Home Posts filed under >Aaron Sorkin
As a writer or director, the temptation to engage with your on-line critics must be enormous. While most stay above the fray, correctly assuming they'll be called a Nazi within three posts, some, like "Transformers" producer Don Murphy, seem to be spend as much time on message boards as they do producing shitty movies.
Following the release of "The Social Network," a minor controversy has been brewing about the depiction of women in the film, with commentators at the likes of The Daily Beast, Salon and Jezebel all taking the film to task for its portrayal of womanhood. While writer Aaron Sorkin has had plenty of defenders (Alison Willmore at IFC wrote a particularly strong response), the "West Wing" creator, who's more or less a lock for an Oscar for his work on David Fincher's film, even this far out, has finally responded personally, in a somewhat unlikely forum.
A commenter on the blog of TV comedy writer Ken Levine ("Frasier") raised the issue, saying that the women "were basically sex objects/stupid groupies" and that Sorkin "failed the women in this script." Sorkin himself (seemingly via an assistant) responded in the comments section, and it's no surprise that it's an eloquent defense of his work. Some select extracts are below.
"It's not hard to understand how bright women could be appalled by what they saw in the movie but you have to understand that that was the very specific world I was writing about"
"Facebook was born during a night of incredibly misogyny. The idea of comparing women to farm animals, and then to each other, based on their looks and then publicly ranking them"
"These aren't the cuddly nerds we made movies about in the 80s. They're very angry that the cheerleader still wants to go out with the quarterback instead of the men (boys) who are running the universe right now. The women they surrond themselves with aren't women who challenge them (and frankly, no woman who could challenge them would be interested in being anywhere near them)."
"I invented two characters -- one was Rashida Jones's "Marylin," the youngest lawyer on the team and a far cry from the other women we see in the movie. She's plainly serious, competent and, when asked, has no problem speaking the truth as she sees it to Mark... And Rooney Mara's Erica's a class act."
You can read the full text over at Levine's site, but it's a gracious, smart response, and should hopefully close the book on a 'controversy' that's always seemed a little thin to us, or anyone else who paid attention in the film itself.
Slow down there tigers. David Fincher's "The Social Network" is an admirable piece of work, another outstanding piece of technical craftsmanship from the notoriously fastidious filmmaker, a tour de force of editing, a snap, crackle and pop of witty "His Girl Friday"-like tête-à-tête dialogue, and it does feature Jesse Eisenberg's best performance so far. Admittedly, there is a lot to love about the film, but those critics bemoaning the fact that it doesn't have a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes because of Armond White (that evil man, how could he!?) are being downright silly. The picture — like all movies — is not perfect (does a truly perfect movie even exist aside from a handful of unimpeachable classics?) and more importantly, it has its flaws.
Moreover, it's a film that has been doused in hyperbole. The film that defines a generation. Really? Why, because it features computers? It's well established that the film is not about Facebook and or social media or social networks. It's about — at the end of the day — friendship, greed, betrayal, entitlement, and to an extent, communication in the communication age. But how most of those themes only apply to this decade is puzzling (Peter Travers, care to explain?). Don't get it twisted, we liked the film (this writer's grade is more B, B+ than the A-grades it's been getting across the board, but whatever), but it's not god's gift to movies (though it certainly will have more long-tail resonance than the enjoyable, but slight, "Toy Story 3" which also almost had a 100% RT grade until Armond did his unspeakable dislike thing).
Oh, and don't let producers tell you that screenplays that leak online are just first drafts. While that's often the case, it's not always true, and Aaron Sorkin's script is proof; the version online and the finished film are almost word for word the same in dialogue and certainly in exact structure and sequence flow. Regardless, here's six issues and/or quibbles why the film is not "perfect."
1. The under-developed relationship between Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). While Justin Timberlake is an important part of the equation as entrepreneur Sean Parker, the film's nuts and bolts are about the dissolution of the Zuckerberg/Saverin relationship. And in a very Sorkin-esque/TV manner, the backstory of their friendship is done away with and implied. It's fully in swing when the film starts and when it eventually crumbles under the weight of underhanded maneuvers, potential betrayals, miscommunication and greed (though this is all subjective and the viewer is supposed to decide), there's no real sense that Saverin is Zuckerberg's "only friend" as Garfield states in the film. We're not asking for a hugging scene or a heart-to-heart, but something that developed their relationship a little deeper may have made the conclusion a bit more resonant. This under-developed friendship, in a way, is the Achilles heel to the picture; it zips by so enjoyably and with such thrilling zest you might not even realize until later.
2. Speaking of underdeveloped relationships, the girlfriends -- Erica (Rooney Mara) and Christy (Brenda Song) -- are given particularly short shrift. While Mark continues to pine for Erica after she dumps him in the first scene, we're never really shown that he cared for her or they had much of a relationship to begin with. As for Christy, her turn from casual sex Facebook groupie to the raving psychopath girlfriend of Eduardo is as random as it is puzzling and ultimately pointless. Her ultimate impact on the narrative or even Eduardo's brief arc is nil.
3. Fincher's tone is cold and aloof. While "The Social Network" is Fincher's most humanist film, that's still relative and he keeps the viewers at emotional arm's length. This speaks to the director's decision to not develop the friendship further or task the screenwriter to do the same (in a recent Vulture interview Fincher says the studio asked for something more between the two in the film's conclusion, but they ultimately decided to not add the scene).
4. The TV-ish-ness of it all. Yes, the editing is something thrilling, but the sometimes unimaginative cutting-back-and-forth structure in the middle of the film feels slack and TV-ish, as per Sorkin's standards. There's an episodic feel to Zuckerberg's adventures with Sean Parker sans Saverin and one could argue that "The Social Network," while a thrilling piece of drama, is nothing more than super entertaining two-hour tele-film. One created by one of the best technicians working in cinema today, but there's something about the episodic nature and structure that has little emotion and more importantly, little long-tail resonance. "The Social Network" is thrilling in the moment. A little later? Not so much.
5. It's "Law & Order" functioning at its highest level. Back to the TV argument again, but the script — which this writer didn't really care for — is essentially a court room drama played out in flashbacks. Pretty conventional stuff when you think about it.
6. A very small quibble, but the film's lack of interest in current Facebook predicaments — the sharing and profiting of people's personal profiles and Zuckerberg's antagonism towards the critics of this practice would have been some excellent drama or themes that are not utilized.
7. Also, hello? Not enough Winkelvi. Kidding. Sort of, though Armie Hammer as the Winklevoss twins is an outstanding scene-stealer.
Again, don't get it twisted. This isn't the contrarian critic point of view, more of just a keep your pants on fyi to the the critics who woke up passed out with their pants around their ankles and their underwear conspicuously missing when their reviews were completed (in a year of Oscar fives, this writer believes "The Social Network" would have a zero shot). As for the hate on Armond, well, pile on all you want, but he's right with this point (even though we too often don't always agree with him either), "[the] frat-boy mentality [is] in effect, no one else in cyberspace dares dissent from the hype." And it's true and unfortunate. Once that buzz ball starts rolling downhill, everyone wants to join and rarely does anyone care to hear otherwise.
Also? We could totally be wrong, but like Justin Timberlake recently said, this film could easily divide audiences. We suspect it'll do well, but it feels like a critics film to us, not one that the public is going to be totally receptive to afterwards. We could be wrong, time will tell. What seems to be clear though is that the raves and the curiosity bug has bit them. With little competition this weekend, "The Social Network" should easily nab the #1 slot, now it's just a matter of how well it does. Our guess is the $15-20million range, but maybe the Facebook appeal — there are 500 million users worldwide after all — could prove stronger. -- RP, Gabe Toro, Kevin Jagernauth
There's no denying that David Fincher, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, Jesse Eisenberg and the rest of the cast of his upcoming drama, "The Social Network" has an immense degree of empathy for Mark Zuckerberg, so those expecting an intense vilification of the founder and CEO of Facebook — accused of stealing the idea from his co-founders and other Harvard grads who had enlisted his help for a similar idea — best think again. While the picture does cast the Aspergers-like social media creator in an unflattering light, it's not simply an excoriating one and the picture shares several character textures and perspectives.
"[Saying Zuckerberg] is an asshole is such a reductive overly simplistic way [of looking at it.]," Fincher said in today's post-New York Film Festival press screening Q&A about his latest which arrives in theaters October 1.
In fact, Fincher openly sympathizes with the anti-hero of the film played by a tremendous Jesse Eisenberg, finally playing against his nerdy neurotic type. "I have no qualms in saying that I think Eduardo Saverin [Andrew Garfield's character] had a failure of imagination and at some point there was going to be a fork in the road for those two guys," Fincher said about the two Facebook partners who part ways acrimoniously in the film.
Eisenberg concurred that his rendering of the damaged and dysfunctional Zuckerberg is one rooted in the character's own insecurities and failures and wasn't simply a one-note villain. "My main responsibility was to not only understand where my character was coming from but to be able to defend all his positions and behavior and ultimately sympathize with him. Over the course of the movie and this publicity [tour] I've developed even a greater affection for my character."
However those expecting a film about Facebook (or hoping to hate a film about Facebook) itself should also ready themselves, and or put their knives away. Justin Timberlake does not play Myspace in guyliner and Fincher's eighth feature-length film is more of a courtroom procedural, and perhaps is not unlike "Zodiac," insofar as it's another intense examination of past events from the contradicting perspective of several different people.
"Obviously there was a lot of Internet chatter when it was first announced," Fincher explained dryly not concealing his disdain for the Internet. "I think people thought we were making a sequel to 'The Net' or something, or we were trying to do some fad-hopping, but I didn't really know anything about the origins of Facebook. I just had a dry read of the script that had a bunch of people that I felt I knew intimately and could relate to and felt it was a wonderful two hour [movie]."
Unless, you've been living under a rock you probably know the film centers on three men: Zuckerberg, his business partner Saverin and Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the entrepreneur and former Napster co-founder and their involvement (and eventual, bitter falling-out) in the creation of the now phenomenally popular social media application (500 million active users and counting) that has changed the digital landscape like no other. But that's just surface level conceit as the picture is much more about alienation, brotherhood (or lack thereof), the nature of communication, the irony of disconnection in the dialed-in media world, with a good dose of betrayal, greed, alienation and misunderstanding thrown in for good measure.
"I never thought it was a movie about Facebook," screenwriter Aaron Sorkin said. "It was a movie that has themes as old as storytelling itself, friendship, loyalty, class, jealousy, things that Shakespeare or [legendary screenwriter] Paddy Chayefsky would write about. Lucky for me none of these guys were around so I got to write about it."
Those expecting a traditional biopic explaining why people behaved the way they did should also be forewarned. This is a movie that lives in a present tense and attempts to deconstruct facts for an audience to discern or make what they will of them. "I wasn't interested in [the why], " Fincher said, "I was interested in what they did, and because we saw it from multiple points of view — and all of those points of view were of course polarized by intense litigation — [you never knew the full truth.]"
Sorkin echoed the thought, noting the different points of view created layers upon layers of subjective truths and realities. "What I really liked was that there were three different versions of this story, there was [a] 'Rashomon' [effect] but I came up with the structure of the deposition rooms that would give everyone the ability to say, 'that's not true, that's not what happened.'"
While Facebook themselves and Zuckerberg declined any involvement or cooperation in the film, and the CEO was quoted as saying he would simply ignore the film, a recent report claimed that the Facebook co-founder attended a recent screening in Seattle. "I know there was [that] rumor," Sorkin said about the alleged appearance. "But I doubt it. I don't think there are any of us who would want a movie made about the things we did when were nineteen years old... I doubt he'll be the first in line to see it next Friday," Sorkin said. "He purchased a print," Fincher said flatly as the room went silent, before letting the gas out of his ruse. "I'm joking," he winked.
As for recent claims that some of the source material — Ben Mezrich's "The Accidental Billionaires" — was embellished, fictionalized and/or conveyed a deeply incomplete and therefore flawed portrait in the collaboration and battle over Facebook credit, Sorkin insists "Nothing in the movie was invented for the sake of Hollywood-izing it or sensationalizing it." The writer also added that aside from the aforementioned book he conducted his own "first-person research" with real-life characters in the movie and people close to the event who spoke on the conditions of anonymity. As for a controversial cocaine and bare breasts scene in the film, well, for one it's incredibly tame. "I'm not going to sell any tickets by making this statement, but let me tell you there is less sex in this movie than there is any two minutes in 'Gossip Girl,'" Sorkin quipped.
As stated in our 'Social Network' film review earlier today, Eisenberg delivers the best performance of his career and Garfield, the upcoming "Spider-Man," is destined for great things beyond tentpoles. Plus, the film also contains Mara Rooney, the next, 'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' and another constant scene stealer is Armie Hammer, who does digital double duty as the Kennedy-like Winklevoss twins (Hammer was handpicked to play Batman in the "Justice League" film director George Miller could never get off the ground).
Well aware his cast is an embarrassment of possibly unknown, but up-and-coming riches, Fincher praised the various players saying they are all destined for long-term greatness. "I feel about it like, would I have liked to have made 'American Graffiti'? Now, in it's own weird way I've been able to. I got to look at eight, nine people across a screen and go, 'There was a moment in time where they were all in the same movie.' "
"The Social Network" opens October 1. Photos taken and used with permission courtesy of Jeffrey Wells and Hollywood Elsewhere.
According to director David Fincher, the opening scene of "The Social Network" took an astonishing 99 takes and two days of filming. And it's very easy to see why. With a 166-page script to get through, Fincher needed to keep the dialogue and scenes moving and with this scene, featuring the most rapid fire tete-a-tete this side of "His Girl Friday" not only does it quickly establish the competitive, hierarchical and exclusive world of Harvard, it sets the pace for the rest of the film. And you better be ready, because from the first second, "The Social Network" moves; this is the quickest two hours you will ever spend in a movie theater.
The film is essentially told in flashbacks as Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) gives testimony at two separate depositions shortly after Facebook crosses the 1 million user mark in its exciting, early days. We bounce back to Harvard in the fall of 2003 and as the aforementioned scene lays out, Zuckerberg is eager to climb the ranks of the hallowed, prestigious clubs at Harvard but before that, he must deal with healing the wound left following the breakup with his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara). So, he does what any young, confident and vindictive (personality traits that seem to define his every impulse) geek would do: he blogs about it. After a couple more Becks and prodded by an idea from his roommate, he has an idea to build a crude Hot Or Not-esque website so guys can rank the girls at Harvard. To do this he hacks into the databases of most of the houses at Harvard, snags the snaps of their members and builds the site. But he needs one more thing before he goes live. He quickly calls his best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) a budding financial genius who recently made $300,000 over the summer by using weather to predict oil prices. Mark asks Eduardo for an algorithm to help with the ranking of the girls on his site, and after scribbling something quickly on the dorm room window, Mark plugs it in and the site goes live. Dubbed Facemash, it makes the rounds of Harvard the same night, and by 4 AM, the traffic has crashed the university's servers.
Mark is reprimanded by Harvard, but his ability to blog, hack and build a website in one night that earns enough hits to bring the university servers to a grinding halt brings him to the attention of twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) and Divya Narenda (Max Minghella). The trio have an idea for a website, that could more or less be described as a simplified version of what we would come to know as Facebook, but exclusive to those only with an @harvard.edu address. Mark doesn't seem too taken with the idea, but is more stricken by their monied backgrounds and access to clubs and agrees to do the job. Fast forward a few months and Mark is deep at work on something called Facebook that bears a striking similarity to the project conceived by Cameron, Tyler and Divya. Mark makes Eduardo his co-founder and gives him a CFO gig and in return receives initial funding for servers. With a few more clicks the site goes live and then, all hell breaks loose. At first confined to Harvard, Mark and Eduardo quickly expand access to surrounding schools and eventually to Stanford where Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) sees it and begins to take a keen interest. If the first half of the film is about the launch of the site, the second half is about the disintegration of a friendship and the coming of age of young A-type geniuses whose common sense is blunted by their own energy and ambition. It isn't long before Eduardo's level-headedness and tentativeness about all aspects of the site are viewed as liabilities while Mark's lust for status and recognition blinds him to his own good judgement.
Fincher's energy behind the camera is breathtaking. We tried to read the unwieldy script a while ago and kind of gave up on it, but here, Fincher and the cast energize Aaron Sorkin's script into a slick, lean and wickedly compelling narrative. There is not one moment in the film where someone isn't talking, where a mouse isn't being clicked or another angle to the story being opened up. None of it would matter if the actors couldn't keep up, but everyone is in top form here. Jesse Eisenberg gives a career changing performance. Previously known for mastering intelligent if awkward teenage characters, here he pours that awkwardness into a mold that casts Mark Zuckerberg as outcast and/or self-imposed exile. If he's book smart, he's street stupid (or simply uninterested). In a strange irony, for all his interest in reaching upper class echelons, he has no time for proper social mores (he spends much of the time wearing ragged sweats and open toed sandals). He speaks with a machine gun fire as if he's already five ideas ahead of what he's actually saying, and as his navel gazing focus keeps personal relationships from ever going deeper than a surface level. So it's no surprise then he's allured by Sean Parker, who is nothing but surface level. Sean wears his bad personal and business decisions almost as a badge of honor because, no matter what, he's the guy who took down the music industry and that still carries tremendous currency. And Timberlake falls into this role with ease, basically playing a much smarmier version of himself; a man with all the ins but unable to control his baser impulses. Both men seek a legitimacy in each other with Mark seeking social status and Sean looking to regain his tarnished reputation in Silicon Valley. And thus Eduardo Saverin, whose sense of pragmatism has no place in the fast and loose world of web startup, finds his relationship with Mark being torn apart and it's the stuff of tragedy. Andrew Garfield has been left out of the early praise but his performance here is every bit as good as Eisenberg's, if completely opposite. Garfield wonderfully transmits the naïveté that cripples his ability to keep up with Facebook by making Eduardo seeming to always be chasing Mark, constantly a couple steps behind. It's a nuanced and less showy turn but it's strong and ultimately moving stuff.
But not everything is perfect in "The Social Network." For all of the film's period detail, tightly packed story and effortless rhythm, its also a fairly one-note movie. There is no big overarching theme and despite some reviews, it's not really a critique or insight on contemporary online culture. This is really a portrait of how one massive website came together as fast as it did, and the no holds or feelings barred approach that made it happen. As Marilyn Delpy (Rashida Jones) who is part of Mark's legal team says to the young impressario, "You're not an asshole. You're just trying to be one." Mark's achievement with Facebook is staggering, but essentially, he's kind of a jerk from the first frame right to the end. Even as the film closes, with a scene that we won't spoil here, that shows Mark that perhaps he's learned something and has matured, the feeling is not quite earned. And that's not to mention a couple of plot threads that in the zip and vigor of the storytelling, seemed to get lost, particularly, Eduardo's relationship with Christy (Brenda Song) an early groupie turned jealous girlfriend that seems dropped in and out of the film with little rhyme or reason. To be sure, these are minor problems, but it will be interesting to see how the film holds up on further viewings. Will the wildfire pacing and dazzling wordplay still seem fresh and impress or will the film's tiny flaws become more apparent?
However, that's a question best left for later because right now, the film lives up to its excitement. It's impeccably shot -- Fincher's color design has never been stronger, from the musted whiskey tones of Harvard, to the blinding whites and primary colors of California -- and the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is subtle but effectively bristling and propulsive. "The Social Network" is grand entertainment; a thriller built inconceivably on the intricacies of computer code, copyright and the thin line between idea and inspiration. Fincher's film is a profile of today's entrepreneur, one where the values hubris, arrogance and brilliance are held in esteem first, and sometimes, in that very order. [A-] --Kevin Jagernauth
As a writer or director, the temptation to engage with your on-line critics must be enormous. While most stay above the fray, correctly assuming they'll be called a Nazi within three posts, some, like "Transformers" producer Don Murphy, seem to be spend as much time on message boards as they do producing shitty movies.
