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Aaron Sorkin returns to Facebook with new film «The Social Reckoning»
ReAaron Sorkin returns to Facebook with new film «The Social Reckoning»
Aaron Sorkin's new film «The Social Reckoning» revisits Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, focusing on the platform's role in extremism and divisiveness. The movie arrives Oct. 9 as Meta faces mounting scrutiny and penalties.
Aaron Sorkin is returning to the subject that defined a generation of tech criticism. His new film, «The Social Reckoning,» revisits Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, but this time the focus is not on the company's founding. It is on what the platform has become — and its role in the rise of extremism and political division.
Sorkin, who wrote the screenplay for the 2010 hit «The Social Network,» said his understanding of Facebook has deepened dramatically since then. «Back then, Facebook was a way to keep in touch with people you went to high school with. It's something much different now,» he said in an interview. «The Social Network» was about the invention of Facebook. «The Social Reckoning» is about what it's become.
Sony Pictures will release the film on Oct. 9. The trailer debuted the same week Meta, Facebook's parent company, agreed to pay up to $18 billion in penalties over claims that its platforms endangered children. The timing places the movie at the center of a growing public reckoning over the power and influence of social media companies.
Sorkin said he wants audiences to be entertained but also alarmed. «When you see this movie, No. 1, I want you to be entertained,» he said. «No. 2, you should be alarmed when you see the movie. I think people will be.»
The film is part of a broader wave of fall releases targeting tech leaders. Alex Gibney's four-hour documentary «Musk» debuts Oct. 16, and Luca Guadagnino's «Artificial» dramatizes the saga of OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman. But «The Social Reckoning» carries extra weight because of the legacy of its predecessor, often cited as one of the best American films of the century.
Sorkin acknowledged feeling hesitant about returning to the subject. «I recognize the shadow that 'The Social Network' casts,» he said. «But I think what's going to happen is, 10 minutes into the movie, you'll have forgotten about that and be invested in this.»
The new film is not a sequel. It centers on the same figure, Zuckerberg, but captures him and his company at a dramatically different stage. Sorkin began contemplating the project around 2019, the same time he wrote an op-ed in The New York Times addressed to Zuckerberg. The piece alleged that Facebook was responsible for «crazy lies pumped into the water supply that corrupt the most important decisions we make together.»
Zuckerberg responded by quoting Sorkin's own dialogue from «The American President» about free speech. Sorkin said the exchange stayed with him. «It's just impossible that Mark and the people around Mark don't know the difference between an unpopular opinion and a lie,» he said.
Sorkin has since said he blames Facebook for the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. He was eventually coaxed back to the project by Sony chief Tom Rothman and agent Ari Emanuel. «I said at the beginning I didn't want to write 'Jaws 2.' I didn't want to return and fail,» Sorkin said. «Then I met Frances Haugen and I met Jeff Horwitz and I started thinking more about it. I realized there was a terrific story and the only reason not to do it is being scared. And that's just not a good enough reason.»
The film stars Mikey Madison as Haugen, the former Facebook data scientist who became a whistleblower in 2021 and testified before Congress that the company was tuning its algorithm to put profit before public safety. Jeremy Allen White plays Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz. Jeremy Strong takes over the role of Zuckerberg from Jesse Eisenberg.
Sorkin initially reached out to Eisenberg about reprising the role. «I didn't know that Jesse simply did not want to play Mark Zuckerberg ever again,» Sorkin explained. «He was clear that he loves 'The Social Network,' he loves how it launched his career, and he just doesn't like being conflated with Mark Zuckerberg. I was just really lucky that Jeremy Strong had said, 'Hey, listen, if for some reason Jesse doesn't want to do it.'»
Zuckerberg and Meta have not publicly commented on the film. The company declined to comment for this article. Sorkin said he has never met Zuckerberg. «I don't pretend to have any insight into how his mind works, only the results of how his mind works, and then I kind of reverse engineer it,» he said.
