David Fincher & Aaron Sorkin on The Social Network…

Full Transcript

Tuesday 09/28/2010

Director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin reflect on their collaboration on The Social Network, their research into the complicated legal battles over Facebook, and the young actors they cast.

00:01
Charlie Rose: Facebook was founded in 2003 by a 19-year-oldHarvard student named Mark Zuckerberg. The company has since grown into a global phenomenon with 500 million users and an estimated value of $25 billion. The invention of Facebook has already been the subject of countless articles, several bestselling books, and two major lawsuits. It is now a major motion picture. It is called “The Social Network,” andhere is the trailer.
00:28
Unidentified Person: Here you go. Wait! How do you do this thing where you manage to get all girls to hate us? I think I’ve come up with something. That looks really good. Welcome to Facebook. Hi girls, Hello. $1 million isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? $1 billion. You mad Facebook? This is our time. “The Social Network.”
00:57
Charlie Rose: Joining me now is the director David Fincher. His previous films include “Fight Club,” “Zodiac,” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” for which he earned an Oscar nomination in 2008. Also here screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. His writing credits include “The West Wing,” Sportsnight” and”Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” I am pleased to have both ofthem back at this table. Welcome.
01:16
David Fincher: Good to be here.
01:18
Charlie Rose: And congratulations.
01:20
Aaron Sorkin: Thank you very much.
01:22
Charlie Rose: Is it surprising the two of you are workingtogether on this?
01:26
Aaron Sorkin: At first glance it’s an unusual marriage ofdirector and material. David is most known for being peerless as a visual director and I write people talking in rooms.
01:36
Charlie Rose: There’s any question.
01:37
Aaron Sorkin: I feel it’s an Oscar thing.
01:39
Charlie Rose: Exactly.
01:44
Aaron Sorkin: But that reaped great rewards because, first ofall, David completely embraced the fact that this was going tobe a story told with language, but he brought his distinct visual style and artistry to the movie as well as being able to get great performances out of a group of very talented but very young actors. And then finally in the editing room his cutting style.There are moments in the movie of hacking, and David makes them look like a bank robbery.
02:13
Charlie Rose: Well, it is kind of like a bank robbery. When you were asked to do this, I guess Scott Rudin did it?
02:23
David Fincher: No, I got a call from Scott and Amy Pascal, andthey said “We have a script that’s so good it doesn’t evenrequire anybody of any ability at all.”
02:31
Charlie Rose: So we’re coming to you.
02:35
David Fincher: So I was like, yes.
02:37
Charlie Rose: So did you say yes after 15 minutes of looking at the script?
02:40
David Fincher: I read the thing all the way through, but shortlythereafter, five, ten seconds afterwards —
02:46
Charlie Rose: A movie about Facebook?
02:48
David Fincher: That’s what I said. That was my biggest fear was it was something I didn’t really know anything about. I really didn’t know the story behind it and I was unsure of how dramatic it could be. And my questions were answered in the first 20 or 30 pages.
03:03
Aaron Sorkin: And the thing is it’s not a movie about Facebook.At the center of this is a very, very modern invention, but the themes in it are — and the story is oldest story telling itself of friendship and loyalty and betrayal and power and class and these things that Shakespeare would have written about and Aeschylus would have written about, and it was just lucky for me none of those guys were available so I got to write about it.
03:26
Charlie Rose: So your challenge was to take these relationshipsand these lawsuits and animosities and all of that among very young people and create the —
03:38
Aaron Sorkin: Yes, well, the first challenge was the — after you look at all the available research and then all the legaldocuments and after — I did a lot of first-person research,talking to a number of the people who were characters in the movie.
03:51
Charlie Rose: Including Zuckerberg?
03:53
Aaron Sorkin: No. We made an aggressive attempt to get Mark to help us and get Facebook to help us, and after deliberating for a long time, Mark did exactly what I would have done, which was pass. But we did tell him that whether they cooperated or not, we were going to show them the script and we would love to hear their notes. So we did do that, and they gave us notes that had mostly to do with hacking. I mean the terminology for hacking.
04:22
Charlie Rose: So they accepted the idea this is a movie andthere is —
04:31
Aaron Sorkin: Well, what you have to since there were — I said in your intro there were two lawsuits brought against Facebook at roughly the same time. The defendant, the plaintiffs, the witnesses, they all came into the deposition rooms, they all swore out an oath, and we ended up with three very different and often conflicting versions of the story. So what I did was instead of pick one and decide that sounds like the truth to me, I’ll run with that, or pick one and decide that sounds like the sexiest to me, I’ll run with that, I really liked that there were three conflicting versions of the story.
05:09
Charlie Rose: So in the end, this is a movie, this is not the story of the founding of Facebook. It’s a movie in which there are various people who saw what happened differently and you reflected that difference?
05:16
Aaron Sorkin: Those stories are set against the backdrop of thefounding of Facebook. I don’t think it belongs to any genre, frankly. But the closest one — and David and I my disagree on this — but I think closest one it belongs to is a courtroom drama where at the beginning we’re certain of someone’s guilt or innocence and then we change our mind five times before the end of the movie. There will not be a consensus in the audience about who’s good and who’s bad and who’s right and who’s wrong. Those arguments will happen in the parking lot.
05:39
Charlie Rose: Tell me about Mark Zuckerberg that you havecaptured here and tell me act the actor who plays him.
05:44
David Fincher: Jesse Eisenberg. Well, again, we didn’t have access to Mark Zuckerberg. We had access to some clips.
05:51
Charlie Rose: There’s video.
05:54
David Fincher: Yes, we were able to look at those. But the two things are hard to — a little hard to reconcile because obviously Mark Zuckerberg the character in this movie has words put in his mouth by Aaron Sorkin.
06:04
Charlie Rose: Wouldn’t we all like that?
06:07
David Fincher: Exactly. But it was a — that was a very difficult thing to reconcile because you’re talking about a guy who on “60 Minutes” moves very slowly and cautiously in terms of how he speaks and answers questions. And obviously the script that was written was 162 pages.
06:26
Charlie Rose: So the guy we saw on “60 Minutes” is not the guywe see in your script in terms of rapidity of conversation,velocity of talk?
06:35
Aaron Sorkin: Yes. The characters are speaking in my voice.But the — there are certainly — you would, the guy you see inthe movie you would certainly recognize as the guy we see on”60 Minutes.” The one big difference is that the guy we’reseeing on “60 Minutes” is now 26 years old, whereas our MarkZuckerberg in the movie is 19, he’s a sophomore at Harvard.
06:56
Charlie Rose: And considerably more sophisticated.
06:59
Aaron Sorkin: Yes. And we wanted to get that. In these deposition room scene which is take place several years after most of the action in the movie, there is a more sophisticated, slightly more grounded guy who’s been through fire and is — he also in those scenes, he’s the underdog. He’s — he has to defend himself against this white shoe law firm and all these accusers and he’s got to do it without his head flying off.
07:33
Charlie Rose: Here is a clip from the “60 Minutes” profile ofMark Zuckerberg.
07:38
Unidentified Person: He and his two roommates created an online version of the Harvard student directory where kids could message each other. They called it “The Facebook” and launched it from their dorm room. Within four months, they had expanded to 40 colleges and over the summer, moved to Palo Alto. But Mark had done code writing for some upper classmen with a similar idea and they have filed a lawsuit.Three Harvard students are suing you, claiming that you stole their idea for Facebook.
08:10
Mark Zuckerberg: Well, I mean, we knew that we didn’t steal any ideas or code, so we’re just kind of waiting until that comesout in court.
08:19
Unidentified Person: In the lawsuit, they claim that you were duplicitous. Are you worried about it?
08:25
Mark Zuckerberg: No. I don’t really spend a whole lot of my time worrying about that. We have lawyers at the company who deal with that stuff, and it just is not a huge concern.
08:35
Charlie Rose: And here’s a clip of Mark Zuckerberg as played byJesse Eisenberg in the film “The Social Network,” a scenehaving to do with the deposition. question?
08:46
Unidentified Person: In the 16th e-mail you raise concernsabout the site’s functionality. Were you leading them on for six weeks? No. Then why didn’t you raise any of these concerns before? It’s raining. I’m sorry? It just started raining. Mr. Zuckerberg, do I have your full attention? No. Do you think I deserve it? What? Do you think I deserve your full attention? I had t swear an oath before I began this deposition and I don’t want to perjure myself, so I have a legal obligation to say no.
09:25
Ok: I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall they have a right to give it a try, but there’s no requirement I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my intention, you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room — including and especially your clients — are intellectually or creatively capable of doing. Did I adequately answer your condescending question?
09:47
Charlie Rose: Here is what “New York Magazine” says. “The movie Facebook doesn’t want you to see, is “The SocialNetwork” fair? Start arguing now.” Is this fair to Zuckerberg and Facebook?
09:56
David Fincher: You never want to present a character in amovie that you don’t empathize with. It was never — it’s not character assassination. We were — we had a guy who from certain perspectives he was a Judas and he had betrayed his friend. And obviously that’s a specific POV. You know, some people have seen the movie who know some of these participants. And they have said, you know, alternately, how did Jesse Eisenberg capture Mark Zuckerberg and coming out of the same screening, and you’ll hear people say we didn’t lay a glove on him. So it’s a very tricky thing. I always try to make sure that, you know, it’s not my intention to present an argument where I’ve already drawn my conclusion. I like the fact there were four people at a table who all thought they were right. And I think that makes the most interesting drama and the most interesting arguments.
11:00
Aaron Sorkin: And I think if I were Mark on Facebook I wouldwant the story told from only my perspective. But this is a story told from Mark’s as well as the people accusing him. I do think that it’s fair. I think that, like David said, you can’t create a movie character that you don’t empathize. I don’t think any of us —
11:24
Charlie Rose: That’s true whether it’s the writer or director.
11:28
Aaron Sorkin: Or the actor for that matter.
11:30
Charlie Rose: If you’re not fascinated and empathize with your character.
11:34
Aaron Sorkin: Yes. And I understand — I don’t think any of us would want a movie made about the things we did when we were 19 years old. But this is a movie — he’s a fascinating guywho in the end —
11:47
Charlie Rose: What makes him fascinating to you as a writer?
11:50
Aaron Sorkin: I think that he’s got his nose pressed up againstthe window of social life at college and then the world.
11:57
Charlie Rose: It’s like he arrived at college a bit socially inept.
12:02
Aaron Sorkin: More than a bit. He was a socially awkward guy.By the way, I can identify with that, too. He’s most comfortable sitting 18 inches away from a computer screen.
12:14
Charlie Rose: And you’re most comfortable in a room with thedoor shut at a computer?
12:20
Aaron Sorkin: Yes, sure. I would like people to think that I’m as quick and clever and charming as the characters that I write.And I would be happy just writing what I write, slipping it under the door and having somebody slip a meal back under the door in exchange. And that’s actually what Mark ended up creating.He invented a world where you can reinvent yourself.
12:44
Charlie Rose: All right, roll tape. This is the introduction of one other character, Eduardo, played by Andrew Garfield, when they launch the site because he plays a significant role later.Here it is.
12:59
Unidentified Person: Relationship status — interested. This is what drives life in college. Are you having sex or aren’t you? It’s why people take certain classes and sit where they sit and do what they do. That’s what the Facebook is going to be about.People will log on because after all the cake and watermelon,there’s a chance they’re going to get laid. Meet a girl. Yes. That is really good. And tha was it? What do you mean? It’s ready.Right now? Yes.
13:29
Charlie Rose: So who was that character played by Andrew Garfield?
13:32
David Fincher: That was Eduardo Saverin. He’s the guy that put up $1,000 dollars to start what was at that point called “The Facebook.” And he’s his college buddy and his confidante and his best friend.
13:44
Aaron Sorkin: He’s his best friend. It’s possible, in fact, that he may have been his only friend at that moment, and genuinely cares for Mark, and is — tries to act as Mark’s conscience, which is a problem for Justin Timberlake’s character.
14:00
Charlie Rose: Sean Parker.
14:03
Aaron Sorkin: Sean Parker, the founder of Napster. And he comes into the movie about an hour in. And in order for Sean to pursue his own agenda, he needs Mark to get rid of Eduardo.
14:14
Charlie Rose: Tell me about Sean parker and the casting ofSean Parker?
14:19
David Fincher: Well, we have — you know, we have the version of Sean parker in the movie who needed to be — he’s describedin the prose as being like Frank Sinatra. He walks into this restaurant and all eyes are on him and he’s able to navigate these waters so gracefully.
14:35
Charlie Rose: Justin will do just fine.
14:40
David Fincher: That was the thing. There are many number of ways Justin Timberlake being in your movie can upset the apple cart in that we’re trying to build this ensemble, and you bring in a guy who is so well known in this other realm and it can throw off the balance of trying to make all these separate but equal puzzle pieces. And, you know, in the end we put him through hell. He did four or five screen tests for it. But I needed somebody Jesse could look across a restaurant and see and go “That’s how you do it. That’s how you walk into a restaurant.That’s how you handle being the center of attention,” and youcan tell an actor —
15:23
Charlie Rose: Charisma.
15:26
David Fincher: Yes, or how you abuse it and how you ignore itand it flows from you and to you. I needed somebody, I needed a 20-something who could understand what it is to put people together and profit from it.
15:38
Charlie Rose: What’s the largest literary license you took here?
15:43
Aaron Sorkin: I didn’t create any fictional characters. I changed some names. There are three characters whose names I changed, and one of those three is an off screen character. In the other two cases it just wasn’t necessary to embarrass this person further. But the literary licenses that I took are exactly same as literary license taken by anyone writing nonfiction, which is to say that people don’t speak in dialogue, so you haveto write that for them. And life doesn’t play itself out in scenes.It doesn’t have the dramatic structure that you need for a movie. Nothing was invented for the movie for the sake ofsensationalizing it or Hollywood-izing it. But I did the same thing that when Peter Morgan writes “The Queen” obviously he wasn’t in Queen Elizabeth’s bedroom when she’s talking to her husband about their daughter-in-law.
16:33
Charlie Rose: Was it hard to visualize?
16:36
David Fincher: I don’t think in those terms. I think of maybe not visualization as much as it is — I think of my job as to create an environment wherein somebody can work those things out. I don’t think of it as so much about camera placement afteryou’ve done a rehearsal and decide what people are going to do. And then you go where’s the moment here? Where do we have to be? Are we over the shoulder? Are we including a piece of the person? How subjective is it? And for me, yes, there’s a lot of stuff you go, my god, there’s going to be so much typing in this movie. How are we going to make that? But there’s also so many moments where people are riffing and the excitement is in seeing the reaction of the person who’s listening. There’s the club scene.
17:28
Charlie Rose: Take a look at this. This is Mark and Sean talking about Facebook at the nightclub?
17:33
David Fincher: Yes talking about where it can go, what it can be, and how not to miss —
17:37
Aaron Sorkin: And Sean is really seducing Mark. You’ll see.
17:41
Charlie Rose: Roll tape, here it is.
17:45
Unidentified Person: I read your blog. That wa perfect. You kno why I started Napster? The girl I loved in high school was with the co-captain of the varsity lacrosse team and I wanted to take her from him. So I decided to come up with the next big thing. I didn’ know that. Napster wasn’t a failure. I changed the music industry for better and for always. It may not have been good business, but it pissed a lot of people off. And isn’t that what your face mash was about? They’re scared of me, pal, and they’re going to be scared of you. They want to say “Good idea, kid, grown-ups will take it from here.” But not this time.This is our time. This time you’re going hand them a business card that says “I’m
18:30
Ceo: Initially the first draft of the script was much more of this idea of being able to get revenge or be able to show the woman who had scoffed at you how what you could become. And we replaced a lot of those ideas as soon as we had Justin and we were tailoring it to Justin to this idea of the Victoria’s Secret, you know, the guy who invented Victoria’s Secret, and talking specifically about this store that went from being a $40,000 loan from in-laws to a $5 million thing the guy cashed out and sold to somebody else, who then went on to make a half billion dollar industry out of it and the guy who originally invented it jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. And so that’s what Sean is talking about in this. He’s saying it’s not only whether or not you have a great idea, but there’s a moment in time where this can be something huge, and don’t miss it.
19:23
Charlie Rose: Congratulations to both of you.
19:25
David Fincher: Thank you.
19:27
Aaron Sorkin: Thank you very much.

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The Social Network is available now to rent on all streaming platforms…