Sean Parker Criticizes Justin Timberlake's Performance

He's been getting big plaudits for his portrayal of social media guru Sean Parker, but Justin Timberlake has failed to impress the one person who might be most qualified to judge his performance: Parker himself.

Timberlake, 29, plays the Napster founder and early Facebook executive in the hit movie The Social Network, a film that has already come under attack by many of those involved for its perceived inaccuracies. Parker may have particular cause for distaste with his movie alter-ego, who comes across as a kind of smooth-talking, paranoiac, drug addict villain in the film.

"It’s a great performance of a character that isn’t me,” Parker, 30, said to Us Magazine. Asked if Timberlake should be nominated for an Oscar, he demurred. "That's a good question," he said. "It's not my industry."

The two Parkers have actually met before, according to Timberlake. "It was just after it was speculated that I was going to be playing the part. He was a really nice guy, personable. He seemed really cool," he said in New York Magazine. "He had read the screenplay, and I had read the screenplay, and I just asked him what his thoughts were. But I didn’t really feel a responsibility to play that person." –AMY LEE