Facebook Executives Sought to Spin ‘The Social Network,’ Because of Harsh Portrayal of CEO Zuckerberg?

[HMG Celebrity News] – Justin Timberlake’s new movie ‘The Social Network’ may be the most influential, yet unwelcome PR gift in recent history. And Facebook executives have been accused of trying to spin the whole thing.

The movie is based on ‘The Accidental Billionaires’ by Ben Mezrich, which was published last year. And as soon as it hit the shelves, Facebook pounced;

“Mr. Mezrich clearly aspires to be the Jackie Collins or Danielle Steele of Silicon Valley,” was Facebook communications executive, Elliot Schrage’s sneering review at the time.

Then the movie guys bought the book, and Facebook’s problems began.

The suits that manage this seething hive of 500-million intertwined nerds are accused of trying every trick they can find to discredit the movie — while trying to change how it’s made. Schrage even read the script and gave producers some ‘guidance.’

The film portrays Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg as a socially inept egomaniac who stole the idea for the site from fellow students at Harvard in 2003. Today, his drones are accused of trying to soften that image before the movie opens.

Zuckerberg will even appear on ‘Oprah’ today to announce he’s donating $100-million to public schools in Newark, New Jersey. But Facebook strongly denies this was timed to make him look good on the movie’s opening day.

Another concern is how the movie might hurt plans to take the company public. Execs are worried that doubts raised by the film could damage Facebook’s valuation — currently well over $20-billion.

“They were trying to find a way not to tie Mark’s identity to the identity of the company,” producer Scott Rudin told  the Wall St. Journal. “They clearly want the company to be bigger than Mark.”

In another move to aid damage control, Facebook is promoting a rival book ‘The Facebook Effect’ by David Kirkpatrick. Mr. Kirkpatrick got open access to Mark, he was invited to the company’s campus, and Facebook now refers journalists to him as an expert on their history. His book makes Mark look like a saint.

The movie’s end-credits include a disclaimer that says some events were created. But the filmmakers say that’s a standard, boilerplate message and means nothing.

“Facebook keeps saying the movie is fiction…but they never say what is fiction,” advised Mr. Rudin.

And the problems keep coming. On Wednesday some Facebook users couldn’t connect due to network problems, and the site crashed again yesterday. For several hours. Today is the film’s premiere.

Mr. Zuckerberg must be knee-deep in Advil.

If you’re a Facebook fan, what’s your outlook on this? And will you go see the movie?…