The Social Network

A closer look at the story

In October 2003, freshly dumped by his girlfriend, Harvard student and gifted programmer Mark Zuckerberg breaks into the university's computer systems one night to build a controversial site called Facemash. It spreads across campus in no time, crashes the network and leaves Mark facing serious accusations. Yet the episode is the first spark of a much bigger idea: the thefacebook.com site he soon launches will spread from Harvard to the Ivy League, on to Silicon Valley and across the world. Years later, now one of the youngest billionaires in history, Mark has to face two lawsuits, one of them involving a former friend. Directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, the 121-minute 2010 film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Rooney Mara in a sharply written drama.