The Social Network - Justin Timberlake interview

JUSTIN Timberlake talks about playing Napster creator Sean Parker in David Fincher’s The Social Network and how he campaigned vigorously for the role. He also talks about his own feelings on Facebook, meeting Sean in real life and why it’s important to remember the film is about young people dealing with the trappings of fame, power and greed. He was speaking at a UK press conference...

Q. Since you’ve been referred to as a possible Mefistofeles [by Aaron Sorkin]… this is not a role that we may have expected you to tackle, but apparently you were desperately keen. Could you tell us why?
Justin Timberlake: I’d just like to clarify that I play Sean Parker [laughs]. I don’t know the list of actors that auditioned for all the parts, but I think I speak on behalf of Andrew [Garfield] and Jesse [Eisenberg] by saying that we all came across the screenplay and probably before that, obviously Facebook is a widely celebrated phenomenon, but none of us were really too adept at it. So, coming across the screenplay, enough cannot be said about how well and dazzling the whole screenplay was.

So, when I came across the character of Sean Parker there was a lot there, as there was with every character, and there was a lot of layers. Honestly, you just don’t ever come across character, or story, or such a well constructed complete, tasteful, amazing screenplay like this… it just doesn’t happen. I remember reading 162 pages and feeling like they went by in five minutes. One of the feats of the film, too, is that you watch 162 pages go by and before you know it, it’s over and you feel like you need to watch it again.

But yes, I saw a lot of layers in this character and I think all these characters are incredibly complex, brilliant people and with that brilliance comes a lot of eccentricities, and so I auditioned for the part a couple of times and not so much threw my hat in the ring but kicked the door down for the role.

Q. Do you use Facebook or does your celebrity force you to miss out on using such a phenomenon without an alias? And looking from the outside in, what do you make of the fact that so many people are addicted to it?
Justin Timberlake: I don’t use an alias to go on Facebook. I think if I was on it I’d probably feel I was missing out on something I could be doing outside like trying out for the American team in the next couple of years for the next Ryder Cup! That was embarrassing! The team that played better definitely won, so kudos!

Q. And what of people’s addiction to it?
Justin Timberlake: I feel it would be irresponsible of me to answer that question and probably mirror what Andrew and Jesse would say, too, just because we don’t use it. But I would assume that it affords you the opportunity to connect with as many people as possible [starts laughing]… I just stated the blatant obvious about Facebook! But also I find that we get that question a lot, so it’s important to remember that we can into this movie as actors, we walked out of this movie as actors, and in no way shape or form are we panellists for a cultural phenomenon.

But I would assume, from the outside looking in, that maybe some of the pitfalls of it are that it might be comparable to constantly being on a first date where… I’m sure there’s a girl in LA right now who’s waking up and probably looking at pictures of a party that she might have gone to last night and I can guarantee you she’s not putting the less flattering pictures of herself on her Facebook page. It affords you the opportunity to always present the best person of yourself and I think we’re finding the more we get asked the question – and in no way, shape or form is that a projection of my opinion – but I find that that’s the hypothesis of social networking in general – is that is it genuine or does it create an opportunity to be more sort of disingenuine?

I think at the end of the day there will always be a medium and this is the phenomenon medium that we’re talking about because it connects us faster and at a higher capacity than anything has ever done. So, I think you’ll never be able to take the human out of the human.

Q. What kind of feedback have you had, if any, from the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo or Sean Parker? And, in approaching the roles, did you feel the need to study any film or did you have any footage of them?
Justin Timberlake: I believe everyone has seen the movie but I don’t know any of them personally and so don’t know what their reaction was to the film. As for research, I know that with Mark and Sean you can easily find footage of them on the Internet. So, for me, I watched a little bit of footage… I’m the only actor in this film that serendipitously I met Sean Parker. I was walking out of a bar and he was walking in, in New York City… I probably would have taken more opportunity to ask him more questions. I don’t know that that would have been fruitful for me because they’ve all signed non-disclosure agreements with the company.

But serendipitously I did meet him, it was just in passing, and it was before I was actually cast in the role, but it was speculated on the Internet – which is always 115% true! – that I was going to be playing the part. So, it was a little bit awkward because we talked a little about that but I had to sheepishly tell him that I didn’t know yet whether I’d got the part, but that I was kind of in the process of reading for it. But also, I think a lot should be added that, to go back on what Aaron has said, about what was required of him to research this story. I’ve heard Aaron also say that life doesn’t play itself out in dialogue, and so he had to write the scenes… I can tell you I didn’t know anything about the story, or the sort of friendship that all these people had with each other, prior to reading the screenplay, so I did draw a lot of what I wanted to bring out of the character from the screenplay.

It should also be noted that we were working for a masterful filmmaker [David Fincher] who would have a process with us that would constantly reassure us – each character – that what we were doing was the right thing. I think it should be noted as well that we’re dealing with a film that… all of these things we’re talking about – friendship, betrayal, money, power, greed – you’re dealing with youth. And I can’t imagine… I know what it’s like to have a lot of eyes looking at you, but I can’t imagine what it must be like to be so young and so brilliant and have everyone look at you and forget the fact that you are a kid. That this company is being run by a 26-year-old, who at the time was 19 when he invented it. We forget that you’re dealing with youth.

When it comes to the emotions and the relationships between these people, and that’s the story that I know we always wanted to tell as actors – that’s where it becomes rich for us to play. I spent so much time playing this character that I find a lot of sympathy for Sean’s situation in the film… I think they’re all going to be OK, but we’re telling a story about a moment in time… this isn’t a biopic, it’s about a moment in time. You spend so much time defending the character and no matter if you see him as the hero or the villain in the story – and like we said before, I don’t know if there is a real hero – that’s the beauty of how this story plays itself out. So, that was my process.