Napster founder and former Facebook president Sean Parker recently spoke at the Digital Life Design conference where he discussed the movie The Social Network with, of all people, Brazilian magical realism novelist Paulo Coelho. As mindblowing as that match-up is, more pertinent is Parker’s comment that while he liked the film, it is “a complete work of fiction.”
Parker was portrayed in the award winning The Social Network by Justin Timberlake, and it was not a flattering portrayal (though Parker’s voice sounds exactly like that of Timberlake’s). In the movie, Parker is an over-indulgent, cock-sure, Silicon Valley rockstar that seems to beguile the young Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) with the typical trifecta of money, power, and Victoria’s Secret models. Parker, the real one, responds by saying “I kind of wish my life was that cool. I’m a geek from Silicon Valley, and believe me, there are no Victoria’s Secret models in Silicon Valley.”
Despite this, Parker claims that his only real issue with the film was the scene were “the character played by Justin Timberlake who happens to have my name” writes Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin a check and throws him out of the building. “That’s just rude,” said Parker. “I consider Eduardo a friend and I am one of the few people at Facebook that still interacts with him.”
The historical accuracy of The Social Network has been refuted by others since it’s release, and many of those portrayed have reason to restore their image. Parker himself does a little of that earlier in the Coelho interview, where he seems to be making a case for how his old file-sharing project Napster saved the music industry. Parker is, however, quick to praise the film saying that he enjoyed it and thought it was excellently made, but cannot abide his portrayal. “This guy in the movie,” referring to Timberlake’s character, “he’s a morally reprehensible human being.”
(via The Next Web)
