Facebook movie gets buzz treatment

With the release of the movie "The Social Network" just around the corner, buzz about the movie and what effect it might have on the site's reputation are reaching fever pitches.

Facebook was given a screening of the movie, which has caused speculation about the company's reaction to the movie, and what it might do to the site's brand name.

Executives from the company have demanded several scenes either be changed or even deleted altogether, including a scene where Napster co-founder Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake) gives a speech while teenage girls offer their breasts as a surface to snort cocaine off of.

As of Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter published an exclusive article stating that unnamed sources close to production are indicating that the scene will stay in, possibly creating even more friction between the movie studio and Facebook executives.

So far, Facebook representatives have mostly kept quiet about the movie and what impact it might have on their image.

Columbia Pictures announced over a year ago that "The Social Network" would be directed by David Fincher and based on a book by author Ben Mezrich, titled The Accidental Billionaires.

The film aims to portray the story of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) and several of his Harvard classmates – with whom he clashed over ownership of the website.

Mezrich told USA Today, "[Zuckerberg] is an anti-hero, which Americans love. But he is so much more: a socially odd guy who sweats, is arrogant, confident, brilliant […] Facebook is him showing the world what he can do."

Even though Mezrich's book – and consequently the movie based on it – is partially fictional, the actual history of how Facebook was founded is still littered with lawsuits and personal confrontations leading to the establishment of the only site to be compared to Google, in terms of site traffic.

Zuckerberg has been enbroiled in lawsuits with Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra dating back to 2004, when the classmates accused him of stealing the idea for their own Havard-based social network, ConnectU.

In 2008, the lawsuits were settled outside of court with 1.2 million shares in Facebook and $20 million.

In May, the ConnectU founders made another accusation that Facebook misled them about the value of the stock shares, which were given at a time when Facebook's valuation was $15 billion.

Currently, Facebook is only worth $3.4 billion, making the shares worth significantly less than first estimated.

Set to kick off this year's New York Film Festival, "The Social Network" will be released to theatres on Oct. 1.