Oscar nominee David Fincher adapted Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires in a biographical drama, The Social Network. Starring an ensemble cast including Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield, the movie follows Mark Zuckerberg as he creates the social networking site Facebook, which makes him one of the youngest billionaires, only to be sued by his former friend, Eduardo Saverin, portrayed by Garfield in the movie.
The 2010 film has been credited as one of the best movies of the year. Along with being a critical and commercial hit, the film also won several accolades, including three Academy Awards. However, all this took much effort from the cast and crew, especially Jesse Eisenberg and Rooney Mara, who had to shoot a single scene almost 100 times to get it right, as per the director.
David Fincher Took Almost 100 Takes of a Single Scene
Several filmmakers are known to take several takes to get exactly what they have in mind. Stanley Kubrick and David Fincher are also some of the directors who have a reputation to continue filming the same scene until they get what they really want.
Action star Tom Cruise had to film 95 takes of one of his scenes in the 1999 Stanley Kubrick Eyes Wide Shut. However, the record would be broken by the 60-year-old American filmmaker, David Fincher, while filming his 2010 film The Social Network.
The director made actors Jesse Eisenberg and Rooney Mara perform the opening sequence of the film almost 100 times. The scene features Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in an argument with his girlfriend, Erica. It took two days and 99 takes to film the whole sequence.
Having spent two days filming a five-minute sequence, the studio was reportedly nervous about the project. While it was not the first time Fincher did something like this, he had an explanation for why he took multiple takes for a single scene.
David Fincher Explained The Reason Behind Multiple Takes
The cast of David Fincher’s 2007 film Zodiac also faced the same issue with the director. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr. have opened up about their experience, saying that they had to perform the same scene multiple times.
Gyllenhaal has been very open about his on-set tension with the director for the same issue. However, the director has justified having multiple takes. “I look at it this way: You’re gonna bring all this equipment, you’re gonna bring all these people, you’re gonna fly them all in and put them up in hotels,” he shared during an interview.
He believes that after putting in so much effort getting a scene done in only two takes is a waste of talent. “Rather than say, ‘Okay, we’ll do two, and let’s move on,’ it seems like such a waste of talent to get somebody’s second or third or even fifth or sixth thought at something,” he said. While the filmmaker finds it very intriguing, the cast of his movies doesn’t seem to feel the same way.
Source: WhatCulture
