The makers of The Social Network issued a public apology - of sorts - to Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday night, as their film about the founder of Facebook won top honours at the Golden Globe Awards.

The Social Network, hailed by critics as a modern-day Citizen Kane, won four prizes, including best movie drama.

The film portrays Zuckerberg as a virtually autistic tech-nerd who steals the idea for Facebook and then betrays his friends in the quest for billion-dollar success, but its makers told a different story as they basked in the praise of the Hollywood Foreign Writers Association, which votes for the Golden Globes.

“Mark Zuckerberg, if you’re watching, Rooney Mara’s character makes a prediction at the beginning of the movie,” said David Fincher, accepting the Best Director award. Mara plays Zuckerberg’s ex-girlfriend, who predicts girls will hate him, not because he is rich and successful, but “because you're an ***hole". Fincher went on: ”She was wrong. You turned out to be a great entrepreneur, a visionary and an incredible altruist.” Scott Rudin, the film’s producer, extended the rapprochement further, thanking Zuckerberg for allowing them to use his life story “as a metaphor to tell a story about communication and the way we relate to each other”.

The Social Network - which also won best screenplay for Aaron Sorkin and best score - beat out Black Swan, The Fighter, The King’s Speech and Inception for the top award for a drama. In the comedy/musical category, top honours went to The Kids Are All Right.  — By arrangement with The Independent