Justin Timberlake joins cast for Facebook film

Director David Fincher has had friend requests accepted from Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg after casting the pair in The Social Network, the upcoming film about the formation of Facebook.

Timberlake is to play Sean Parker, co-founder of the influential filesharing site Napster while Adventureland actor Eisenberg has signed on to star as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerbeg, Variety reports.

Fight Club director Fincher will begin shooting next month in Boston, with a script penned by The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin that details the early development of Facebook at Harvard before the social networking's site soaring popularity saw its creators imbued with overnight fame and success.

English actor Andrew Garfield, soon to be seen in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, has also joined the cast and will play Eduardo Saverin, who worked with Zuckerberg on the business aspects of Facebook but later fell out with him over money.

Scott Rudin is to produce the Columbia Pictures project with Kevin Spacey on board as executive producer.