Sorkin says he never imagined Eisenberg would skip The Social Reckoning, even after laying out a pitch and a studio paycheck the actor reportedly waved off.
Aaron Sorkin didn't see this one coming. The director has admitted it genuinely "never occurred" to him that Jesse Eisenberg would skip playing Mark Zuckerberg again in The Social Reckoning, his follow-up to 2010's The Social Network, out October 9.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Sorkin recounted running into Eisenberg at a party while he was still finishing the script. He told the actor something was coming his way in a couple of weeks. Eisenberg, by Sorkin's account, "smiled and nodded." The script landed. The answer wasn't what Sorkin expected.
What followed, per Sorkin, was unusual enough that he broke his own habit for it. "This is the only time I've written myself an outline," he said. "I don't do it for the movies, but I did it for my conversations with Jesse." The outline was a pitch deck for one man: reminders that Eisenberg had already proved he could nail this part once, a rundown of the big moments waiting for him in the new script, the works.
It didn't land. But it came close, by Sorkin's telling. Eisenberg reportedly told him their talks brought him "closer to changing my mind" than Sorkin expected, which the director said pleased him. Close, though, isn't the same as yes.
Sorkin also addressed the money question directly. He says he knew exactly what the studio was prepared to offer Eisenberg and it still didn't move the needle. "Money does not motivate Jesse. It's infuriating," Sorkin said, adding that a big payday might work against him. "If anything, money is a disincentive for him. It's admirable. He's very concerned about raising his kids with too much money."
Eisenberg, for his part, has offered his own version to Variety. He said he told Sorkin he's "moving in different directions" in his life and that his decision has nothing to do with the film's quality. "I don't want to be associated with that character, but all of my reasons for not wanting to do the movie have nothing to do with how wonderful the movie is, and will be, and I'm sure is already," he said.
The role now goes to Jeremy Strong, fresh off Succession, stepping into a part that won Eisenberg an Oscar nomination back in 2011. The Social Network itself picked up eight Oscar nominations and three wins, including best adapted screenplay for Sorkin.
The Social Reckoning's cast also includes Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, Billy Magnussen and Bill Burr, with the film arriving in theatres on October 9. Whether audiences accept Strong in a role so closely tied to Eisenberg's Oscar-nominated turn is the question the film now has to answer on its own, starting opening weekend.
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