Armie Hammer faced some interesting challenges with “The Social Network.” Playing both Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss — the identical twins who claimed Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from them — Hammer spends most of his scenes arguing with himself. We caught up with Hammer to talk about working with David Fincher, fact versus fiction, and the permanence of Facebook photos.
When you get a project with a script by Aaron Sorkin that’s going to be directed by David Fincher, what goes through your head?
You almost have to try not to think about it because it would be overwhelming. To think about the fact that you are working with Fincher and you are doing two parts, if you show up carrying that anxiety with you, you won’t get the same performance. We really had to trust Fincher and let go of the fact that he was Fincher and just do whatever he asked. He’s just the most voraciously intelligent human being I’ve ever been around, period.
The Winklevoss twins were at the premiere — what was their response to the film?
From what I could tell, it was positive. I think they’re happy that their side of the story is being told, you know?
Mark Zuckerberg referred to the film as a work of fiction. Do you see it as a true story?
First of all, I would say this: If I were Mark Zuckerberg, I would definitely try to play this off as fiction as well. I mean, I’m not surprised that’s what he said. Do I see this as a work of nonfiction? Um … yes, but in the sense that truth is relative. So to each of the characters as it relates to them, they are telling the truth and this is their true story. But it’s up to the audience to take these three perspectives and sort of figure out what they think.
