Jeremy Strong on Jesse Eisenberg’s Mark Zuckerberg portrayal ahead of his own

Call it a tale of two Zuckerbergs.

Jeremy Strong recently opened up about stepping into the acclaimed shoes of Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Reckoning, the upcoming companion piece to the era-defining 2010 drama The Social Network. Strong is set to portray Meta (formerly Facebook) founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg a decade and a half after Eisenberg earned an Oscar nomination for his spin on the same divisive mogul.

The new film from original scribe Aaron Sorkin boasts “one of the great scripts I’ve ever read,” Strong said while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter at the Academy Museum Gala on Saturday. “It speaks to our time, it touches the third rail of everything happening in our world.”

Though The Social Reckoning can only hope to achieve the recognition and adulation that its predecessor was met with, Strong noted he won’t be taking the same path the previous Zuck took to get there.

Regarding any bearing Eisenberg’s grating and flinty take on the infamous founder might have on his own approach to the role, Strong remarked, “No, I think that has nothing to do with what I’m going to do.”

But he had nothing but praise for Sorkin’s return to the material, in particular The West Wing creator’s progress update on Zuckerberg as he’s left his “gee shucks” origin story behind to embrace tactics such as censorship, privacy violations, and bowing to political pressure.

“It’s a great character — fascinating, complex — and I’m approaching it with great care and empathy and objectivity,” Strong continued. “I’ve made two films with Aaron, and third time’s the charm.”

The Social Reckoning will be Sorkin’s first time bringing his own words on Zuckerberg and the empire he’s created to life as director; The Social Network was directed by David Fincher. But as Strong noted, it’s far from his first time directing Strong.

The Tony-, Emmy-, and Golden Globe-winning star of Succession previously worked with Sorkin on Molly’s Game, his 2017 biopic of underground poker queenpin Molly Bloom starring Jessica Chastain, and 2020’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, another biographical look at the widely publicized trial of seven protestors of the Vietnam War.

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The Social Reckoning will not see the return of Eisenberg or Andrew Garfield, who played Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. But Sorkin has added plenty of star power in their absence by tapping Mikey Madison to play whistleblower Frances Haugen, and Jeremy Allen White to play Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz, who team up to expose the company’s misdeeds.