SAN FRANCISCO — Sometimes, projects are announced that leave everyone scratching their heads during the many months it takes to actually cast, film and assemble the thing. Why would Gus Van Sant want to remake "Psycho" scene-by-scene? Why would Pixar make a film about a 78-year-old man?
Ultimately, all film fans can do is put their trust in a filmmaker and hope they see something special where we might not. And currently, it's hard to imagine a project more along these lines than the one from the director of "Fight Club" about ... Facebook?
"I just finished David Fincher's next film, 'The Social Network,' " fast-rising young actress Rooney Mara ("Youth in Revolt") said of the mysterious project. "That should be coming out in October, I think."
When the project was first announced, a lot of blogs poked fun at the idea of making a movie about a Web site. But any film that attracts the likes of Fincher and actors like Justin Timberlake, Rashida Jones and Jesse Eisenberg has a lot more to offer than FarmVille jokes and references to poking people.
"It's about Facebook, but it's not really about Facebook," said the actress, who can be seen later this month playing Nancy in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" remake. "But it's about Mark Zuckerberg, who started Facebook."
In 2004, Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his dorm room at Harvard; six years later, Facebook has 350 million users.
"Aaron Sorkin wrote the script, and it's amazing," Mara said of the "West Wing" mastermind. "It goes through when he started Facebook. He basically got sued by everyone and anyone.
"It actually is a really good message story," Mara said of the flick, which stars Eisenberg as Zuckerberg. "At the end of it, he has more money than anyone. He created basically the biggest social network ever, and yet he has no friends and no one [to love]. So at the end, it's kind of sad. He's kind of alone."
As for Mara, she plays the college sweetheart whose dumping of Zuckerberg began a revolution that would eventually affect virtually everyone who owns a computer. "I'm in the beginning of the film. I play his girlfriend who inspired him to start Facebook, sort of as revenge," she explained. "I'm the catalyst."
Are you interested to see "The Social Network"? Do you think a MySpace movie is next? Let us know in the comments below!
Check out everything we've got on "The Social Network."
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