Rashida Jones Joins David Fincher's "The Social Network"

By our guest blogger, Rob Stammitti

It was odd enough to learn "Fight Club" and "Seven" helmer David Fincher would be directing a film about the founding of Facebook, but learning that it's a comedy as well as a drama made it all the more bizarre. With "Adventureland" star Jesse Eisenberg and pop-music entrepreneur and "Alpha Dog" co-star Justin Timberlake long announced as the leads, it's clear this film might not be entirely what people are expecting. Now, further suggesting the more comedic elements of the material, "The Office" and "Parks & Recreation" co-star Rashida Jones has been cast in the film in an unknown role, according to Empire.

The cast is pretty good, regardless of the genre. Eisenberg has definitely shown a talent beyond comedy in "The Squid and the Whale" and "Adventureland," and Timberlake is probably one of the most underrated modern actors. He's yet to give a performance I wasn't impressed with, and he even managed to steal the show from Samuel L. Jackson in his few scenes in "Black Snake Moan." If that's not talent, I don't know what is. Jones hasn't really given any sort of strong impression in anything quite yet--she's always been sort of a side character--but this might be her chance to shine, and she's been amusing enough that I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do.

My primary interest in the film though comes solely from seeing Fincher tackle more comedic material. From the sound of it "The Social Network" might have a sort of satirical comedy in the same vein of "Fight Club," except obviously based in reality. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's previous work suggests this as well: "Charlie Wilson's War," "The American President," and TV's "Sports Night" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" are all mixtures of character-based drama and biting political and media satire, which is seemingly perfect for this project.

I won't get my hopes up too much, though. Fincher is a fantastic director but he really disappointed me last year with his comparitively lightweight and banal "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which might've worked if his direction and the writing was as good as the concept itself.

"The Social Network" is currently filming and is set to be released on October 15, 2010.