was on it I’d probably feel like I was missing out on something I could be doing outside. Like trying out for the American team for the next Ryder Cup. That was embarrassing! I would assume that it offers you the opportunity to connect with as many people as possible. I just said the most blatantly obvious thing about it. From the outside looking in, it offers you the opportunity to always present the best version of yourself. There’s probably a girl in L.A. waking up after a party right now, putting pictures on facebook and I can guarantee she’s not using the least flattering ones.

Andrew Garfield: I used to. I used to use it. But I’m four months clean now. I’m quite proud of myself and starting a support group for people like me. No, I think it’s a wonderful thing. The last time I used it was at a charity thing and we made four times more money than we would have done prior to Mark Zuckerberg’s wonderful invention. But I think the film is more about bigger themes such as: power, ambition, greed, money, loyalty, brotherhood and betrayal. I think the film is more about that.

Jesse Eisenberg: It is a real phenomenon. Erm… I don’t have a facebook account. I signed up under an alias, as Andrew Garfield. And made no friends. No-one was interested. Except Andrew’s alias. Who wanted to be best friends with his own fan page.

Aaron Sorkin: I think it does a lot of wonderful things. It’s been responsible for a lot of social activism, like the Iranian elections, and it’s good at that. My worry about it is that a device that was made to bring us all closer together may well be doing the opposite…

*that phone interference strikes again*

…OK, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it! That by replacing humanity with technology that it seems, to me, like a slightly insincere form of communication. Like Justin said, it gives us an opportunity to create an idealized version of ourselves. I can identify with that. I would like people to think that I’m as quick and as clever as the characters that I write. So, in a way, I do professionally what people do for free on facebook. I think it’ll be decades until we know what the results are of this social experiment.

Aaron Sorkin on any issues and constraints he faced in telling a story with real people involved:

When you’re doing non-fiction about people who are still alive, in this case, young people, there’s a great responsibility. There are two important things in your hands. You have to understand that a Hollywood movie is a loud cannon shot. That for most people this movie will be their impression of these people and these events. So you have these two important things in your hands – history and someone’s life. First there is a legal obligation. The script was vetted by countless, countless lawyers. Even greater than that is a moral obligation not to mess around with someone’s life for the sake of a good movie scene. This is a good time to mention that the person most responsible is missing. David Fincher is in Sweden right now, shooting The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. So you can pretend that he’s here and scowling at you. Both David and I took the truth as seriously as can be. Rather than pick one of the three conflicting versions, I liked that we used all three versions, apologies to Kurosawa *coughs Rashomon*.

On whether the fact that these men aren’t just young but very wealthy too made the studio sweat any more:

I can’t speak to how much they ordinarily sweat, but I can tell you that there was nothing left to chance. If there was the slightest doubt, I couldn’t say it. I’m required to supply the studio an annotated script saying where I got that information. Any time a fact was in dispute I had to make it clear to the audience that that fact was in dispute.

The actors on if they’ve had any feedback they’ve got from the people they played, or studied any footage to get their characters right:

Jesse: Last Friday, Mark (Zuckerberg) rented a movie theater for himself and all his employees to watch the movie. That included my cousin, who is actually an employee of facebook. My cousin sent me a message saying that Mark said he really liked the parts of the movie that he thought we got right. Which was probably the nicest reaction that I could have hoped for.

Justin: I don’t know about the first part. I believe everyone’s seen it… In preparation I believe Andrew (Garfield) had the hardest part as, apart from the screenplay, he only had two pictures of Eduardo. I watched a little bit of footage, I was the only actual actor that serendipitously… I met Sean Parker (his character). We met in a bar in New York City. It was in passing and before I was officially cast. It was a little awkward as it was rumoured on the internet, which is always 115% true, but I had to sheepishly tell him that I didn’t know yet, but was in the process of reading for it.

Andrew (who as mentioned, had nothing much to base his character on): Aaron. Aaron wrote an incredibly detailed and meticulously researched script. So I went in with total confidence. From reading the first scene I could see that this was authentic and genuine. For any actor to have that amount of detailed humanity as a starting point is a true gift, and a rare gift.

*The moderator indicates the last question should definitely come from Alan. And looks right at me. I shit myself. I recall the question about if Jesse thinks Zuckerberg would be any good in a zombie apocalypse. I open my mouth and the man sat next to me begins to speak. There is more than one Alan it seems. I curse the fact that I haven’t got to ask a question, it seems that privilege is only for those on first name terms with the moderator. Then I think maybe it’s not such a bad thing as the questions have been so dry and serious thus far, that the zombie thing would probably have resulted in me being called a silly boy and made to stand in the corner. Other, older Alan with a beard is pretty cool though, maybe he was me from the future*

Aaron Sorkin on how a Hollywood movie with no gun shots, no explosions and no naked ladies wrestling in mud has done so well:

JT quickly interjects: Unfortunately the naked wrestling didn’t make the final cut. But will be on the extended edition of the DVD.

Aaron Sorkin: We don’t know. For the life of us. We couldn’t be more thrilled. I credit our producers for letting us make the movie without forcing us to sugarcoat it for this demographic or that demographic. It does not have, and here’s a quote that’ll send people stampeding to the box office, any of the bells and whistles that we’re used to seeing from Hollywood. I think the success demonstrates what I honestly believe. That people like using their brains – it’s fun. This movie begins at a hundred miles per hour in the middle of a conversation and forces you to sit forward and listen right away. That kind of participation is exhilarating and people like it. I don’t know the answer to your question, but I’m grateful that people are coming and liking the movie. People are enjoying it in spite of the lack of a gun shot. The only special effect is one you’re not supposed to see – that Armie Hammer is playing two people. There were a hundred ways to make this movie badly and David (Fincher) avoided all of them, he won the bull fight with cliché and he made a very special film.

JT wore glasses to fit in with a panel so smart and witty they could go on Qi and tear Stephen Fry a new one. Mr. Timberlake also turned out to be awfully considered and eloquent, but Andrew Garfield is so well-spoken he makes Ralph Fiennes sound like a right pikey. With that air of intelligence he’ll certainly have no problem with the Peter Parker side of things, but he seemed to lack much of a physical presence, so unless Spidey is all CG, he may need a personal trainer tout suite. Aaron Sorkin is just as razor sharp as you would expect him to be and though Jesse seemed withdrawn and bored he lit up the second he was addressed. Maybe he’s saving himself for Zombieland 2.

The Social Network is released in the UK on the 15th of October and the Live for Films review is imminent, so stay tuned.