Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is shown as a harsh Silicon Valley boss in a new film by Aaron Sorkin. The Social Reckoning opens in cinemas around the world from Wednesday, IOL reported.
The film comes 16 years after The Social Network, which showed a young Zuckerberg hungry for power. The new movie looks at the darkest parts of Facebook’s history.
“I put him in a single situation and have him make a single argument so that by the end of the film he is confronted with the consequences of what he’s done,” Sorkin told AFP.
The film covers the spread of hate speech on Facebook. It also looks at political division and harm to democracy linked to the platform.
The story follows Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, played by Anora star Mikey Madison. Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz is played by Jeremy Allen White. The pair were behind the 2021 Facebook Files reports that hurt the company.
Succession star Jeremy Strong plays Zuckerberg, who is the central figure in the drama. Haugen and Horwitz carry the emotional heart of the film.
“This is a whistleblower story. It’s a newspaper story,” Sorkin told AFP and a small group of entertainment journalists.
Sorkin said he tried to get inside Zuckerberg’s head in the first film. He said he does that less in the new one.
Sorkin said he does not try to explain what drives the 42-year-old Meta boss. Meta now owns Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as the Metaverse online world.
“It can’t possibly be money. There’s nothing you can buy for $120 billion that you couldn’t buy for $119 billion,” Sorkin said.
Strong told GQ magazine last month that he emailed Zuckerberg. He said he had taken the role “very seriously” and “with respect”. In the film, the Zuckerberg character says: “I know what people think of me”.
The Social Network came out in 2010 and won three Oscars. Sorkin wrote it and David Fincher directed it. Jesse Eisenberg played Zuckerberg as a student at Harvard University.
Sorkin said that film showed a young man who felt left out at college. “And so he created his own cool kids table, which he’s now the mayor of,” he said.
Other tech billionaires are also the subject of new films. A film about OpenAI boss Sam Altman, called Artificial, was dropped by Amazon MGM Studios. Distributor Neon plans to release it next year.
Studio Sony Pictures had Sorkin’s script checked closely because of Zuckerberg’s money and lawyers. An outside law firm was hired to review it.
Sorkin re-shot two scenes but denied that legal fears were the reason. “There were some, not many notes from the lawyers and those notes did not affect (the film),” he said.
Source: this article is based on reporting by IOL Entertainment. Image: IOL Entertainment. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Entertainment desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Rirhandzu Baloyi writes about entertainment for Tzaneen Voice. Rirhandzu covers South African music, film, TV, streaming, awards and celebrity news, from amapiano and local soapies to Showmax and Netflix releases. Stories stick to what happened, who was involved and when fans can watch or listen.