20 Things You Didn't Know About The Social Network
1. Eiseinberg Channeled His Own OCD And Anxiety For The Role
There is a reason why Jesse Eisenberg always plays socially awkward characters and plays them so well and that's because Jesse Eisenberg was a very socially awkward person growing up.
The actor has made no secret of the fact that he suffered with obsessive-compulsive-disorder and anxiety when he was young, and acting offered some escapism from that. But for The Social Network, he decided to re-channel his OCD to help match Zuckerberg's notorious social awkwardness.
While it no doubt worked it also left him a bit uneasy and initially unable to shake off his old nerves. Talking about his acting techniques, Eisenberg said:
"When you’re playing a character for a long time, several hours a day, for an extended period of time, over the course of a few months you end up subconsciously taking on the experience of that character. If you make the face of somebody confident for 12 hours a day, over the course of a few months, you end up tricking yourself into thinking that you have all those feelings."