Connecting Armie Hammer to ‘The Social Network’

Armie Hammer saved my life.

After the interview, I was walking down the hallway and too busy checking my email on my phone. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and BAM! a door flung open and Armie Hammer dove, tackled me to the ground and saved me from being killed by a rogue hotel ballroom door.

OK. I am exaggerating — but I was walking down the hall after the roundtable interview and a door did slow opened and almost hit me. I moved out the way and Armie said, “Watch out, man.”

So it is kind of true. He saved my life.

All you Gossip Girl fans may recognize Hammer from his stint on the show, other than that, he is a little bit under the radar compared to his co-stars in The Social Network — but the critical wattage of the movie and his dual role will change all that.

Hammer plays Cameron Winklevoss and his twin brother Tyler Winklevoss. A duo of entitled, blue-blood boys who embody the All-American image of a Harvard boy. They look like poster boys for J. Crew who straddle the douchebag threshold and are embroiled in a Facebook legal battle with the film’s tragic hero, Mark Zuckerberg.

But in case you’re wondering — you did read that correctly. Hammer portrayed both handsomely chiseled twins. One body is his, the other is actor’s Josh Pence — but both faces are his.

“When we show up on set, I would start as Cameron,” says Hammer. “We figured it would be a good place to start instead of having to keep track and going back and forth between the two characters. We would shoot the entire scene with me as Cameron and with Josh (Pence) as Tyler. We’d shoot the scene till Finch was happy which could be a thousand times — you never know (laughs) — and then we’d switch. It was really a joint effort between the two of us.”

Physically speaking, Hammer isn’t really too far from the first-impression idea of the “Winklevi.” He’s a handsome, fit man with blonde hair, a nice tan and a classic pastel-colored Ralph Lauren Polo shirt paired with khakis — but there is not a even a scant amount of douchebaggery to him when he chatted with a table full of journalists. He is really pleasant. Really, really pleasant. So pleasant that he makes you want to be happy all the time. So pleasant that he admits to us that he got inspired to act when he saw Home Alone. Here’s what he had to say about the movie and his role in The Social Network.

How has your view of social networking and Facebook changed since doing this movie?

I had a pretty tumultuous relationship with social networking a couple of years ago with the whole Live Journal thing. I was like, “What the hell do I write?” Then there was Myspace and I was like, “What kind of person do I want to create?” With Facebook, it was “What do I write in the About Me section?” and “Someone poked me, what does that mean?” I never really had an overwhelmingly positive take on social networking sites — but I think they are amazing tools.

In terms of the Winklevi twins, how does the movie portray them?

We wanted to make sure that we didin’t fall into the stereotypical route of good twin/bad twin. If we approached it like that, it would end up as bad twin/bad twin. These are real people who are actually living — they are so big they can beat me up. So I wanted to make sure we bring a human element to them instead of presenting a caricature of them.

Did you take ideas from people in your past to help you portray the twins?

Elements of their personalities are found in each of us — the parts of us the war with ourselves as it pertains to chivalry, manners and having your word be your bond. Cameron is more of a “you are a gentleman and you should behave as such” kind of guy where as Tyler is more acclimated to the modern world. He’s a little more litigious — he wants vengeance. They think differently, but they had to come from the same place. That duality is in all of us.

Despite their facade of “rich white kids who don’t need more” how did you find sympathy for them?

I found sympathy for them by viewing them as humans. When we shot this, I had to side with them. I had to say “Yes, Mark Zuckerberg stole Facebook from them.” That had to be our attitude through the entire movie — to bring truth to their perspective. This movie is shot from everybody’s individual perspective. It’s not clear in who wronged who — that’s left up to the audience to decide.

How do you feel about the whole situation?

No one likes the feeling of having something stolen from you — no matter how rich or poor you are. No one likes feeling that they are useless. No one likes to feel like everything’s too easy for them. Those are ubiquitous in human nature.

Click here to check out more interviews from the cast of The Social Network.