We already knew these Facebook casting rumors were more than just back-fence talk and now they’ve actually come to pass fully.
All three actors vying for parts, Jessie Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield have been confirmed to star in David Fincher’s “The Social Network” drama, scripted by Aaron Sorkin and as previously reported, shooting will begin next month in Boston. (yes, Fincher fans, this one is really happening unless an act of God intervenes). Though we should note. The leads are Eisenberg and Garfield and Timberlake has a secondary supporting role that doesn’t come into play until about 2/3rds into the movie (at least by judging on the last draft of the script).
Eisenberg (of “Adventureland” and “Squid & The Whale”) will portray the creator of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Timberlake will play the cocky entrepreneur Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and key player in the Facebook start-up and Garfield will assume the role of Eduardo Saverin, the Harvard business grad that co-created Facebook with Zuckerberg, but then was cockblocked out of the picture when money became an issue.
“The Social Network,” is essentially a greed and betrayal story, not unlike a modern-day “Wall Street,” framed by many court room drama scenes, but we were seemingly one of the few sites not dazzled by Sorkin’s script. At an overlong 165 pages (essentially almost a three hour movie), the story took forever to move forward, become engaging and the court room flashes to the past felt pretty predictable.
That said, it’s an early blueprint and Fincher has probably found a way to make this one visually interesting, not to mention probably helped overhaul the screenplay.
It’s an interesting choice for him, a strong, not obvious cast (yes, we don’t need Shia LaBeouf in everything) and we’re definitely curious to how it all turns out.
Garfield (“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” “Boy A”) in particular is an inspired choice and an excellent British actor that people will soon discover to be a major talent (we put him in our Breakthrough Performances of 2008 piece, he was superb in “Boy A”).
In related news, we’ve learned that Sorkin’s new draft of “Moneyball,” was turned in and has been sitting on a Sony desk for about four weeks now — and, just like “Moneyball,” “Social Network” is a Sony/Columbia picture and is also similarly produced by Scott Rudin and Michael De Luca. Whether the baseball metrics drama will ever be made or if the studio is hoping it will quietly go away and no one will notice is any one’s guess. Maybe they’re all just concentrating on the Facebook film for now.
We thought former baseball hopeful George Clooney might be interested in “Moneyball,” but he’s actually set to direct another Sorkin script with Matt Damon.
