There is an obvious difference for an actor between playing a fictional character and playing a real person. There is always wiggle room and space for creativity in the former (even a hero or villain with significant history), but expectations are wholly different than the latter, as portrayals are expected to be emulations of known individuals. So can you blame Jeremy Allen White from expressing some hesitance when presented the opportunity to go from making Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere to the upcoming sequel The Social Reckoning?
In an interview with Variety, the star of The Bear explained how he was ultimately convinced to join the cast of Aaron Sorkin’s Social Network sequel – but first he detailed why the gig gave him pause. In the experience of playing Bruce Springsteen, he always had the thought at the back of his mind that the legendary singer/songwriter was eventually going to watch his performance, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to carry that same weight while playing the role of Jeff Horwitz. He told the trade,
I had spoken to Aaron early on. I’d come off the Bruce movie and I told him that I’m kind of hesitant about going right into playing someone else who’s a real person because this was heavy. It was a lot of responsibility. He was like, ‘Well, this person is not as known.’ I was like, ‘Of course, but still, it’s a real person. They’re around, they’re out there.’
The specific focus of The Social Reckoning will be about the 2021 Facebook leak that revealed harm was being done to users by the social media platform, and it was harm that the company knew about. The whistleblower-sourced information was first covered in a series of articles by the Wall Street Journal, and WSJ tech reporter Jeff Horwitz published a book in 2023 titled Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Harmful Secrets.
To note: Jeremy Strong is playing Mark Zuckerberg in the sequel (and is replacing Jesse Eisenberg in the role), and Oscar winner Mikey Madison is portraying aforementioned whistleblower Frances Haugen.
What helped ease Jeremy Allen White’s mind about taking the part was understanding the degree to which Aaron Sorkin wanted him to transform himself in the performance. When he understood that the writer/director essentially wanted a movie version of Jeff Horowitz and was not expecting extreme efforts to channel the real man, White’s point of view on the project softened. He continued,
I was like, ‘How important is it for you for us to get together? Do you want me to look like him and do you want me to sound like him?’ He said, ‘I’ve spoken to Jeff a lot. He’s given us his blessing. This is my story, my understanding of these characters. I want you to serve my script, not the world.’ So that was nice to be able to approach it like that and getting to do Sorkin’s words.
Of course, Sorkin is a legend when it comes to those “words” – from his beloved scripts for films like The Social Network, A Few Good Men and Moneyball to the existence of The West Wing. Putting aside the pressures for an actor playing a real person, his writing style is demanding by itself for a performer, and White had to wrap his brain around it:
It’s a lot, but once you do it, that’s kind of the whole job. There’s not a lot of guesswork. Everything is so clear. The rhythm is so clear. It felt like a nice break for me. Jeff is very internally sound. The issues that these characters are dealing with on an external level are massive, but Jeff himself is pretty kind of settled. There was something nice about not having to do a tremendous amount of emotional work, and just being available to my fellow actors and being true to Sorkin’s words.
The Social Reckoning completed filming earlier this month, and if all goes according to plan, it will be a contender in the 2026 award season when it arrives in theaters on October 9.
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