HOLLYWOOD (CNS) – Penning the screenplay for “The Social Network,’
which tells the story of the creation of Facebook, helped change Aaron Sorkin’s
outlook about the Internet, the first-time Oscar winner said tonight.
Asked about the role of social networking sites in the political
uprisings in the Middle East, the screenwriter said, “I thought it was an
incredible thing.’
He admitted, “I’ve been cranky about the Internet … somewhere along
the way I turned into my grandfather …’
“But when you see what happened in Cairo … social networking tools
mobilizing people for great causes like that, you really want to thank the Mark
Zuckerbergs for that,’ he said, referring to Facebook’s driving force.
Sorkin, who has won four Emmy Awards for his small screen work, said
backstage tonight at the Kodak Theatre that he “grew up worshiping `The
Graduate,” the 1967 film starring a young Dustin Hoffman.
He said he always wondered how Buck Henry, the screenwriter of the
iconic film, felt the first time he saw Hoffman say his lines. Now, he said, he
doesn’t wonder any more. “I’ve seen it.’
As for “The Social Network,’ “this material isn’t for beginners,’ Sorkin
said, but the “incredibly talented, but very young cast’ ably handled the
rapid-fire, rat-a-tat dialogue “under the guidance’ of the film’s Academy
Award-winning director, David Fincher.
He said he thought Zuckerberg had “been an awfully good sport. I don’t
think anyone here would want to have a movie made about what they did when they
were 19 years old “and include the viewpoint of those who have sued you for
millions of dollars.’
Sorkin, best known for his work on “The West Wing,’ said he was
“hyperaware that whatever I write next will be the thing I wrote after `The
Social Network.”
After celebrating tonight, he said, he’ll start working on “something that
I like, something that my friends like … and … hope that enough other
people will like it that I’ll be able to make a living.’
He noted the first writing award he ever won earned him $200 and allowed him
to go to New York to pursue his craft.

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