Brenda Song is spilling about how her iconic role on “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” impacted her film career. Song, who began on the Disney Channel show in 2005 as a teenager, said she had to later turn down working with auteurs due to Disney executives not approving of certain roles. It wasn’t until 2010 that Song was able to convince the then-president and COO for Disney branded television, Gary Marsh, to let her star in David Fincher’s “The Social Network.”
“I was just like, ‘I am an actor. When you hired me, I was not a hotel heiress. If I have ever done anything in my personal life to ever draw bad attention to your company, I understand. But this is the last season of the show, and this is the opportunity of a lifetime,’” Song recalled telling Marsh. Song shared the story during the Bentonville Film Festival, where she received the Virtuoso Award.
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Song continued, “I was so fortunate, they [Disney] were so supportive. They allowed me to do this film that truly changed my life.”
However, that wasn’t always the case: The “Running Point” actress added that she had to exit talks for starring in Clint Eastwood’s controversial 2008 film “Gran Torino” due to its subject matter. Disney “nixed” Song possibly being part of the feature. “The character had an intended sexual assault scene, so Disney nixed it,” Song said. “And I was very upset, but I was like, ‘OK, I guess it didn’t work out.’”
It’s uncertain yet if Song will reprise her role for the recently-announced “The Social Network” sequel. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and Sony Pictures are in development on “The Social Network Part II.” Sorkin will also direct. Jesse Eisenberg led the original film as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, with Song, Andrew Garfield, Rooney Mara, Armie Hammer, and Dakota Johnson co-starring. “The Social Network” made $226 million at the global box office and was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture. The film won three, including Sorkin landing Best Adapted Screenplay.
Sorkin told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021 that he wanted to pen a script that exposed “the dark side” of Facebook. “I think what has been going on with Facebook these last few years is a story very much worth telling,” Sorkin said, “and there is a way to tell it as a follow-up to ‘The Social Network,’ and that’s as much as I know.” He later added that the platform was to blame for the Insurrection.
Meanwhile, Fincher had publicly declined returning to direct any follow-up, and told The Guardian in 2023 that it would be a “can of worms” of a project, despite previously having been in talks with Sorkin about it. Fincher is now directing the “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” sequel for Netflix, with Brad Pitt reprising his Oscar-winning role as fictional stunt man Cliff Booth.
