Controversial Scene Stays in The Social Network
Posted 08.26.10 by Ryan
The Social Network is often referred to as "the Facebook movie" despite the site's co-founder, and subject of the movie, Mark Zuckerberg wishing it wasn't. The movie was based on court documents and journalist Ben Mezrich's reportedly semi-fictionalized novel, The Accidental Billionaires, and Zuckerberg has publicly announced on several occasions that the movie is a work of fiction and not the truth.
With a script from Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men) and direction from David Fincher, The Social Network is poised to open in October at the New York Film Festival, and, according to The New York Times last week, without a controversial and debaucherous scene that includes Justin Timberlake.
The scene depicts Timberlake playing Napster co-founder and founding Facebook president Sean Parker delivering dialogue during a party while teenage girls offer lines of cocaine from off their breasts. Producer Scott Rudin told the newspaper that he worried the scene would keep the movie from getting its desired PG-13 rating. It won't.
THR reports that the "cocaine and bare breasts are staying in the picture." A spokesperson from Facebook told the site that, despite the questionable validity of whether the scene honestly occurred is not a worry for the company.
Maybe the movie is a sign that Facebook has become meaningful to people, even if the movie is fiction. What the movie may or may not contain is not what we’re focused on. What matters more is building a useful, innovative service that people enjoy using to connect and share.
The Social Network opens October 1 and stars
Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg, and Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin, who helped launch the site.