14 DAY TRIAL // Hollywood is generally not that interested in Silicon Valley, as a subject. The corporate tech world and fledgling startups don’t generally make for the most exciting of stories. Every once in a while though Hollywood does look a north towards the tech capital of the world, like is the case with the upcoming Facebook movie.
Called The Social Network, it’s based on a book about Facebook’s early days. The book is known to take a few liberties with the facts and the movie, apparently, goes further. That said, judging from the first couple of trailers, it’s going to be an interesting watch, as long as you’re not expecting a documentary.
The second trailer has just hit the web and is as tense and dramatic as the first one. The substance of the movie is pretty obvious by now, a grand battle of wills unfolds as the site takes off. The tone should be pretty dramatic, but that is what we go to see movies in the first place. The movie’s tag line captures it best: “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.”
While the first trailer made it sound like Armageddon 2 or the next slasher movie, with ominous music, bold words like “punk, genius, billionaire” and dramatic dialogue, the second one is a bit more toned down, but certainly follows the same pattern.
Granted, the early days of Facebook probably were a bit tenser than for most startups and the book and the movie are based on things that did happen, lawsuits, betrayals and all, but they do fill in quite a lot of blanks. And, of course, the central figure, Facebook cofounder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, wasn’t interviewed for the book or the movie and is very critical of the way he and his company are portrayed. That said, the movie is hitting theaters in October and with pretty strong cast and what looks to be some serious marketing, it probably going to get a lot of people to see it.