Last week, MTV Movies asked Jesse Eisenberg about the upcoming Facebook movie, pressing him for an answer as to whether he was part of the rumored cast, which also included Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield. Eisenberg simply responded, "They are rumors; that is true."
Well, now we can freely say that all these rumors are true. Variety is reporting that all three are now officially attached to The Social Network, which is being directed by David Fincher (Benjamin Button, Zodiac, Fight Club) and produced by Kevin Spacey.
The script for the movie was penned by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, Charlie Wilson's War)
and tells the story of how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004 while a
sophomore at Harvard. In the five years since, Facebook has amassed
more than 200 million users. Sorkin adapted his script from the Ben Mezrich book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal.
You might remember Eisenberg from his memorable performance in The Squid and the Whale as writer-director Noah Baumbach's alter ego, a maladjusted youth with daddy issues. That role, we're sure, had an influence in the choice to cast him as Zuckerberg, who has been characterized as highly intelligent, ambitious, and socially awkward. Eisenberg also appears opposite Woody Harrelson in Zombieland, which comes out next Friday.
Timberlake has been cast as Napster co-founder Sean Parker, who became Facebook's founding president. Garfield will portray Eduardo Saverin, who helped Zuckerberg launch the networking site, but later abandoned the relationship due to quarrels over financial issues.
The movie is expected sometime in 2010. No other casting decisions have been announced as of yet.