Sorkin says Strong never broke Zuckerberg voice on Social Reckoning set
Jeremy Strong did not sound like himself for a single day on the set of The Social Reckoning.
Writer-director Aaron Sorkin says Strong never used his own voice and never walked as himself while playing Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, staying locked in character from arrival to wrap, according to Variety.
The film is a follow-up to 2010's The Social Network, for which Sorkin won an Oscar for his screenplay, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This time the story follows whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee who leaked internal documents, as she teams up with Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz to expose the inner workings of Facebook. It reaches theatres on 9 Oct with Strong leading a cast that includes Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison, Bill Burr, Betty Gilpin and Billy Magnussen.
Sorkin described the approach in detail in an interview with The New York Times Magazine, conducted by Lulu Garcia-Navarro and published on 19 Sept under the title 'Aaron Sorkin Goes Off Script', according to The New York Times. He said Strong treated his co-stars the way Strong imagines Zuckerberg treats people. Before filming, Sorkin warned the other actors not to expect small talk.
He told them Strong would not hang out at craft service, the on-set table where cast and crew eat and chat, yuck it up between takes, or likely speak to them at all. Sorkin put it down to focus rather than rudeness, a way of holding the distance he believes Zuckerberg keeps.
That distance held off camera too. Jeremy Allen White said he did not hear Strong's Zuckerberg voice until he watched the trailer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Short line. Long effect. The cast worked opposite a version of Zuckerberg they never heard break.
Strong also took his research outside the studio. He revealed in a GQ interview that he emailed Zuckerberg directly and Zuckerberg wrote back, according to GoldDerby. Sorkin said he had no idea the exchange had happened until later.
The casting itself is a change. Jesse Eisenberg, who played Zuckerberg in The Social Network, declined to return, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Strong stepped into the role.
Sorkin has called the new film a "David and Goliath Story", according to The Hollywood Reporter. He said Sony hired an outside law firm to vet the script to ensure everything presented as fact is a fact, and that the studio received letters from Meta about the production, according to Variety.
What makes this stand out is how little separation Sorkin describes between preparation and performance. For fans, this means the Zuckerberg they see on 9 Oct was built in full view of the cast, but never explained to them.
