Haven't heard of it? That's O.K., because that's not the real title.
I'm actually talking about The Social Network, a major theatrical film scheduled for release just two months from today on October 1, 2010, and directed by critically-acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher. Written by master screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, Malice, Charlies Wilson's War, and NBC's "The West Wing"), and adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 New York Times best-selling book The Accidental Billionaires, The Social Network is a dramatization of the founding of the global social networking phenomenon Facebook. The film's tag line? Check out the official movie poster below:
The dramedy, distributed by Columbia Pictures, features an ensemble cast, including Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song, Rashida Jones, Max Minghella, Rooney Mara, Malese Jow, and Joseph Mazzello. Although no one from Facebook's senior management team, including co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, were involved with the project, one co-founder, Eduardo Saverin (played by Garfield in the film), was a consultant for Mezrich's book. In the film, Eisenberg, who most recently starred opposite Woody Harrelson in last year's Zombieland, portrays Zuckerberg.
Not enough star power for you? Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey is the film's executive producer, and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, along with partner Atticus Ross, is providing the musical score. And let's not forget Fincher's own impressive directorial resume, which includes Se7en (1995), The Game (1997), Fight Club (1999), Panic Room (2002), and Zodiac (2007). In addition, he received an Academy Award nomination for best director for his 2008 film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Academy Award-Nominated Director David Fincher
As you would expect, much of the advance hype, and the overall theatrical marketing strategy for the film, have been driven by a plethora of social media and online marketing tactics. The centerpiece of these efforts is a recently-launched Facebook-themed and highly sophisiticated Website, TheSocialNetwork-Movie.com, which opens into a large-form portal with photos, videos and cast information arranged into Facebook-like collage. Naturally, the site maintains the same theme used in the teasers, trailers and TV spots for the film, with words such as “Punk,” “Traitor” and “Genius” displayed either on their own or overlayed over other photographs. Like most online destinations for new films, the site also contains access to cast information, an official synopsis, cast publicity stills, and news stories about the film.
What's interesting about all this, besides the obvious, is how QUICKLY the book has been turned into a completed feature film with major Hollywood talent behind it. If you know Hollywood like I do, it often takes years, sometimes decades, for all the stars to align on a given concept. And the bigger the acting and production names involved, usually the more time it takes, mostly because of existing contracts, previous commitments from the players, and of course, financial support, which is in limited supply these days in The Entertainment Capital of the World.
But the need to move quickly is certainly understandable: worldwide user participation and advertiser and investor interest in Facebook have never been higher, particularly as the company moves toward its highly-anticipated IPO in the next 18 months. As a result, there's no doubt that Columbia Pictures, part of Sony Pictures Studios, wished to leverage all of this interest and activity by purchasing the rights to the book and releasing the film just over one year after the book's release.
And without further adieu, here is the official trailer for the film:
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