Succession actor Jeremy Strong has opened up about why he refuses to condemn Mark Zuckerberg while playing him in The Social Reckoning, and the secret email he sent to the Facebook founder in preparation for the role. The long-awaited sequel to David Fincher’s The Social Network is finally set to drop in October this year, with original writer Aaron Sorkin taking over directing duties. While the first film covered the meteoric rise of Facebook, The Social Reckoning arrives in a very different world. Years of controversy surrounding Zuckerberg and his company makes the sequel a far more politically charged story. Taking place 17 years after the original, it centres on the 2021 Facebook leak by the whistleblower Frances Haugen and journalist Jeff Horwitz. And taking over from Jesse Eisenberg in the lead role is Strong. To get into character, the Succession star – who’s known for researching his characters on a deeper level than most – didn’t hold back, as revealed in a new interview with GQ. He described Zuckerberg as “the mother lode,” researching everything from podcasts and magazine interviews to tech-summit talks and conversations, watching footage of the Meta CEO testifying before Congress “until my eyes fell out of my head.” Strong even signed up for Facebook to look at Zuckerberg’s posts from the very beginning. But what might be most surprising to all is that he even wrote to the co-founder. “I’m probably going to give Sony an aneurysm – I sent him an email,” Strong admitted. “Just to say that I take this responsibility very seriously, and the veracity of it seriously, and I’m approaching it with respect.” Although he did receive a reply, the actor stopped short of revealing what it said. He did, however, give some context as to why he doesn’t want to bad mouth Zuckerberg despite the intense scrutiny the Meta CEO has faced in recent years. “Listen, I know that he is a reviled person and not a popular person in our culture, but I do not think you should have an actor playing him who wants to set out to condemn him,” Strong explained. He also mentioned “the unspoken thing, which is, like, it’s crazy to take this on at all. It’s crazy,” describing the topic of Facebook and what it’s grown into as an “ideological minefield.” “It feels incredibly fraught to talk about the movie, to talk about Mark and being the person who is playing Mark and representing Mark in a sense to the world and to posterity,” he continued. “I feel an enormous sense of weight and responsibility. And listen, my job is to understand and defend his point of view and fight his fight.” For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page. Featured image credit: Sony/Anthony Quintano/Creative Commons Post navigation Next storyPrevious story
