The Social Network

Since first seeing Cursed (watched earlier) I have been a fan Jessie Eisenberg.  As mentioned I really enjoyed his neurotic comedy of being the uber-nerd bitten by a werewolf and suddenly finding himself with super strength and a sex symbol.  In 2009 I saw Zombieland in the theater and was splitting at the seams with his performance playing off Woody Harrelson's "Tallahassee." with all his rules and his (again) neurotic fear of clowns.  So when I saw that he had be cast to portray Mark Zuckerberg in a movie about the founding and evolution of Facebook, I admit to being a bit puzzled.  Not because I though Eisenberg couldn't pull it off or didn't have the acting chops to play such a (in)famous real person; but because David Fincher is the type of film-maker that puts the tedium into tedious (much like in that respect, Stanley Kubrick was).  I knew, too, that Aaron Sorkin's book had caused a bit of a stir and that Zuckerberg is such a ego-maniac I wondered how in the world they were going to get him not to make a stink about it (the answer is there, they sort of conned by appealing to that ego).  Eisenberg just seemed too nice, too much like the hyper neurotic, sensitive characters from a Woody Allen film.  So when I saw this for the first time, I was really, really impressed with his performance.  My understanding is that he did have a time with Fincher's directing style, but that, like so many actors that worked with Kubrick, that style got one heck of a creepy, sometimes downright scary, performance out of Eisenberg. Then, there is that soundtrack!  I was really pleased when Reznor and Ross took home the Oscar for Best Original Score.  Overall, it makes for one of the spookiest movies ever made about a true life event. In some respects, these types of films can be much more unnerving than just about any horror film.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still a total whore for horror of all sorts!

In fact a reader emailed a link in the UK's Guardian newspaper this morning, an interview with Jessie.  I feel for him.  He really does seem like the kind of person that fame would get too, and he doesn't come across as being another one of those fortunate people to find success and then complain about it some fake way.  This seems real to me.  Although, he won't really ever have to worry about work again!