Jesse Eisenberg experienced two memorable “firsts” over the weekend – hosting “Saturday Night Live” and meeting his real-life Facebook doppelganger, Mark Zuckerberg.
So, was the star of “The Social Network” nervous about meeting the man he portrayed – some might say… less than favorably – on the big screen?
“No, it was wonderful,” Shaun Robinson on the red carpet at the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles. “I was so thrilled that he agreed to come and do that with me. It was the perfect place to meet for the first time.”
While Andy Samberg (dressed as his Mark Zuckerberg character from “SNL”) joined the duo on-stage during Jesse’s monologue and dubbed the pair’s initial meeting as “awk-Berg,” Jesse revealed it was anything but awkward.
“We were both so overwhelmed to be there. We were both equally nervous to be on live TV,” Jesse explained. “He has such a wonderful sense of humor about the whole thing and so we were just trying to figure out what would be the funniest thing for the show.”
Aside from their quick skit together, there wasn’t much time for Jesse and Mark – who had previously said he had no desire to see “The Social Network” before giving in and taking the entire Facebook staff on a company outing to see it — to interact backstage. However, the thesp said the digital entrepreneur was nothing but gracious – and the feeling was mutual.
“The fact that he would agree to come on ‘Saturday Night Live’ was a testament to his good feelings about the whole thing. We were both so thankful that the other one was so open to working in that way under very unique circumstances,” Jesse added.
In fact, Mark didn’t leave without wishing Jesse a bit of good luck in his bid for another first – his first Academy Award.
“Did he congratulate you on your Oscar [nomination]?” Shaun asked Jesse.
“Yeah,” Jesse revealed. “He was so sweet about everything.”
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