The Social Network
Encyclopedia
The Social Network is a 2010 American drama film
directed by David Fincher
and written by Aaron Sorkin
. Adapted from Ben Mezrich
's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires
, the film portrays the founding of social networking
website Facebook
and the resulting lawsuits. It stars Jesse Eisenberg
as founder Mark Zuckerberg
, along with Andrew Garfield
and Justin Timberlake
as the other principals involved in the website's creation. Neither Zuckerberg nor any other Facebook staff were involved with the project, although Eduardo Saverin
was a consultant for Mezrich's book. The film was released in the United States by Columbia Pictures
on October 1, 2010.
The film received widespread acclaim, with critics praising it for its editing, acting, score and screenplay. Some people, including Zuckerberg himself, criticized the film for its many inaccuracies. The Social Network appeared on 78 critics' top 10 list for 2010; of those critics 22 had the film in their number one spot. Rolling Stone
s Peter Travers
said "The Social Network is the movie of the year. But Fincher and Sorkin triumph by taking it further. Lacing their scathing wit with an aching sadness, they define the dark irony of the past decade." It received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture
, Best Director (Fincher), and Best Actor
(Eisenberg) and won three for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score
, and Best Film Editing. It also won the Best Motion Picture – Drama Golden Globe at the 68th Golden Globe Awards
. The film also won Golden Globe awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay
and Best Original Score
, making it the film with the most wins of the night.
student Mark Zuckerberg
is dumped by his girlfriend Erica Albright. He returns to his dorm drunk and writes a scathing blog entry about her. This inspires him to create an on-campus website called Facemash which allows users to rate the attractiveness of female students using photographs pilfered from various university systems. Mark receives six months of academic probation
after traffic to the site crashes parts of Harvard's network. Facemash's popularity and the fact that Mark created it in one night while drunk brings him to the attention of Cameron
and Tyler Winklevoss
and their business partner Divya Narendra
. The Winklevoss twins invite Mark to their final club
, where Mark accepts a job as programmer for a proposed dating website they call Harvard Connection which will be exclusive to Harvard alums.
Mark approaches his friend Eduardo Saverin
and tells him of his idea for what he calls "Thefacebook", an online social networking website exclusive to Harvard University students. He explains that this would mimic the popularity of FaceMash but since signing up would be consensual it would avoid the ethical problems of the earlier site. Eduardo agrees to help Mark, providing $1,000 to help start the site. They distribute the link to Eduardo's connections at the Phoenix S-K final club, and it becomes popular throughout the student body. When they learn of Thefacebook, the Winklevoss twins and Narendra believe Zuckerberg has stolen their idea while stalling on their website. Tyler and Divya want to sue Mark for intellectual property theft, but Cameron convinces them to settle the matter as "gentlemen of Harvard".
During a visiting lecture by Bill Gates
, fellow Harvard University student Christy Lee introduces herself and her friend Alice to Eduardo and Mark and asks the boys to "Facebook me". Christy's use of this phrase impresses both of them. Christy invites them to a bar, where Mark runs into Erica, who is not aware of Thefacebook because she is not a Harvard student. Mark decides to expand the site to Yale University
, Columbia University
and Stanford University
as Thefacebook grows in popularity, while the Winklevoss twins and Narendra watch "their idea" advance without them. Cameron refuses to sue them, instead accusing Mark of violating the Harvard student Code of Conduct
. Through their father's connections they meet with Harvard President Larry Summers, who is dismissive towards the twins and sees no potential value in either a disciplinary action or in Thefacebook website itself.
Through Christy, now Eduardo's girlfriend, Eduardo and Mark arrange a meeting with Napster
co-founder Sean Parker
. Eduardo becomes skeptical, noting Sean's problematic personal and professional history. Sean presents a vision for Facebook very similar to that of Mark, which earns Mark's instant admiration. In a parting comment, Sean suggests they drop the "The" from Thefacebook.
At Sean's suggestion, Mark moves the company to Palo Alto while Eduardo remains in New York seeking advertising support. Sean advises Mark to keep hold of his ownership of Facebook to ensure that Mark does not lose control of a potentially lucrative business venture, using Victoria's Secret
founder Roy Raymond
as an example. After Sean promises to expand Facebook to two continents, Mark invites Sean to live at the house he is using as the company headquarters.
While competing in the Henley Royal Regatta
for Harvard, the Winklevoss twins discover Facebook has expanded to a number of English universities and footage of their lost finals match against the Hollandia Roeiclub
is posted on it. Cameron relents and they decide to sue. When Eduardo visits from New York, he is angered to find Sean living in their house and making business decisions for Facebook. Eduardo argues with Mark, with Mark making a demeaning remark regarding Eduardo's failed attempts to find advertisers. Eduardo freezes the company's bank account and returns to New York.
Christy argues with Eduardo about his Facebook profile, which lists him as "single". Christy does not believe Eduardo when he reluctantly explains that he does not know how to change his profile. She accuses him of cheating on her and sets fire to a scarf he gave to her. While Eduardo extinguishes the fire she caused, Mark reveals on the phone that although he was upset that Eduardo almost jeopardized Facebook by freezing the bank account, they have secured $500,000 from angel investor
Peter Thiel
. As a result of Christy's odd behavior, Eduardo ends his relationship with her.
While visiting the new headquarters for a meeting, Eduardo discovers the deal he signed with Sean's investors has allowed them to dilute his share of the company
from 34 percent to 0.03 percent, while maintaining the ownership percentage of all other parties. He confronts Mark and announces his intention to sue him. During a party celebrating Facebook's one millionth member, Sean and a number of underage Facebook interns are arrested for possession of cocaine
. Sean tries deceiving Mark into believing that he had nothing to do with the incident and that Eduardo stashed the cocaine, but Mark does not believe him and tells him to "go home".
The story is intercut with scenes from depositions
taken in lawsuit
s against Mark and Facebook—one filed by the Winklevoss twins, the other by Eduardo. The Winklevoss twins claim that Zuckerberg stole their idea, while Saverin claims his shares of Facebook were diluted when the company was incorporated
. At the end, Marylin Delpy, a junior lawyer for the defense, informs Mark they will be settling with Eduardo, since the sordid details of Facebook's founding and Mark's callous attitude will make a jury highly unsympathetic. After everyone leaves, Mark sends a friend request to Erica Albright on Facebook, and refreshes the page every few seconds waiting for a response.
was first announced to be attached to the project in September 2009. (Coincidentally, in an interview with Diane Sawyer
on ABC
's World News with Diane Sawyer, Zuckerberg revealed that Eisenberg's cousin, Eric Fisher, was a Facebook product designer.) Several days later, Justin Timberlake
and Andrew Garfield
were confirmed to portray the roles of Sean Parker
and Eduardo Saverin
, respectively. In October 2009, Brenda Song
, Rooney Mara, Armie Hammer
, Shelby Young
, and Josh Pence were cast. Max Minghella
and Dakota Johnson
were also confirmed to star in the film. In a 2009 interview with The Baltimore Sun
, Eisenberg said, "Even though I've gotten to be in some wonderful movies, this character seems so much more overtly insensitive in so many ways that seem more real to me in the best way. I don't often get cast as insensitive people, so it feels very comfortable: fresh and exciting, as if you never have to worry about the audience. Not that I worry about the audience anyway – it should be just the furthest thing from your mind. The Social Network is the biggest relief I've ever had in a movie".
began in October 2009 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. Scenes were filmed around the campuses of two Massachusetts prep schools, Phillips Academy
and Milton Academy
. Additional scenes were filmed on the campus of Wheelock College
, which was set up to be Harvard's campus. (Harvard has turned down most requests for on-location filming ever since the filming of Love Story
(1970), which caused significant physical damage to the campus.) Filming took place on the Keyser and Wyman quadrangles in the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University
from November 2–4, which also doubled for Harvard in the film. The first scene in the film, where Zuckerberg is with his girlfriend, took 99 takes to finish. The film was shot on the Red One digital cinema camera at 4K resolution. The rowing scenes with the Winklevoss brothers were filmed at Community Rowing Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts
and at the Henley Royal Regatta
. Although a significant portion of the latter half of the film is set in Silicon Valley
, the filmmakers opted to shoot those scenes in Los Angeles
and Pasadena
. Miniature faking process was used in a sequence showing a rowing event at the Henley Royal Regatta.
Armie Hammer
, who portrayed the Winklevoss twins, acted alongside body double Josh Pence
while his scenes were filmed. His face was later digitally grafted onto Pence's face during post-production, while other scenes used split-screen photography. Pence himself appears in a cameo role. Pence was concerned about having no face time during the role, but after consideration thought of the role as a "no-brainer". Hammer states that director David Fincher "likes to push himself and likes to push technology" and is "one of the most technologically minded guys I've ever seen." This included sending the actors to "twin boot camp" for 10 months to learn everything about the Winklevosses.
Lead actors Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield formed a close friendship during filming, which Eisenberg has stated made the filming of more emotional scenes difficult because he was upset by Garfield's heartbreaking performance yet had to remain unresponsive and in character.
, George Washington University
, and Trinity College, as well as local club rowers from Union Boat Club
and Riverside Boat Club
. None of the casted rowing extras for the Henley Royal Regatta
racing scene appeared in the film; filming for the race was originally planned to take place in Los Angeles, but Fincher decided to film in New England
during production.
David Fincher
hired Loyola Marymount coach Dawn Reagan to help train Josh Pence
and Armie Hammer
. While Hammer was new to the sport, Pence rowed previously at Dartmouth College
.
The extras in pairs
for the Charles River
scene were cast as follows:
The indoor rowing scene was filmed at Boston University's indoor rowing tanks. All of BU's blue oars in the scene were repainted to Harvard's crimson color for filming. Dan Boyne was the official rowing consultant for the film both in the US and the UK.
and Atticus Ross
would score the film. The soundtrack was released September 28 in various formats under the Null Corporation
label. Leading up to the release of the soundtrack, a free five-track EP
was made available for download. The White Stripes
' song "Ball and Biscuit" can be heard in the opening of the film and The Beatles
' song "Baby, You're a Rich Man" concludes the film. Neither song appears on the soundtrack.
Reznor and Ross won the award for best original soundtrack at the 2011 Golden Globes, as well as the 2011 Academy Award for Best Original Score
.
The film itself contains 18 songs, some of which are not found on the soundtrack. These include songs from The Beatles
, Bob Marley
, Super Furry Animals
, 10cc
, Gluecifer
, Dead Kennedys
, and The White Stripes
.
The background song used in the club scene (in California) is performed by Dennis de Laat, and is called "Sound of Violence (Main Mix)". It does not appear on the soundtrack.
was released on June 25, 2010. The second teaser was released on July 8. The full length theatrical trailer debuted on July 15, 2010, which plays an edited version of the song "Creep", originally by Radiohead
, covered by the Belgian choir group Scala & Kolacny Brothers
. The trailer was then shown in theaters, prior to the films Inception
, Dinner for Schmucks
, Salt, Easy A
, The Virginity Hit
and The Other Guys
.
The script was leaked online in July 2009. In November 2009, executive producer
Kevin Spacey
said, "The Social Network is probably going to be a lot funnier than people might expect it to be." The Cardinal Courier
stated that the film was about "greed, obsession, unpredictability and sex" and asked "although there are over 500 million Facebook users, does this mean Facebook can become a profitable blockbuster movie?" At the D8 conference hosted by D: All Things Digital on June 2, 2010, host Kara Swisher
told Zuckerberg she knew he was not happy with The Social Network being based on him, to which he replied, "I just wished that nobody made a movie of me while I was still alive." Zuckerberg stated to Oprah Winfrey
that the drama and partying of the film is mostly fiction, explaining "this is my life, so I know it's not so dramatic," and that he spent most of the past six years focusing, working hard, and coding
Facebook. Speaking to an audience at Stanford University
, Zuckerberg stated that the film portrayed his motivations for creating Facebook inaccurately; instead of an effort to "get girls", he says he created the site because he enjoys "building things". However, he added that the film accurately depicted his real-life wardrobe, saying, "It's interesting the stuff that they focused on getting right – like every single shirt and fleece they had in that movie is actually a shirt or fleece that I own."
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz
called the film a "dramatization of history ... it is interesting to see my past rewritten in a way that emphasizes things that didn't matter, (like the Winklevosses
, who I've still never even met and had no part in the work we did to create the site over the past 6 years) and leaves out things that really did (like the many other people in our lives at the time, who supported us in innumerable ways)". According to Moskovitz:
Co-founder Eduardo Saverin
said of the film, "[...] the movie was clearly intended to be entertainment and not a fact-based documentary."
Sorkin has stated that, "I don’t want my fidelity to be to the truth; I want it to be to storytelling. What is the big deal about accuracy purely for accuracy’s sake, and can we not have the true be the enemy of the good?"
Journalist Jeff Jarvis
acknowledged the film was "well-crafted" but called it "the anti-social movie", objecting to Sorkin's decision to change various events and characters for dramatic effect, and dismissing it as "the story that those who resist the change society is undergoing want to see." Technology broadcaster Leo Laporte
concurred, calling the film "anti-geek and misogynistic
". Sorkin responded to these allegations by saying, "I was writing about a very angry and deeply misogynistic group of people".
Andrew Clark of The Guardian
wrote that "there's something insidious about this genre of [docudrama] scriptwriting," wondering if "a 26-year-old businessman really deserves to have his name dragged through the mud in a murky mixture of fact and imagination for the general entertainment of the movie-viewing public?" Clark added, "I'm not sure whether Mark Zuckerberg is a punk, a genius or both. But I won't be seeing The Social Network to find out."
Several noteworthy tech journalists and bloggers voiced their opinions of how the film portrays its real-life characters. Mashable
founder and CEO Pete Cashmore
, blogging for CNN
, said: "If the Facebook founder [Zuckerberg] is concerned about being represented as anything but a genius with an industrious work ethic, he can breathe a sigh of relief." Jessi Hempel, a technology writer for Fortune
who says she's known Zuckerberg "for a long time", wrote of the film:
Harvard Law School
professor Lawrence Lessig
wrote in The New Republic
that Sorkin's screenplay does not acknowledge the "real villain" of the story:
In an onstage discussion with The Huffington Post
co-founder Arianna Huffington
, during Advertising Week 2010 in New York, Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said she had seen the film and it was "very Hollywood" and mainly "fiction". "In real life, he [Zuckerberg] was just sitting around with his friends in front of his computer, ordering pizza," she declared. "Who wants to go see that for two hours?"
Indian-American Divya Narendra
said that he was "initially surprised" to see himself portrayed by the non-Indian actor Max Minghella
, but also admitted that the actor did a "good job in pushing the dialogue forward and creating a sense of urgency in what was a very frustrating period."
s 32.0% record as the smallest second weekend drop for any number-one film of 2010, while being the third smallest overall behind Secretariat
s 25.1% drop and Tooth Fairy
s 28.6% drop. As of August 19, 2011, the film has grossed $96,962,694 in the United States and $127,957,621 elsewhere, for a worldwide total of $224,920,315.
and Blu-ray
January 11, 2011. In its first week of release, DVD sales totaled $13,470,305 and it was the number one sold DVD of the week. The DVD includes an audio commentary
with director David Fincher
, and a second commentary with writer Aaron Sorkin
and the cast. The Blu-ray and 2-Disc DVD releases include the commentaries, along with a feature length documentary, How Did They Ever Make a Movie of Facebook?, featurettes, Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter and Ren Klyce on Post, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and David Fincher on the Score, In the Hall of the Mountain King: Reznor's First Draft, Swarmatron
, Jeff Cronenweth and David Fincher on the Visuals, and a Ruby Skye VIP Room: Multi-Angle Scene Breakdown feature.
reports that 96% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 272 reviews, with an average score of 9/10 and a critical consensus of: "Impeccably scripted, beautifully directed, and filled with fine performances, The Social Network is a riveting, ambitious example of modern filmmaking at its finest." It has a 100% among "Top Critics". The film also holds a score of 95 based on 42 reviews on Metacritic
, indicating "universal acclaim" and making it one of the site's highest-rated movies of all time.
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
, giving it four stars and naming it the best film of the year, wrote: "David Fincher's film has the rare quality of being not only as smart as its brilliant hero, but in the same way. It is cocksure, impatient, cold, exciting and instinctively perceptive." Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone
, gave the film his first full four star rating of the year and said: "The Social Network is the movie of the year. But Fincher and Sorkin triumph by taking it further. Lacing their scathing wit with an aching sadness, they define the dark irony of the past decade." The Harvard Crimson
review called it "flawless" and gave it five stars. Quentin Tarantino
listed The Social Network as one of his favorite 20 movies of the year, second to Toy Story 3
.
Some reviewers pointed out that the film plays loosely with the facts behind Facebook's founding. Joe Morgenstern
in The Wall Street Journal
praised the film as exhilarating but noted: "The biographical part takes liberties with its subject. Aaron Sorkin based his supersmart and superbly funny screenplay on a contentious book, Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires
, so everything that's seen isn't necessarily to be believed."
The film won Best Picture from the National Society of Film Critics
, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
and the National Board of Review, making it only the third film in history (after Schindler's List
and L. A. Confidential
) to sweep the "Big Four" critics. The film also won the "Hollywood Ensemble Award" from the Hollywood Awards. The Social Network appeared on 78 critics' top 10 list for 2010, of those critics 22 had the film in their number one spot.
on January 16, 2011. The film also won the awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay
and Best Original Score
, making it the film with the most wins of the night.
The film was nominated for seven British Academy Film Awards
, including Best Film
, Leading Actor
(Jesse Eisenberg), Supporting Actor
(Andrew Garfield) and Rising Star
(Andrew Garfield) won three for Best Editing
, Adapted Screenplay
and Best Direction
on February 13, 2011.
The Social Network received nominations for eight Academy Awards
, including Best Picture
, Best Actor
, Best Cinematography
, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score
, Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay. It won three for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing at the 83rd Academy Awards
on February 27, 2011.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
and written by Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
. Adapted from Ben Mezrich
Ben Mezrich
Ben Mezrich is an American author from Princeton, New Jersey. He graduated magna-cum-laude with a degree in Social Studies from Harvard University in 1991. Some of his books have been written under the pseudonym Holden Scott. Mezrich attended Princeton Day School, in Princeton, New Jersey...
's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires
The Accidental Billionaires
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal is a 2009 book by Ben Mezrich about the founding of Facebook. Co-founder Eduardo Saverin served as Mezrich's main consultant...
, the film portrays the founding of social networking
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
website Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and the resulting lawsuits. It stars Jesse Eisenberg
Jesse Eisenberg
Jesse Adam Eisenberg is an American actor. He made his screen debut with the comedy-drama television series Get Real from 1999 to 2000...
as founder Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...
, along with Andrew Garfield
Andrew Garfield
Andrew Russell Garfield is an American-English actor who has appeared in radio, theatre, film, and television. His early roles include the films Lions for Lambs, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Boy A, which garnered him the 2007 BAFTA Television Award for "Best Actor".Garfield achieved...
and Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
as the other principals involved in the website's creation. Neither Zuckerberg nor any other Facebook staff were involved with the project, although Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo P. Saverin is a Brazilian-born American internet entrepreneur and investor. Saverin is best known for co-founding Facebook, along with Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes...
was a consultant for Mezrich's book. The film was released in the United States by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
on October 1, 2010.
The film received widespread acclaim, with critics praising it for its editing, acting, score and screenplay. Some people, including Zuckerberg himself, criticized the film for its many inaccuracies. The Social Network appeared on 78 critics' top 10 list for 2010; of those critics 22 had the film in their number one spot. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
said "The Social Network is the movie of the year. But Fincher and Sorkin triumph by taking it further. Lacing their scathing wit with an aching sadness, they define the dark irony of the past decade." It received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Director (Fincher), and Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Eisenberg) and won three for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
, and Best Film Editing. It also won the Best Motion Picture – Drama Golden Globe at the 68th Golden Globe Awards
68th Golden Globe Awards
The 68th Golden Globe Awards was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 16, 2011, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais....
. The film also won Golden Globe awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
The Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award...
and Best Original Score
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association , an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside North America, since its institution in 1947...
, making it the film with the most wins of the night.
Plot
In 2003, Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
student Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...
is dumped by his girlfriend Erica Albright. He returns to his dorm drunk and writes a scathing blog entry about her. This inspires him to create an on-campus website called Facemash which allows users to rate the attractiveness of female students using photographs pilfered from various university systems. Mark receives six months of academic probation
Disciplinary probation
Disciplinary probation is a disciplinary status that can apply to students at a higher educational institution or to employees in the workplace. For employees, it can result from both poor performance at work or from misconduct...
after traffic to the site crashes parts of Harvard's network. Facemash's popularity and the fact that Mark created it in one night while drunk brings him to the attention of Cameron
Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...
and Tyler Winklevoss
Tyler Winklevoss
Tyler Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Cameron Winklevoss...
and their business partner Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss....
. The Winklevoss twins invite Mark to their final club
Final club
A final club is an undergraduate social club at Harvard College.- Origins :The historical basis for the name final clubs is that Harvard used to have a variety of clubs for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, with students of different years being in different clubs, and the "final clubs"...
, where Mark accepts a job as programmer for a proposed dating website they call Harvard Connection which will be exclusive to Harvard alums.
Mark approaches his friend Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo P. Saverin is a Brazilian-born American internet entrepreneur and investor. Saverin is best known for co-founding Facebook, along with Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes...
and tells him of his idea for what he calls "Thefacebook", an online social networking website exclusive to Harvard University students. He explains that this would mimic the popularity of FaceMash but since signing up would be consensual it would avoid the ethical problems of the earlier site. Eduardo agrees to help Mark, providing $1,000 to help start the site. They distribute the link to Eduardo's connections at the Phoenix S-K final club, and it becomes popular throughout the student body. When they learn of Thefacebook, the Winklevoss twins and Narendra believe Zuckerberg has stolen their idea while stalling on their website. Tyler and Divya want to sue Mark for intellectual property theft, but Cameron convinces them to settle the matter as "gentlemen of Harvard".
During a visiting lecture by Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
, fellow Harvard University student Christy Lee introduces herself and her friend Alice to Eduardo and Mark and asks the boys to "Facebook me". Christy's use of this phrase impresses both of them. Christy invites them to a bar, where Mark runs into Erica, who is not aware of Thefacebook because she is not a Harvard student. Mark decides to expand the site to Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
as Thefacebook grows in popularity, while the Winklevoss twins and Narendra watch "their idea" advance without them. Cameron refuses to sue them, instead accusing Mark of violating the Harvard student Code of Conduct
Code of Conduct
A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual, party or organization. Related concepts include ethical codes and honor codes....
. Through their father's connections they meet with Harvard President Larry Summers, who is dismissive towards the twins and sees no potential value in either a disciplinary action or in Thefacebook website itself.
Through Christy, now Eduardo's girlfriend, Eduardo and Mark arrange a meeting with Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
co-founder Sean Parker
Sean Parker
Sean Parker is an American technology businessman and entrepreneur. He co-founded Napster, Plaxo, Causes, and Airtime, and was Facebook's founding president. His net worth is estimated at $2.1 billion.-Early life:...
. Eduardo becomes skeptical, noting Sean's problematic personal and professional history. Sean presents a vision for Facebook very similar to that of Mark, which earns Mark's instant admiration. In a parting comment, Sean suggests they drop the "The" from Thefacebook.
At Sean's suggestion, Mark moves the company to Palo Alto while Eduardo remains in New York seeking advertising support. Sean advises Mark to keep hold of his ownership of Facebook to ensure that Mark does not lose control of a potentially lucrative business venture, using Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
founder Roy Raymond
Roy Raymond (businessman)
Roy Raymond was an American businessman who started the Victoria's Secret lingerie retail store.Raymond, an alumnus of Tufts University and The Stanford Graduate School of Business, opened the first Victoria's Secret store at the Stanford Shopping Center after feeling embarrassed trying to...
as an example. After Sean promises to expand Facebook to two continents, Mark invites Sean to live at the house he is using as the company headquarters.
While competing in the Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
for Harvard, the Winklevoss twins discover Facebook has expanded to a number of English universities and footage of their lost finals match against the Hollandia Roeiclub
Hollandia Roeiclub
Hollandia Roeiclub is a Dutch rowing club.They appear in the 2010 movie The Social Network beating the Harvard team of the Winklevoss twins during the Henley Royal Regatta in 2004, which they won representing the Holland Acht , the official Dutch rowing team...
is posted on it. Cameron relents and they decide to sue. When Eduardo visits from New York, he is angered to find Sean living in their house and making business decisions for Facebook. Eduardo argues with Mark, with Mark making a demeaning remark regarding Eduardo's failed attempts to find advertisers. Eduardo freezes the company's bank account and returns to New York.
Christy argues with Eduardo about his Facebook profile, which lists him as "single". Christy does not believe Eduardo when he reluctantly explains that he does not know how to change his profile. She accuses him of cheating on her and sets fire to a scarf he gave to her. While Eduardo extinguishes the fire she caused, Mark reveals on the phone that although he was upset that Eduardo almost jeopardized Facebook by freezing the bank account, they have secured $500,000 from angel investor
Angel investor
An angel investor or angel is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity...
Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel
Peter Andreas Thiel is an American business magnate, venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager. With Elon Musk and Max Levchin, Thiel co-founded PayPal and was its CEO...
. As a result of Christy's odd behavior, Eduardo ends his relationship with her.
While visiting the new headquarters for a meeting, Eduardo discovers the deal he signed with Sean's investors has allowed them to dilute his share of the company
Stock dilution
Stock dilution is a general term that results from the issue of additional common shares by a company. This increase in common shares of a stock can result from a secondary market offering, employees exercising stock options, or by conversion of convertible bonds, preferred shares or warrants into...
from 34 percent to 0.03 percent, while maintaining the ownership percentage of all other parties. He confronts Mark and announces his intention to sue him. During a party celebrating Facebook's one millionth member, Sean and a number of underage Facebook interns are arrested for possession of cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
. Sean tries deceiving Mark into believing that he had nothing to do with the incident and that Eduardo stashed the cocaine, but Mark does not believe him and tells him to "go home".
The story is intercut with scenes from depositions
Deposition (law)
In the law of the United States, a deposition is the out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that is reduced to writing for later use in court or for discovery purposes. It is commonly used in litigation in the United States and Canada and is almost always conducted outside of court by the...
taken in lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
s against Mark and Facebook—one filed by the Winklevoss twins, the other by Eduardo. The Winklevoss twins claim that Zuckerberg stole their idea, while Saverin claims his shares of Facebook were diluted when the company was incorporated
Incorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
. At the end, Marylin Delpy, a junior lawyer for the defense, informs Mark they will be settling with Eduardo, since the sordid details of Facebook's founding and Mark's callous attitude will make a jury highly unsympathetic. After everyone leaves, Mark sends a friend request to Erica Albright on Facebook, and refreshes the page every few seconds waiting for a response.
Cast
- Jesse EisenbergJesse EisenbergJesse Adam Eisenberg is an American actor. He made his screen debut with the comedy-drama television series Get Real from 1999 to 2000...
as Mark ZuckerbergMark ZuckerbergMark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president... - Andrew GarfieldAndrew GarfieldAndrew Russell Garfield is an American-English actor who has appeared in radio, theatre, film, and television. His early roles include the films Lions for Lambs, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Boy A, which garnered him the 2007 BAFTA Television Award for "Best Actor".Garfield achieved...
as Eduardo SaverinEduardo SaverinEduardo P. Saverin is a Brazilian-born American internet entrepreneur and investor. Saverin is best known for co-founding Facebook, along with Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes... - Justin TimberlakeJustin TimberlakeJustin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
as Sean ParkerSean ParkerSean Parker is an American technology businessman and entrepreneur. He co-founded Napster, Plaxo, Causes, and Airtime, and was Facebook's founding president. His net worth is estimated at $2.1 billion.-Early life:... - Armie HammerArmie HammerArmand Douglas "Armie" Hammer is an American actor. After appearing on television and playing the title role in 2008's Billy: The Early Years, he became known for his portrayal of the Winklevoss twins in the 2010 film The Social Network, and Clyde Tolson in J. Edgar...
as Cameron WinklevossCameron WinklevossCameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...
and Tyler WinklevossTyler WinklevossTyler Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Cameron Winklevoss... - Josh PenceJosh PenceJoshua Charles "Josh" Pence is an American actor, best known for playing Tyler Winklevoss in the 2010 film The Social Network.-Life and career:...
as Tyler Winklevoss (body doubleBody doubleA body double is a general term for someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character in any recorded visual medium, in shots where the character's body is shown but the face is either not visible or shown indistinctly, or in shots where the image of the credited actor's face is joined,...
for Armie Hammer) - Max MinghellaMax MinghellaMax Giorgio Choa Minghella is an English actor. The son of film director Anthony Minghella, he has appeared in several dramatic American films, making his feature film debut in 2005's Bee Season and starring in 2006's Art School Confidential...
as Divya NarendraDivya NarendraDivya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss.... - Brenda SongBrenda SongBrenda Song is an American actress, film producer, and model. Song started in show business as a child fashion model. Her early television work included roles in the shows Fudge and 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd...
as Christy Lee - Rashida JonesRashida JonesRashida Leah Jones is an American film and television actress, comic book author, screenwriter and occasional singer. She played Louisa Fenn on Boston Public and Karen Filippelli on The Office as well as roles in the films I Love You, Man and The Social Network...
as Marylin Delpy - Joseph MazzelloJoseph MazzelloJoseph Francis Mazzello III is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Tim Murphy in Jurassic Park, Eugene Sledge in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, and Dustin Moskovitz in The Social Network....
as Dustin MoskovitzDustin MoskovitzDustin Moskovitz is an American internet entrepreneur who co-founded the social networking website Facebook along with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes. Moskovitz owns a 6% share of Facebook. He is also a co-founder and the CEO of Asana. Moskovitz is Jewish... - Rooney Mara as Erica Albright
- Dustin FitzsimonsDustin FitzsimonsDustin Fitzsimons is an American actor who has starred and appeared in several films, television shows, and commercials....
as The Phoenix S-K Club President - Patrick Mapel as Chris Hughes
- Douglas UrbanskiDouglas UrbanskiDouglas Urbanski is an American theater impresario, raconteur and film producer.Urbanski is a business partner with actor Gary Oldman and he also runs a talent management firm, DMG...
as Larry SummersLawrence SummersLawrence Henry Summers is an American economist. He served as the 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He was Director of the White House United States National Economic Council for President Barack Obama until November 2010.Summers is the... - Wallace LanghamWallace LanghamJames Wallace Langham II is an American actor. He currently plays the role of David Hodges in the American crime drama television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.-Film career:...
as Peter ThielPeter ThielPeter Andreas Thiel is an American business magnate, venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager. With Elon Musk and Max Levchin, Thiel co-founded PayPal and was its CEO... - Dakota JohnsonDakota JohnsonDakota Mayi Johnson is an American fashion model and actress. She is the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith and the granddaughter of actress Tippi Hedren.-Career:...
as Amelia Ritter - Malese JowMalese JowMalese Jow is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She is best known for playing Geena Fabiano, a girl interested in fashion and designing her own clothes on the Nickelodeon television teen sitcom Unfabulous, and Anna, a teenage vampire on The CW television teen drama The Vampire...
as Alice Cantwel - Denise Grayson as Gretchen
- James Shanklin as Prince Albert IIAlbert II, Prince of MonacoAlbert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco is the head of the House of Grimaldi and the ruler of the Principality of Monaco. He is the son of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and the American actress Grace Kelly...
- Trevor WrightTrevor WrightTrevor Christopher Wright is an American actor.Wright was born in Pomona, California. His breakthrough acting role was in the 2007 film Shelter....
as Josh Thompson - John GetzJohn Getz-Personal life:Getz, one of four children, was born in Davenport, Iowa, and grew up in the Mississippi River Valley. He began acting while attending the University of Iowa, where he helped found the Center for New Performing Arts...
as Sy - Shelby YoungShelby YoungShelby Young is an American actress best known for her roles in The Social Network and Wild Child. She also voices all of the Lucky Charms, Trix and Coco Puffs commercials, and play the role of Kinsey on Days of our Lives....
as K.C. - David SelbyDavid SelbyDavid Lynn Selby is an American character and stage actor. He has worked in movies, soap operas and television. The naturally black-headed Selby is best known for playing the roles of Quentin Collins on the ABC-TV serial, Dark Shadows , and as the evil and compassionate...
as Gage - Aaron SorkinAaron SorkinAaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
as Ad Executive
Casting
Casting began in early August 2009, and open auditions were held in various states. Jesse EisenbergJesse Eisenberg
Jesse Adam Eisenberg is an American actor. He made his screen debut with the comedy-drama television series Get Real from 1999 to 2000...
was first announced to be attached to the project in September 2009. (Coincidentally, in an interview with Diane Sawyer
Diane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's World News with Diane Sawyer, Zuckerberg revealed that Eisenberg's cousin, Eric Fisher, was a Facebook product designer.) Several days later, Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
and Andrew Garfield
Andrew Garfield
Andrew Russell Garfield is an American-English actor who has appeared in radio, theatre, film, and television. His early roles include the films Lions for Lambs, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Boy A, which garnered him the 2007 BAFTA Television Award for "Best Actor".Garfield achieved...
were confirmed to portray the roles of Sean Parker
Sean Parker
Sean Parker is an American technology businessman and entrepreneur. He co-founded Napster, Plaxo, Causes, and Airtime, and was Facebook's founding president. His net worth is estimated at $2.1 billion.-Early life:...
and Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo P. Saverin is a Brazilian-born American internet entrepreneur and investor. Saverin is best known for co-founding Facebook, along with Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes...
, respectively. In October 2009, Brenda Song
Brenda Song
Brenda Song is an American actress, film producer, and model. Song started in show business as a child fashion model. Her early television work included roles in the shows Fudge and 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd...
, Rooney Mara, Armie Hammer
Armie Hammer
Armand Douglas "Armie" Hammer is an American actor. After appearing on television and playing the title role in 2008's Billy: The Early Years, he became known for his portrayal of the Winklevoss twins in the 2010 film The Social Network, and Clyde Tolson in J. Edgar...
, Shelby Young
Shelby Young
Shelby Young is an American actress best known for her roles in The Social Network and Wild Child. She also voices all of the Lucky Charms, Trix and Coco Puffs commercials, and play the role of Kinsey on Days of our Lives....
, and Josh Pence were cast. Max Minghella
Max Minghella
Max Giorgio Choa Minghella is an English actor. The son of film director Anthony Minghella, he has appeared in several dramatic American films, making his feature film debut in 2005's Bee Season and starring in 2006's Art School Confidential...
and Dakota Johnson
Dakota Johnson
Dakota Mayi Johnson is an American fashion model and actress. She is the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith and the granddaughter of actress Tippi Hedren.-Career:...
were also confirmed to star in the film. In a 2009 interview with The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
, Eisenberg said, "Even though I've gotten to be in some wonderful movies, this character seems so much more overtly insensitive in so many ways that seem more real to me in the best way. I don't often get cast as insensitive people, so it feels very comfortable: fresh and exciting, as if you never have to worry about the audience. Not that I worry about the audience anyway – it should be just the furthest thing from your mind. The Social Network is the biggest relief I've ever had in a movie".
Filming
Principal photographyPrincipal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
began in October 2009 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. Scenes were filmed around the campuses of two Massachusetts prep schools, Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
and Milton Academy
Milton Academy
Milton Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered starting in 9th grade...
. Additional scenes were filmed on the campus of Wheelock College
Wheelock College
Wheelock College is a private, coeducational college located in Boston, Massachusetts. The school was founded in 1888 by Lucy Wheelock. The mission of Wheelock College is to primarily improve the lives of children and families...
, which was set up to be Harvard's campus. (Harvard has turned down most requests for on-location filming ever since the filming of Love Story
Love Story (1970 film)
Love Story is a 1970 romantic drama film written by Erich Segal and based on his novel Love Story. It was directed by Arthur Hiller. The film, well known as a tragedy, is considered one of the most romantic of all time by the American Film Institute , and was followed by a sequel, Oliver's Story...
(1970), which caused significant physical damage to the campus.) Filming took place on the Keyser and Wyman quadrangles in the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
from November 2–4, which also doubled for Harvard in the film. The first scene in the film, where Zuckerberg is with his girlfriend, took 99 takes to finish. The film was shot on the Red One digital cinema camera at 4K resolution. The rowing scenes with the Winklevoss brothers were filmed at Community Rowing Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States bordered to the east by Boston. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Newton was 85,146, making it the eleventh largest city in the state.-Villages:...
and at the Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
. Although a significant portion of the latter half of the film is set in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
, the filmmakers opted to shoot those scenes in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. Miniature faking process was used in a sequence showing a rowing event at the Henley Royal Regatta.
Armie Hammer
Armie Hammer
Armand Douglas "Armie" Hammer is an American actor. After appearing on television and playing the title role in 2008's Billy: The Early Years, he became known for his portrayal of the Winklevoss twins in the 2010 film The Social Network, and Clyde Tolson in J. Edgar...
, who portrayed the Winklevoss twins, acted alongside body double Josh Pence
Josh Pence
Joshua Charles "Josh" Pence is an American actor, best known for playing Tyler Winklevoss in the 2010 film The Social Network.-Life and career:...
while his scenes were filmed. His face was later digitally grafted onto Pence's face during post-production, while other scenes used split-screen photography. Pence himself appears in a cameo role. Pence was concerned about having no face time during the role, but after consideration thought of the role as a "no-brainer". Hammer states that director David Fincher "likes to push himself and likes to push technology" and is "one of the most technologically minded guys I've ever seen." This included sending the actors to "twin boot camp" for 10 months to learn everything about the Winklevosses.
Lead actors Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield formed a close friendship during filming, which Eisenberg has stated made the filming of more emotional scenes difficult because he was upset by Garfield's heartbreaking performance yet had to remain unresponsive and in character.
Rowing production
Community Rowing Inc. held a casting call and a tryout for 20 rowing extras; some were graduates from Harvard, Northeastern University, Boston UniversityBoston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
, and Trinity College, as well as local club rowers from Union Boat Club
Union Boat Club
The Union Boat Club , founded in 1851, is a private social club and athletic club in Boston. It is the longest continuously operating rowing club in Boston...
and Riverside Boat Club
Riverside Boat Club
The Riverside Boat Club is a private, non-profit, rowing club on the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America. Founded in 1869 by workers from the Riverside Press, Riverside quickly established a reputation as a racing club, a tradition that continues today.While...
. None of the casted rowing extras for the Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
racing scene appeared in the film; filming for the race was originally planned to take place in Los Angeles, but Fincher decided to film in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
during production.
David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
hired Loyola Marymount coach Dawn Reagan to help train Josh Pence
Josh Pence
Joshua Charles "Josh" Pence is an American actor, best known for playing Tyler Winklevoss in the 2010 film The Social Network.-Life and career:...
and Armie Hammer
Armie Hammer
Armand Douglas "Armie" Hammer is an American actor. After appearing on television and playing the title role in 2008's Billy: The Early Years, he became known for his portrayal of the Winklevoss twins in the 2010 film The Social Network, and Clyde Tolson in J. Edgar...
. While Hammer was new to the sport, Pence rowed previously at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
.
The extras in pairs
Coxless pair
A Coxless pair is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars.The crew consists of a pair of rowers, each having one oar, one on the stroke side and one on the bow side...
for the Charles River
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
scene were cast as follows:
- Tom Owston and Joe Carrol
- Henry Roosevelt and Teddy Schreck
- Tyler Williamson and Matt Webb
- Perrin Hamilton and Steve Barchick
- Lucas Abegg and Jim Bayley (body doubles for Hammer and Pence)
The indoor rowing scene was filmed at Boston University's indoor rowing tanks. All of BU's blue oars in the scene were repainted to Harvard's crimson color for filming. Dan Boyne was the official rowing consultant for the film both in the US and the UK.
Soundtrack
On June 1, 2010, it was announced that Trent ReznorTrent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
and Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross is an English musician, composer and producer. Ross, along with Trent Reznor, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network in 2011.-Early career:...
would score the film. The soundtrack was released September 28 in various formats under the Null Corporation
The Null Corporation
The Null Corporation is an independent record label which releases the work of Nine Inch Nails and How to Destroy Angels. The Nine Inch Nails albums, Ghosts I–IV and The Slip, have been released in physical formats under the Null Corporation imprint...
label. Leading up to the release of the soundtrack, a free five-track EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
was made available for download. The White Stripes
The White Stripes
The White Stripes was an American rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consisted of the songwriter Jack White and drummer Meg White . Jack and Meg White were previously married to each other, but are now divorced...
' song "Ball and Biscuit" can be heard in the opening of the film and The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' song "Baby, You're a Rich Man" concludes the film. Neither song appears on the soundtrack.
Reznor and Ross won the award for best original soundtrack at the 2011 Golden Globes, as well as the 2011 Academy Award for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
.
The film itself contains 18 songs, some of which are not found on the soundtrack. These include songs from The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
, Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...
, 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
, Gluecifer
Gluecifer
Gluecifer was a hard rock band based in Oslo, Norway. Formed in 1994, they produced several underground releases during their first years of existence and soon claimed to be "kings of rock"....
, Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
, and The White Stripes
The White Stripes
The White Stripes was an American rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consisted of the songwriter Jack White and drummer Meg White . Jack and Meg White were previously married to each other, but are now divorced...
.
The background song used in the club scene (in California) is performed by Dennis de Laat, and is called "Sound of Violence (Main Mix)". It does not appear on the soundtrack.
Promotion
The first theatrical poster was released on June 18, 2010. The film's first teaser trailerTeaser trailer
A teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full-blown campaign for a product launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads"...
was released on June 25, 2010. The second teaser was released on July 8. The full length theatrical trailer debuted on July 15, 2010, which plays an edited version of the song "Creep", originally by Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, covered by the Belgian choir group Scala & Kolacny Brothers
Scala & Kolacny Brothers
Scala & Kolacny Brothers is a Belgian women's choir, conducted by Stijn Kolacny and arranged and accompanied by Steven Kolacny on the piano. Formed in 1996 and winning the Belgian 'Choir of the Year'-contest in 2000, they have made five studio albums, starting with On The Rocks in 2002.Most songs...
. The trailer was then shown in theaters, prior to the films Inception
Inception
Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...
, Dinner for Schmucks
Dinner for Schmucks
Dinner for Schmucks, a 2010 screwball comedy film, is the American adaptation of the French film Le Dîner de Cons , being described by the director as "inspired by" the original rather than a remake of it...
, Salt, Easy A
Easy A
Easy A is a 2010 teen comedy film written by Bert V. Royal, directed by Will Gluck, and starring Emma Stone. The screenplay was partially inspired by the novel The Scarlet Letter. The film was shot at Screen Gems studios and in Ojai, California. Screen Gems distributed with a release on...
, The Virginity Hit
The Virginity Hit
The Virginity Hit is a 2010 comedy film produced by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, and directed by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland. It stars Matt Bennett, Zack Pearlman, Jacob Davich, Justin Kline and Nicole Weaver....
and The Other Guys
The Other Guys
The Other Guys is a 2010 American action comedy film directed and co-written by Adam McKay, starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, and featuring Dwayne Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes, Steve Coogan, and Ray Stevenson...
.
Response by the principals
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...
said, "The Social Network is probably going to be a lot funnier than people might expect it to be." The Cardinal Courier
Cardinal Courier Media
The Cardinal Courier is the award-winning student newspaper at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York. The newspaper is published bi-weekly on Wednesdays. The Courier publishes 12 issues per year...
stated that the film was about "greed, obsession, unpredictability and sex" and asked "although there are over 500 million Facebook users, does this mean Facebook can become a profitable blockbuster movie?" At the D8 conference hosted by D: All Things Digital on June 2, 2010, host Kara Swisher
Kara Swisher
Kara Swisher is an American technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal and an author and commentator on the Internet....
told Zuckerberg she knew he was not happy with The Social Network being based on him, to which he replied, "I just wished that nobody made a movie of me while I was still alive." Zuckerberg stated to Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
that the drama and partying of the film is mostly fiction, explaining "this is my life, so I know it's not so dramatic," and that he spent most of the past six years focusing, working hard, and coding
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
Facebook. Speaking to an audience at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, Zuckerberg stated that the film portrayed his motivations for creating Facebook inaccurately; instead of an effort to "get girls", he says he created the site because he enjoys "building things". However, he added that the film accurately depicted his real-life wardrobe, saying, "It's interesting the stuff that they focused on getting right – like every single shirt and fleece they had in that movie is actually a shirt or fleece that I own."
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz is an American internet entrepreneur who co-founded the social networking website Facebook along with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes. Moskovitz owns a 6% share of Facebook. He is also a co-founder and the CEO of Asana. Moskovitz is Jewish...
called the film a "dramatization of history ... it is interesting to see my past rewritten in a way that emphasizes things that didn't matter, (like the Winklevosses
Winklevoss twins
The Winklevoss twins are American rowers and internet entrepreneurs, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss. They competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard classmate Divya Narendra...
, who I've still never even met and had no part in the work we did to create the site over the past 6 years) and leaves out things that really did (like the many other people in our lives at the time, who supported us in innumerable ways)". According to Moskovitz:
Co-founder Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo P. Saverin is a Brazilian-born American internet entrepreneur and investor. Saverin is best known for co-founding Facebook, along with Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes...
said of the film, "[...] the movie was clearly intended to be entertainment and not a fact-based documentary."
Sorkin has stated that, "I don’t want my fidelity to be to the truth; I want it to be to storytelling. What is the big deal about accuracy purely for accuracy’s sake, and can we not have the true be the enemy of the good?"
Journalist Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis is an American journalist. Previously he was a television critic for TV Guide and People magazine, creator of Entertainment Weekly, Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News, and a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner.-Career:Until recently Jarvis was...
acknowledged the film was "well-crafted" but called it "the anti-social movie", objecting to Sorkin's decision to change various events and characters for dramatic effect, and dismissing it as "the story that those who resist the change society is undergoing want to see." Technology broadcaster Leo Laporte
Leo Laporte
Léo Gordon Laporte is an Emmy Award winning, American technology broadcaster, author, and entrepreneur. A former resident of Providence, Rhode Island, he now lives in Petaluma, California with his wife Jennifer and two children, Abby and Henry....
concurred, calling the film "anti-geek and misogynistic
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
". Sorkin responded to these allegations by saying, "I was writing about a very angry and deeply misogynistic group of people".
Andrew Clark of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
wrote that "there's something insidious about this genre of [docudrama] scriptwriting," wondering if "a 26-year-old businessman really deserves to have his name dragged through the mud in a murky mixture of fact and imagination for the general entertainment of the movie-viewing public?" Clark added, "I'm not sure whether Mark Zuckerberg is a punk, a genius or both. But I won't be seeing The Social Network to find out."
Several noteworthy tech journalists and bloggers voiced their opinions of how the film portrays its real-life characters. Mashable
Mashable
Mashable is an American news website and Internet news blog founded by Pete Cashmore. The website's primary focus is social media news, but also covers news and developments in mobile, entertainment, online video, business, web development, technology, memes and gadgets...
founder and CEO Pete Cashmore
Pete Cashmore
Pete Cashmore is the CEO and founder of the popular blog Mashable, a Technorati Top 10 blog worldwide. He grew up in Banchory, and founded Mashable in Aberdeen, Scotland in 2005 at age 19...
, blogging for CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, said: "If the Facebook founder [Zuckerberg] is concerned about being represented as anything but a genius with an industrious work ethic, he can breathe a sigh of relief." Jessi Hempel, a technology writer for Fortune
Fortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...
who says she's known Zuckerberg "for a long time", wrote of the film:
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
professor Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence "Larry" Lessig is an American academic and political activist. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications, and he has called for state-based activism to promote substantive...
wrote in The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
that Sorkin's screenplay does not acknowledge the "real villain" of the story:
In an onstage discussion with The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
co-founder Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington is a Greek American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known as co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted more liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s...
, during Advertising Week 2010 in New York, Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said she had seen the film and it was "very Hollywood" and mainly "fiction". "In real life, he [Zuckerberg] was just sitting around with his friends in front of his computer, ordering pizza," she declared. "Who wants to go see that for two hours?"
Indian-American Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss....
said that he was "initially surprised" to see himself portrayed by the non-Indian actor Max Minghella
Max Minghella
Max Giorgio Choa Minghella is an English actor. The son of film director Anthony Minghella, he has appeared in several dramatic American films, making his feature film debut in 2005's Bee Season and starring in 2006's Art School Confidential...
, but also admitted that the actor did a "good job in pushing the dialogue forward and creating a sense of urgency in what was a very frustrating period."
Box office
During its opening weekend in the United States, the film debuted at #1, grossing $22.4 million in 2,771 theaters. The film retained the top spot in its second weekend, dropping only 31.2%, breaking InceptionInception
Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...
s 32.0% record as the smallest second weekend drop for any number-one film of 2010, while being the third smallest overall behind Secretariat
Secretariat (film)
Secretariat is a 2010 biographical film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mayhem Pictures, and directed by Randall Wallace. The film chronicles the life of thoroughbred race horse Secretariat, winner of the Triple Crown in 1973...
s 25.1% drop and Tooth Fairy
Tooth Fairy (film)
For other uses, see Tooth Fairy .Tooth Fairy is a 2004 short film about a father who forgets to leave money for his daughter from the "tooth fairy"...
s 28.6% drop. As of August 19, 2011, the film has grossed $96,962,694 in the United States and $127,957,621 elsewhere, for a worldwide total of $224,920,315.
Home media
The Social Network was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
January 11, 2011. In its first week of release, DVD sales totaled $13,470,305 and it was the number one sold DVD of the week. The DVD includes an audio commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
with director David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
, and a second commentary with writer Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
and the cast. The Blu-ray and 2-Disc DVD releases include the commentaries, along with a feature length documentary, How Did They Ever Make a Movie of Facebook?, featurettes, Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter and Ren Klyce on Post, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and David Fincher on the Score, In the Hall of the Mountain King: Reznor's First Draft, Swarmatron
Swarmatron
The Swarmatron is an analogue synthesizer or electronic musical instrument that uses a ribbon controller rather than a keyboard. It is noted for its use of multiple oscillators that are linked through a 'swarm' control, giving its distinctive sound and method of playing.- Operation :The Swarmatron...
, Jeff Cronenweth and David Fincher on the Visuals, and a Ruby Skye VIP Room: Multi-Angle Scene Breakdown feature.
Critical response
The Social Network has received critical acclaim; Review aggregate Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 96% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 272 reviews, with an average score of 9/10 and a critical consensus of: "Impeccably scripted, beautifully directed, and filled with fine performances, The Social Network is a riveting, ambitious example of modern filmmaking at its finest." It has a 100% among "Top Critics". The film also holds a score of 95 based on 42 reviews on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, indicating "universal acclaim" and making it one of the site's highest-rated movies of all time.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, giving it four stars and naming it the best film of the year, wrote: "David Fincher's film has the rare quality of being not only as smart as its brilliant hero, but in the same way. It is cocksure, impatient, cold, exciting and instinctively perceptive." Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, gave the film his first full four star rating of the year and said: "The Social Network is the movie of the year. But Fincher and Sorkin triumph by taking it further. Lacing their scathing wit with an aching sadness, they define the dark irony of the past decade." The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
review called it "flawless" and gave it five stars. Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
listed The Social Network as one of his favorite 20 movies of the year, second to Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film, and the third installment in the Toy Story series. It was produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Lee Unkrich. The film was released worldwide from June through October in Disney Digital...
.
Some reviewers pointed out that the film plays loosely with the facts behind Facebook's founding. Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern is a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for The Wall Street Journal.-Career:Morgenstern graduated from Lehigh University in 1953. His first journalism experience was as news clerk at the New York Times...
in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
praised the film as exhilarating but noted: "The biographical part takes liberties with its subject. Aaron Sorkin based his supersmart and superbly funny screenplay on a contentious book, Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires
The Accidental Billionaires
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal is a 2009 book by Ben Mezrich about the founding of Facebook. Co-founder Eduardo Saverin served as Mezrich's main consultant...
, so everything that's seen isn't necessarily to be believed."
The film won Best Picture from the National Society of Film Critics
National Society of Film Critics
The National Society of Film Critics is an American film critic organization. As of December 2007 the NSFC had approximately 60 members who wrote for a variety of weekly and daily newspapers.-History:...
, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January...
and the National Board of Review, making it only the third film in history (after Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
and L. A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential (film)
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
) to sweep the "Big Four" critics. The film also won the "Hollywood Ensemble Award" from the Hollywood Awards. The Social Network appeared on 78 critics' top 10 list for 2010, of those critics 22 had the film in their number one spot.
Top ten lists
The Social Network appeared on over 70 critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2010. Over a dozen publications ranked the film first in their lists.- 1st – Peter TraversPeter TraversPeter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
, Rolling StoneRolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J... - 1st – Roger EbertRoger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city... - 1st – Christy LemireChristy LemireChristy Lemire is the film critic for The Associated Press and co-host of Ebert Presents at the Movies with Ignatiy Vishnevetsky. She also co-hosts the weekly online movie review show, What The Flick?!....
, Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists... - 1st – Andrea Grunvall, Chicago Reader
- 1st – Owen Gleiberman, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
- 1st - Betsy Sharkey, Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
- 1st - Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
- 1st - Jim Emerson, Dave McCoy, and Mary Pols, MSN Movies
- 1st - Stephen Holden, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- 1st - David DenbyDavid Denby (film critic)David Denby is an American journalist, best known as a film critic for The New Yorker magazine.-Background and education:Denby grew up in New York City. He received a B.A...
, The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast... - 1st - Now Magazine
- 1st - Tim Robey, Telegraph
- 1st - Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
- 1st - Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
- 1st - Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
- 1st - The Fricken Film Critic, YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
Accolades
The Social Network won the Best Motion Picture – Drama Golden Globe at the 68th Golden Globe Awards68th Golden Globe Awards
The 68th Golden Globe Awards was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 16, 2011, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais....
on January 16, 2011. The film also won the awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
The Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award...
and Best Original Score
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association , an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside North America, since its institution in 1947...
, making it the film with the most wins of the night.
The film was nominated for seven British Academy Film Awards
British Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...
, including Best Film
BAFTA Award for Best Film
This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
, Leading Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
(Jesse Eisenberg), Supporting Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Actor in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film...
(Andrew Garfield) and Rising Star
Rising Star Award, BAFTA
Rising Star Award is one of the award categories for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts which acknowledges new talents in the acting industry. The award was created after Mary Selway's death in 2004...
(Andrew Garfield) won three for Best Editing
BAFTA Award for Best Editing
The BAFTA Award for Best Editing is one of several annual awards presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . The film-voting members of the Academy select the five nominated films in each category; only the principal editor for each film are named, which excludes additional...
, Adapted Screenplay
BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Adapted Screenplay has been presented to its winners since 1968:-1980s:1983: Heat and Dust – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala*Betrayal – Harold Pinter...
and Best Direction
BAFTA Award for Best Direction
Winners of the BAFTA Award for Best Direction presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.-2010s:* 2010 - David Fincher – The Social Network** Tom Hooper – The King's Speech** Danny Boyle – 127 Hours...
on February 13, 2011.
The Social Network received nominations for eight Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, including Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
, Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
, Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay. It won three for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing at the 83rd Academy Awards
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
on February 27, 2011.
See also
- The Winklevoss Chang Group, the alleged partnership between ConnectUConnectUConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...
and i2hubI2hubi2hub was a peer-to-peer file sharing service and program designed and intended primarily for use by university and college students. The program was created by Wayne Chang, a student at University of Massachusetts, Amherst... - Pirates of Silicon ValleyPirates of Silicon ValleyPirates of Silicon Valley is a 1999 made-for-television film directed by Martyn Burke and based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. The film documents the impact on the development of the personal computer of the rivalry between...
- 1999 film about the rise of Apple ComputerApple ComputerApple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
(Steve JobsSteve JobsSteven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
and Steve WozniakSteve WozniakStephen Gary "Woz" Wozniak is an American computer engineer and programmer who founded Apple Computer, Co. with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne...
) and MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
(Bill GatesBill GatesWilliam Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
, Steve BallmerSteve BallmerSteven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer is an American business magnate. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000. , his personal wealth is estimated at US$13.9 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.-Early life:Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to...
, Paul AllenPaul AllenPaul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...
) from the 1970s to the 1990s.
External links
- Screenplay
- Official Screenplay - http://flash.sonypictures.com/video/movies/thesocialnetwork/awards/thesocialnetwork_screenplay.pdf