Facebook refuses to support 'Social Network'

Executives for Facebook have no intention of supporting the release of upcoming movie The Social Network.

According to The New York Times, producer Scott Rudin has been involved on months of talks to patch up relations between the company and the makers of The Social Network.

The movie details the formation of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm and portrays him as a flawed antihero who starts up the website as a way to find acceptance.

Zuckerberg recently branded the drama, based on Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires, as "fiction". Studio Sony did not peruse the life rights to those involved in its movie, instead relying on Mezrich's book and the legal protection provided to free speech.

Rudin admitted that director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin had made alterations to the movie at Facebook's request, however they refused to make significant changes that would compromise the script.

Facebook executives Elliot Schrage, the vice president of communications, and Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer, reportedly "saw the movie a while ago, and they do not like it".

The Social Network, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Rooney Mara, opens in cinemas this October.

> Click here to watch a trailer for 'The Social Network'