Sorkin & Eisenberg: One smiles, the other doesn't
When Aaron Sorkin and Jesse Eisenberg came to Japan earlier this month to attend the Tokyo International Film Festival, whose opening film was The Social Network, which Sorkin wrote and Eisenberg stars in, they hung around and did a press conference since Sony is opening the film here in January. Despite the huge press the movie has received in the U.S. and Europe and its respectable box office returns, the turnout for the press conference was light. Eisenberg is not a star in Japan, and if anyone in the media knows Sorkin’s name it’s probably because of The West Wing, which NHK broadcast some years back, but only up to the fourth season. Those with longer memories might recall A Few Good Men, but the only previous Sorkin work that came up during the p.c. was the short-lived series Sports Night, which Eisenberg praised and no one in the audience was familiar with. It was never aired here.
In terms of promotion, January is practically forever and while Japanese distibutors of foreign films prefer long lead times in order to build up a head of publicity steam they usually want the press conferences to take place as close to the opening as possible. It’s unlikely that broadcast and print media are going to sit on this material until after New Years, and if they put it out now it will only receive cursory attention. Maybe if the director, David Fincher, showed up more reporters would have shown up as well. (Sorkin said Fincher was in Sweden filming The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) After all, Fincher is tight with Brad Pitt. It would give them something to talk about.
