Sorkin defends Jeremy Strong's method acting and doubts own directing as The Social Reckoning flops

Right · 2Aaron Sorkin's film The Social Reckoning, a sequel of sorts to 2010's The Social Network, has underperformed at the box office after opening to tepid reviews earlier this month. 1 2 Right · 1Breitbart reports it has a 54 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and took about $15 million against a $42 million production budget; the Daily Mail gives no figures. 2 Right · 1Speaking on 25 October at the New Yorker Festival in New York, with host Tyler Foggatt, Sorkin defended the film's star Jeremy Strong, who plays Mark Zuckerberg, against complaints about his extreme method style: "He's not a nut. He's not crazy." 1

Right · 1Sorkin said Strong understands he is making a movie, takes no pleasure in immersive acting, and that it is "the only way he knows how to" work. 1 Right · 1Sorkin recounted that from Strong's first day he heard the actor speak only as Zuckerberg, that Strong emailed him arguments in character, and that on the last day Strong said in his own voice that had he played Jeff Horowitz he would have defended Horowitz. 1 Right · 1Sorkin added that Strong once phoned months after filming wrapped and spoke to him as a Polish Nazi-hunter, in character for The Boys From Brazil, Sorkin's next film, a remake; the Daily Mail attributes this to a Decider report. 1

Right · 1The Daily Mail notes past criticism of Strong's approach from Succession co-stars Brian Cox and Kieran Culkin, and Strong's earlier replies that he is committed to serving the material; it says it has asked Sorkin and Strong for comment. 1 Right · 1Separately, Breitbart reports that at the Newport Beach Film Festival Sorkin said directing has been harder than expected, that the parts of directing they are weak at may be unteachable, and that "I have no visual sensibility, it turns out." 2 Right · 1Sorkin likened this to a football coach who has all the elements to win but loses, and asked for "one more chance" to put it together. 2