‚The Social Network‘ is driven by powerful performances from its talented cast of lead actors. However, via some groundbreaking visual effects, audiences never actually saw one of their faces
This year marks the 10 year anniversary of The Social Network, the unexpected blockbuster which brought to life the dramatic origin story of Facebook. The film is driven by powerful performances from its talented cast of lead actors, including Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, and Josh Pence. But, via some groundbreaking visual effects, audiences never actually saw the face of the last name on that list. “When I first got a call about it my agents didn’t really quite understand what it was going to be,” said Josh Pence. “They just kind of said…there’s a very good chance that we will not see you in this movie, at least not your face.” When David Fincher and team couldn’t find actual twin actors to play the formidable antagonists of the Winklevoss brothers, they opted instead to cast both Armie Hammer and Josh Pence. And though the two share roughly the same build, they couldn’t necessarily pass as identical twins. So, after Pence and Hammer performed their parts, visual artists went in and superimposed a second Armie Hammer performance onto Josh Pence’s body. The effect is seamless, and does well to sell the domineering double presence of the Winklevii. However, the experience leaves Pence with a unique perspective on the project. “There was something incredible that I was able to glean from that experience just by virtue of the fact that I was a participant, but I was also an observer,” said Pence. I recently got to speak further with Josh Pence about collaborating with Armie Hammer, bringing his athletic background into the film, and navigating a world increasingly changed by tech innovations. Below is a summary of our conversation. Anhar Karim: So, when David Fincher explained this to you, your role and how you’d collaborate with Armie Hammer, how did you react? Josh Pence: You know, that’s a tough moment for any actor. And part of it too was at that point there wasn’t a whole lot of exposure to motion capture. Obviously there was some of that happening with Andy Serkis, and Fincher with Benjamin Button. But it was still kind of like, what is this? And even when I first got a call about it my agents didn’t really quite understand what it was going to be. I got that call between, I guess it was the third and fourth meeting, which would have been between Aaron and David. And they just kind of said look, I know this is going to sound strange. We don’t really know exactly how this is going to work. But it sounds like you’re going to read Tyler [Winklevoss], and Armie’s going to do Cameron. And then there’s a very good chance that we will not see you in this movie, at least not your face. You kind of gotta say, alright well, obviously I’m going to go and take this meeting. David Fincher is a legend, and somebody whose work I’ve admired for so long. So, yeah you just kind of gotta go. AK: The twins you play are very much in sync, almost mirroring each other in every scene. What was it like coordinating that with Armie, deciding who did what? JP: That was definitely a process that had to happen expediently out of circumstance, because Armie and I were really the last two major leads of the film to be cast.
