Jack Dorsey was the first CEO of Twitter, though his leadership expertise wore thin as the company grew and Williams took his place. Dorsey used his time off for speaking engagements and established himself as the face of Twitter, taking most of the credit along the way. Dorsey eventually got revenge by pushing Williams out of the company completely just before its much-hyped IPO was released. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy, Kick Ass, Anna Karenina) not only resembles Dorsey, but he's also got the look and grit to transition from early nerdy-punkish Dorsey to current businessman-pretty boy Dorsey.
Photo by Gregory Harris, Interview, May 2010
Crystal Taylor was one of the first female employees at Twitter, and she's also one of the few initial team members that still works there. Women in early Silicon Valley startups are controversially scarce, and we want to see how Taylor navigated the roller coaster that was early Twitter. Brie Larson amazed just about everybody in Short Term 12, and her agile jumps back and forth from comedy to drama (Community and The United States of Tara vs. Don Jon and The Spectacular Now) beg for the long-term commitment of a TV series.
Photo by Frank Sun, Interview Online, January 2013.
If one thing's certain in 2014, it's that we're going to see quite a bit more of Miles Teller. Whiplash, his most recent film, was the toast of Sundance this year and he's set to appear in Divergent alongside Shailene Woodley. We'd like to continue that trend by casting him as Evan Williams, the computer nerd, turned tech icon. Williams took on the CEO role in the late '00s during Twitter's most formative period. During his tenure, Williams pushed meek co-founder Noah Glass out of the company and demoted Jack Dorsey to a silent chairman role (not that Dorsey stayed quiet). In spite of this, Williams still comes off as Twitter's fairest and most effective leader. Teller has the presence and likeability to play the role, plus he has proven acting chemistry with our pick to play Twitter's first female team member, Brie Larson.
Photo by Frank Sun, Interview Online, January 2013.
As the oft-forgotten co-founder of Twitter, Noah Glass finally gets his due regard in Hatching Twitter. Glass both named the company and established much of its core purpose and design. Aside from sharing a recognizable hairdo with Glass, Evan Peters plays the angsty low-profile type well (American Horror Story), and we'd like to see him not be physically tortured in some way on television. Sorry AHS.
Christopher "Biz" Stone served as the moral compass for Twitter during its early days. He was the guiding influence in making user privacy a priority, and stayed loyal to Williams throughout. That's why we've picked the former Friday Night Lights moral compass and resident nerd, Jesse Plemons, to play the part.
To play Dick Costolo, the likable, intelligent CEO that created all that IPO buzz we've cast Breaking Bad alum, Bryan Cranston. We won't lie, part of this decision comes from the imminent withdrawal we expect to feel now that he's left TV screens, and selfishly we'd like to get him back. But playing Costolo requires a certain intellect and presence to convince as the vocal CEO that brought Twitter into its newest phase of life. Cranston has exactly that. Plus, he's already proven that he'll shave his head for a bald role. Did we mention that Cranston and Plemons worked together on Breaking Bad?
