Sorkin says leaving Trump out of Social Reckoning was his call

Aaron Sorkin says nobody told him to keep Donald Trump out of The Social Reckoning.

The writer-director said he was never asked to omit Trump or avoid naming him, in an interview published on 2 October by Deadline. No one gave that order. The choice was his own.

The film premieres on 9 October, according to the same interview. Sorkin wrote and directed it as the sequel to The Social Network (2010), which he wrote. The new story centres on a young Facebook whistleblower, an insider who leaks secret documents, after a 2021 leak that exposed harm the social network caused to society.

Mikey Madison stars as the former Facebook engineer-turned-whistleblower, Reuters reported. Trump is not mentioned by name in the film, Variety reported. Sorkin said he left the name out to avoid distraction, according to Fox News.

Sorkin said he did not want the film to become a red-blue thing. He described it instead as a story about Facebook's role in the rise of divisiveness, extremism and hyper-partisanship. He said he promised Sony executive Tom Rothman there would be no Trump signage and no "Make America Great Again" in the film.

He said he handed in the script and met with Rothman a day or two later. Sorkin said the film should not be a political film, while acknowledging that it is one, Politico reported.

The production underwent reshoots, extra filming after the main shoot, and limited test screenings. Sorkin said the reshoots had nothing to do with the response to the trailer.

For fans, this means a cinema-only event to start with. Sony Pictures lists The Social Reckoning for release exclusively in theatres. Sorkin has said separately that he doubts studios today would agree to make his 1995 political romantic dramedy The American President.