SPOILER WARNING: This interview contains plot points, including some spoilers, for “The Social Reckoning,” opening in theaters on Oct. 9.
“The Social Reckoning” is many things — but those expecting a direct follow-up to 2010’s “The Social Network” may be surprised.
That earlier film, which earned Aaron Sorkin an Oscar for its screenplay, closely followed the emotional trajectory of Mark Zuckerberg (played then by Jesse Eisenberg) as he first created Facebook and then fought to defend himself against charges of IP theft. Now, “The Social Reckoning” confronts the world Facebook has made, with Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) a supporting character in the story of Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), a mid-level Facebook employee who decides to become an unlikely whistleblower.
Haugen’s charges, in our world, became “The Facebook Files,” published in 2021 by Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz and sharing with the world the company’s seeming indifference to its spread of misinformation and its negative impacts on mental health among young users. (Jeremy Allen White plays Horwitz in the film.) Madison’s tracking of Haugen’s steps from believer in Facebook’s mission as a member of its do-gooding, soon-to-be-dissolved civic integrity team to burn-it-down apostate is compelling in part because of the difference between this character and the Zuck we once knew. In Sorkin’s writing, Zuckerberg sees himself as a figure with the power to shift the culture. Haugen wants no such thing —...
After a weekend of demonstrations culminated in France’s most violent night of unrest, the mood in the country remained tense on Monday (October 19) as the government announced partial curfews in ...