A follow-up to 2010's The Social Network, the upcoming film The Social Reckoning brings writer Aaron Sorkin back to the world of Silicon Valley tech. While Sorkin is taking the directorial reins over from The Social Network's David Fincher, he recently revealed that he was initially second on his own list of choices to direct it. The film stars Jeremy Strong in the role of Mark Zuckerberg.
Speaking about the project to IndieWire, Sorkin admitted that his first pick for the upcoming film was David Fincher himself. However, an exclusive agreement with Netflix prevented the maker of acclaimed films such as Se7en, Fight Club, and Zodiac from taking on the job. Urgency also played a part in Sorkin’s decision to step behind the camera himself. Rather than risking a release window that would drag the release past the US midterm election, the writer-director wanted the film to hit theatres immediately.
As the screenplay's very first reader, Fincher remained an enthusiastic pillar of support for Sorkin during the development of the film. According to Sorkin, the acclaimed director offered supportive feedback and confidence in the project. Interestingly, Sorkin also revealed that he and Fincher assumed initially that Jesse Eisenberg would reprise his role of Mark Zuckerberg in the upcoming film. Recently, Eisenberg told Variety that he passed on the role not because he lacked confidence in the film but rather he did not wish to have further association with his role from The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg.
The upcoming film draws inspiration from The Wall Street Journal's investigative project known as The Facebook Files. The narrative follows Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), a young engineer who partners with The Wall Street Journal's journalist Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) to expose the social media company's most closely guarded internal operations.
Set to be distributed exclusively by Sony Pictures Entertainment India, The Social Reckoning hits theaters on October 09, Friday.
