Will Jeremy Strong Play Mark Zuckerberg?

Add Jeremy Strong to the list of bold-faced names circling Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network Part II.

Sorkin, who won an Academy Award for penning the 2010 original movie, wrote the script and will direct the Sony drama that is inspired by a series of articles Jeff Horwitz wrote for The Wall Street Journal known as The Facebook Files.

Strong joins Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White as the select few master thespians who have been meeting with Sorkin as he packages a cast and budget that he will then show to the studio for final approval.

Insiders stress that no offers have been made and that the film is still in the development process, although the project is a top priority for the studio and moving fast.

While the acclaimed 2010 drama focused on the making of the Facebook, now known as Meta, the story of the new feature will focus on how the company’s own reporting pointed to the negative effects the company’s social media was having on teens and kids, how it knew misinformation was proliferating and causing violence, and how it contributed to the coup attempt of Jan. 6, 2021.

If offers and, indeed, dealmaking closes, Madison would play Frances Haugen, the data engineer-turned-whistleblower who went to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Wall Street Journal with her information. White would play the former WSJ tech reporter who leads the breaking of the Facebook files.

The big question is who could Strong be playing. Sources say there is a role for a WSJ editor, but the other option is a doozy: Facebook/Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

One source said that Jesse Eisenberg, who earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Zuckerberg has passed, at least at this time, on reprising the part. Whether that is a negotiating tactic or not remains to be seen.

Sony had no comment.  

Sorkin, Todd Black, Peter Rice, and Stuart Besser are producing the sequel.

One source said the project would have shades of The Insider, the 1999 movie from Michael Mann that told of a whistleblower blowing the lid off the tobacco industry by talking to 60 Minutes. Another source offered comparisons to Spotlight, the 2015 movie that centered on reporters from the Boston Globe investigating child sex abuse by the city’s Roman Catholic clergy.

A winner of Tony and Emmy awards, Strong may be best known for his work on HBO’s critical darling Succession, where he played the eldest son of Logan Roy, the patriarch of the Murdoch-like family played by Brian Cox. He previously worked with Sorkin on Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 in which he played anti-war leader Jerry Rubin.

Last year, Strong portrayed as Donald Trump mentor Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, a performance that netted him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.