If you were watching Disney Channel in the mid-late 2000s, then it’s a good bet you saw Brenda Song playing London Tipton in the Suite Life shows, amidst other shows and movies on the Mouse House’s cable network. As that decade was winding down, Song’s acting career took a major step forward when she was cast in The Social Network, which really should have won Best Picture. However, it took some major fighting on her part to make that happen after the powers-that-be at Disney Channel prevented her from appearing in a Clint Eastwood classic.
Brenda Song spent some time looking back on her career after winning Variety’s Virtuoso Award at the Bentonville Film Festival. During her speech, she recalled how Disney put the kibosh on her potential involvement in Eastwood’s 2008 movie Gran Torino because the character “had an intended sexual assault scene.” While Song was able to make peace with this lost opportunity after initially being upset, she pushed back when it seemed like she wouldn’t be allowed to star in The Social Network either. Here’s how she recounted her meeting with Gary Marsh, the president and COO for Disney branded television at the time, about this:
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.’ And I was so fortunate, they were so supportive. They allowed me to do this film that truly changed my life.
Like with Gran Torino, apparently Gary Marsh and other bigwigs at Disney took issue with The Social Network’s more mature content. It should be noted that Gran Torino was rated R and The Social Network, which Brenda Song ironically can’t watch, got stamped with a PG-13 rating, so the latter was definitely the tamer option for her. Side note, she would have played Sue, Thao’s older sister, in the Eastwood-helmed movie, and that role ultimately went to Ahney Her.
With The Social Network, Brenda Song wasn’t going to let her involvement in The Suite Life on Deck interfere with what she viewed as a major step forward for her career. This time, her request was granted, so she got to star as Christy Lee, the girlfriend of Andrew Garfield’s Eduardo Saverin, in the Aaron Sorkin-penned and David Fincher-directed movie. She has a particularly memorable scene where Cindy burns a scarf that Eduaro gives her, as seen below:
Unfortunately, The Social Network is currently not available to watch on any of the streaming platforms, but it has been announced that Aaron Sorkin will write and direct The Social Network: Part II. While it’s extremely unlikely that Brenda Song will appear in it, you’re welcome to watch her either watch her latest movie, The Last Showgirl, or Running Point, the TV show she currently stars in, with a Hulu subscription and Netflix subscription, respectively.