Armie Hammer on Social Network, Obeying David Fincher and His 'Cheesy Christian Movie'

Of all the conversations encircling The Social Network on its way to awards-season glory, few have had the surprising resonance accompanying Armie Hammer's performance at Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss -- identical twins who go to war against their Harvard peer Mark Zuckerberg for the rights to Facebook. A marvel of both technical acting and digital wizardry, Hammer's dual performance is all the more revelatory for the relatively unheralded 24-year-old actor who pulled it off. And to think we indirectly owe it all to Home Alone.

Hammer spoke with Movieline recently about playing both Winklevoss twins, how his perspective of Zuckerberg has changed since the film's original hype, and why he's fine with you never getting a closer look at his big break playing the world's foremost evangelical preacher.

We're about two months into the post-Social Network era. How has your perception of the film and the characters -- particularly your own -- evolved as weeks elapse and the conversation continues?

It's been really interesting. It's funny, because during the filming process we had to understand and sympathize and empathize with our characters -- and not only not judge our characters, but love and understand the place they're coming from. And that was all our responsibilities. We were all very confident that our characters were wronged in some way by the other characters in the movie. And now that I've seen the project and I'm a little bit distanced from it and I've seen everybody else's unbelievably human and nuanced performances, it makes me question the validity of the Winklevosses' case -- now that I see where Mark Zuckerberg is coming from as Jesse brings him to the screen, not necessarily on paper. Also, where Andrew Garfield is coming from. It's hard to remain singly focused on the fact that we were wronged. It's really interesting watching the other actors' performances. It puts it all in perspective for you.

That's interesting; I never would have characterized David Fincher as a touchy-feely, let's-get-in-touch-with-ourselves kind of filmmaker. Was he? And if so, how does he aid the process?

This is Fincher's attitude, as I understand it: He hires somebody because he truly believes they are the best person for the job. Whether it's the dolly grip, whether it's the camera operator, whether it's the sound engineer, whether it's the actors... He hires us because he thinks we can do the job better than anyone else. So now that he's hired the best person for that specific job, he doesn't want to have to worry about it any more. He doesn't want to sit there with you going, "Oh, my character..." or "David, let's figure this out." He wants you to show up on set having figured all of that out. And then, when you show up on set ready to work, that's when he looks at you and goes, "OK, let's do some work." If he has to then sit there and go through your rehearsal process with you, that's time that you're missing to work with -- in my opinion -- one of the greatest living directors. It's time you're squandering because you didn't show up prepared.

So we all showed up ready: We showed up with our characterizations done. We showed up as our characters. And because he didn't want to mess with all that, it allowed us to do a lot of work with him toward getting that final product. It was really nice -- one of the best experiences I've ever had working with a director. He's so confident, and he's such a good leader, that everyone on set just watches him and goes, "What do you want me to do? OK! I'll do that." If David Fincher says to you, "We need one more take," you're not going to sit there and go, "Actually, David, I feel like we really got it on that one..." You're going to say, "OK, whatever you say, boss! We'll do one more if you think we need it."

But when you get to that point with such a meticulous craftsman as Fincher -- especially playing digitally realized twins -- do you get to feeling less an actor and more of an object?

When I had to go back and do the facial replacement stuff, definitely. It was so technical: "Your eyes have be right here at this moment, and you're your words have to be right there at that moment. On these beats on your earwig, you have to get this line out, and you have to be cut off at this point..." So that aspect of it was infinitely more technical than artistic. But in terms of being on set, Fincher is so great with actors. He's a very tough director, and he gets exactly what he wants. But at the same time, he lets the actors experiment and lets us discover things on our own. He'll shoot 20 takes without even giving direction: "Cut. Do it again. Cut. Do it again. Cut. Do it again." He'll do that 20 times just to see where that takes us. It was very much an artistic process on set. But the effects, that was definitely technical.

I asked Sam Rockwell once about the process of acting opposite oneself, as he did in Moon. He admitted it was a bit crazymaking. Psychologically, how was it for you?

Well, Fincher protected me. He did a smart thing by making sure we shot all of Cameron before we would switch to Tyler. Obviously there were times late at night where we just had to get shots done, and we'd be switching back and forth. But for the most part I was allowed to play Cameron to his entirety, and then switch characters and then assume the role of Tyler. I mean, Sam was incredible in Moon, but that was a lot more distressing sort of thing. I guess it was kind of schizophrenic at times. I'd finish Cameron, we'd switch seats and I'd sit where Tyler was. Then everybody would leave the set and they'd completely lock everything down. They'd put a piece of tape on the wall and say, "There's your brother," and then put a tennis ball on a C-stand somewhere else and go, "There's [former Harvard president and Winklevoss foil] Larry Summers." Then I'd have this earwig in my ear playing audio of myself playing Cameron, and that would sync up perfectly to the other takes. The camera would be on an automated system so there wouldn't even be a focus puller or anybody. I was alone by myself on set; no one would say, "Action," and no one would say, "Cut." I'd basically be sitting in complete silence.

Actually, beforehand I'd say to the sound engineer, "Can you run that take by me one more time?" And then I'm thinking, "OK, well, in between these two lines I have two beats, so I have to get that line out quickly, but between those two lines I have four beats, so I can kind of lollygag through that. And then he cuts me off on my line, but I cut him off on his line..." I'd have to figure out the timing of all this before we started shooting the scene. So I'm just sitting there in dead silence, and then I'd turn and say, "What are you talking about?" It was a really weird technical process, but Fincher's such a leader he was able to get us through it. The first couple days were weird. They were definitely tough. It took some getting used to, like any new process. But that's the fun of being an actor: not necessarily conforming to this new process, but figuring out how it works with you.

What compelled you to want to act in the first place?

The movie Home Alone.

Seriously?

No joke. I was 12 years old, and I saw the movie Home Alone. I went to bed that night, and I had a dream that I was Macaulay Culkin in the house. When I woke up the next morning, I didn't have the feeling like, "Oh, what a fun dream! I was the kid in Home Alone!" I woke up with this overwhelming feeling of, "I'm supposed to be an actor." I sat down with my parents at breakfast the next morning, and I said, "I think I want to be an actor." My mom started laughing at me; we were living in the Cayman Islands at the time, and she said, "What do you want to do? Island community theater? I have a feeling that's not really what you're thinking about." I was like, "I don't even know what that joke means. All I know is I want to be an actor."

I never quite shook it. When we moved to L.A. a few years later, I told my mom I wanted to pursue acting. She took me to one audition, and I loved it. She told me she wouldn't drive me around to auditions or be a stage mom or rob me of my childhood. She said, "When you become an adult and you still want to act, you can do it then." So I became an adult, I still wanted to act, and here I am.

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