Hot on the heels of the movie about how Facebook started comes 140 characters or less — the movie about how Twitter started. This is only the second successful production in the social networking genre surpassing straight-to-DVD offerings You’re in MySpace and Dude, where’s my MXit. In keeping with the title, director David Fincher used only 140 characters or less. In the lead role he cast Jake Gyllenhaal to play Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s creator. Unlike in The Social Network the driving force behind Twitter is not a girl, but rather Jack’s complex relationship with his mother. Said David Fincher: “We really struggled to find a human connection for this movie as Jack does not have any relationships with actual people, so when the researchers came in with this stuff about his mother we knew we had gold.”

Dorsey’s mother (played by Kathy Bates) is seen constantly asking her son what he’s doing, where he’s doing it and how it’s making him feel. The movie starts with Jack telling his best friend and fellow nerd, Biz Stone: “Dude, we have to do something to get my mother off my back.” From there they call Mark Zuckerberg to assure him they’re not stealing his idea and go ahead to make Twitter which is basically a shortened version of Facebook. 140 characters or less takes us on a rollercoaster ride from San Francisco to Somalia and covers Twitter’s meteoric rise from Ashton Kutcher (played by Zac Saffron) challenging Larry King (played by a fossil named Larry) to get to 1 million followers to the hilarious incident when a South African make-believe party tried to shut them down. We see the Twitter crew at their staggering best thinking up the new Twitter format in a manner of minutes and also at their absolute worst when Biz Stone comes up with the idea of a Twitter version for actual birds. Besides the sub-plot, featuring his mother, we also get a glimpse of Jack’s everyday life brushing his teeth and washing the dog. It ends with a classic tweet from Jack (@jack): Just finished breakfast. Getting ready to mow the lawn.

Author

  • Hansie Smit is a self-employed writer. He spends a lot of time in coffee shops tapping into free wi-fi making sure he buys a bran muffin every time to ease the inevitable guilt he feels getting something for free. Hansie received a Diploma in Copywriting from the prestigious AAA School of Advertising in Cape Town. He often picks up spelling mistakes in brand communication taking time out of his day to write to said brand to point it out. He does this free of charge. He's won a Silver Pendoring and almost won a Loerie. For more of his stunning insight and weighted opinion, visit his website at www.freehance.co.za or follow him on Twitter @freehance

    View all posts

READ NEXT

Hansie Smit

Hansie Smit is a self-employed writer. He spends a lot of time in coffee shops tapping into free wi-fi making sure he buys a bran muffin every time to ease the inevitable guilt he feels getting something...

Leave a comment