'Social Network' Jesse Eisenberg: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is 'a lonely person'

Mark Zuckerberg, whose ambitious and calculating behavior during the creation and building of Facebook is dramatized in the new film, "The Social Network," has a staunch defender.

That's Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who plays Zuckerberg in the film based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires," a film that many feel focuses on Zuckerberg's flaws, his burning ambition and his often cruel treatment of friends and coworkers.

Some who have seen the film say that it portrays Zuckerberg as an insecure egomaniac who screws his friends and becomes a billionaire in the process. But Jesse says the guy isn't all bad.

"In the same way we can't think of ourselves in kind of an objective way, that's how actors have to think about the roles that they play," Jesse explains to MTV.

While Zuckerberg does things that are occasionally hurtful to other characters, Jesse maintains, "But I think it's always coming from a real place. He prioritizes Facebook over his personal relationships. "

"His interest is elsewhere, so he severs these personal relationships he has in the movie in order to take Facebook in the direction that it needs to go. I think it's a completely defendable position."

OK, but don't tell that to your Facebook friends.

Even though he has never met his real life counterpart, Jesse tells the LA Times about the Facebook founder's ironic inability to connect to others.

"What I discovered is that he's somebody who is ultimately kind of a lonely person, who has difficulty connecting because I think other people want to connect in a way he's not comfortable with," said the actor.

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