Jeremy Strong Wrote Zuckerberg After 'Social Reckoning' Casting
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- Jeremy Strong stars as Mark Zuckerberg in Aaron Sorkin's 'The Social Reckoning' (opening Oct. 9), after Jesse Eisenberg declined to reprise the role because he no longer 'wants to be associated' with the Facebook co-founder.
- Strong emailed Zuckerberg after accepting the part, telling GQ: 'I take this responsibility very seriously, and the veracity of it seriously, and I'm approaching it with respect'; Zuckerberg wrote back, but Strong won't disclose what he said.
- Strong defended playing a 'reviled person,' telling GQ: 'I do not think you should have an actor playing him who wants to set out to condemn him,' citing peer performances like Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen.
- Strong prepared by signing up for a Facebook account to read Zuckerberg's posts from the beginning and watching his Congressional testimony 'until my eyes fell out of my head,' studying his evolution into a 'wartime CEO.'
- Bradley Cooper told GQ he unknowingly had a full conversation with 'Mark Zuckerberg' — actually Strong in character — saying, 'Mark Zuckerberg has no idea.'
- Strong was still in Method mode during his GQ interview, answering every question in a Polish accent from his seven-month production of 'The Boys from Brazil,' where he plays a globe-trotting Nazi hunter; Sorkin said Strong called him six or eight weeks ago 'without any introduction' in the same accent.
- Strong called the polarizing first trailer reaction — some predicting an Oscar nom, others a Razzie — 'the greatest endorsement,' adding: 'I put it on the line enough.'
Why it matters: Strong's direct email to Zuckerberg gives the Facebook CEO an unusual say in his own on-screen portrayal — a contrast with Eisenberg's refusal to reprise — and Strong's simultaneous seven-month Polish-accent immersion for 'The Boys from Brazil' shows he's running two Method projects in parallel.
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