- 4 minutes ago
Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White and Aaron Sorkin arrived in London for the UK Gala Screening of ‘The Social Reckoning’ which delves into contentious issues with Facebook. It’s Sorkin’s follow-up piece to his Oscar-winning ‘The Social Network’ and sees Jeremy Strong take on the role of Mark Zuckerberg, while Madison and White play whistleblowers.
Speaking from the Curzon Mayfair, the trio looked back on their own history on social media and what they did that makes them cringe, while also discussing Strong’s reported “method acting” on set.
The Social Reckoning is out in UK & Irish cinemas on 9th October Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Speaking from the Curzon Mayfair, the trio looked back on their own history on social media and what they did that makes them cringe, while also discussing Strong’s reported “method acting” on set.
The Social Reckoning is out in UK & Irish cinemas on 9th October Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00I am embarrassed that I keep bringing this up. I'm like, why am I doing that to myself?
00:04I don't know if it's as wild as maybe people think.
00:09If everybody woke up in the morning, the first thing that happened is they just looked at a picture of
00:12a dachshund.
00:13I'm telling you, you'd be happy all day long.
00:39Hey, how are you?
00:41Yeah, of course.
00:42Hey, can I ask you, has this film, has this experience, this project started to finish, changed your outlook in
00:47social media from before, and now is there two different mindsets you have?
00:51How did it change your thoughts?
00:53I mean, I think I've always had sort of a healthy distance from social media in my life.
01:00It's certainly been a nice reminder in learning what I have.
01:03You know, I followed the story pretty closely when Francis came forward and spoke in front of Congress.
01:14But I didn't understand, I guess, how knowledgeable Facebook was and how protective they were being over like every percentage
01:24of engagement, how they were really like fighting for that, regardless of the fallout or the outcome.
01:32And I think that is what was really shocking to me, it's like, it's the why and the need of
01:36these big companies, that's something I didn't understand and I came to understand in the process of making the film.
01:42Sorry, I heard you say earlier on that, like, you kind of joined social media a little bit later.
01:46Yeah, I think so.
01:47Yeah.
01:48All I do in social media now is just look at my old posts and cringe and what I put
01:51out there.
01:52Yeah, it's brutal.
01:52How many of those moments do you have a particular cringe social media about what you can think of?
01:56Yeah, of course, I mean, I was like photographing like, like Supreme duffel bags and I was like putting up
02:04like screenshots of like Kendrick Lamar, who's amazing.
02:09But like, that's not, I don't need to put that out in, out in the world.
02:13I did not understand Instagram.
02:15I still don't understand Instagram, to be honest.
02:17Yeah.
02:18Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:18Hey, Jeremy Strong is superb as Mark Zuckerberg in this film.
02:22I know you didn't have too much interaction with him, but I've heard Aaron talk about like how he didn't
02:26hear Jeremy's real voice until shooting a rat, because he was like that, so in that character.
02:31Yeah.
02:32Did you have any interaction with him as Mark Zuckerberg during the shooting of this?
02:36No, I didn't see Jeremy at all during this filming, but that's what he does.
02:42We did a film together and he's played a real person, John Landau, and he spoke as John the whole
02:47time.
02:47So it makes sense that he would have, he would have done this.
02:51He was like an offset, like John Landau rather than Jeremy.
02:54Well, he's still Jeremy.
02:55We still, you know, we would speak about our kids and I don't know if it's as like wild as
02:59maybe people think, you know, he just likes to stay close to it.
03:03I think so.
03:04It's, it's more easily accessible when he's on set.
03:06You know what I mean?
03:07Yeah.
03:08Well, thanks for your time.
03:08Yeah, of course.
03:09Appreciate you.
03:10Thanks very much.
03:11So I needed to try and like bridge the gap between those two things.
03:23Congratulations on being in a, obviously an Aaron Salkin project.
03:27I know that you said at one point, how do I breathe during this dialogue?
03:32What are the secrets of breathing during Aaron Salkin dialogue?
03:36You don't, you don't even think about it.
03:39I mean, I, just as myself, like at the way I speak is I, I'm very contemplative.
03:46Like I take lots of long pauses, which is something I wasn't aware of before working with Aaron.
03:51And every comma, every period is like timed.
03:55He has this internal metronome and like everything needs to be pretty snappy.
04:00And so I learned to, to speed things up a bit.
04:04I know that myself, all I use social media for these days on Facebook, especially as I go back and
04:09we'll see unfortunate cringy posts that I've done back in the day.
04:12Do you have any of those that you look back and like?
04:14What was I thinking?
04:16I mean, I, I'm embarrassed that I, I keep bringing this up.
04:21I'm like, why am I doing that to myself?
04:22But I had an Instagram when I was 13, um, with like a couple of posts on it and I
04:28guess it had, I had forgotten about it and it was still up and someone reminded me and like that
04:32was pretty embarrassing.
04:34There were, there was a photo of like a cheese pizza with mushrooms and then photo of poison ivy and
04:40like one of those kind of like weird blue filtered, hard boiled filters over some photo of me and my
04:48friend and you know, 13 year old stuff.
04:52Yoga city stuff.
04:53I love that introduction.
04:55That's such a cheat.
04:59Um, I heard that he was making a film and that he was potentially interested in speaking to me about
05:05it and I was very excited because I, I'm such a fan of his work.
05:08He's an, an incredible prolific writer and now a filmmaker and so, um, I was definitely interested and I, I
05:16fell in love with the script and, and the story.
05:19Yeah, well, I, I didn't meet, uh, Francis before doing the film because Aaron was very clear that he wanted
05:27my portrayal not to be a representation of the Francis that I find on, on YouTube or getting images.
05:34He really wanted me to build a character from the ground up.
05:37Um, and so that allowed me to have a lot of, uh, a lot of artistic freedom.
05:42Um, and so I, I, I've been talking to her a bit like over email and I'm meeting her very
05:48soon.
05:49I'm very excited about it.
05:50And, um, in terms of any of the tech lingo, it was really difficult for me.
05:56I'm someone who's, uh, not very tech savvy.
05:59I would, I, like, electronics, I always say don't really, like, work around me even though I know that's not
06:05how it works.
06:06Um, and so I really needed to understand what I was talking about, which was a whole other beast.
06:15Um, one second, this is important.
06:19Alright, it's my turn next. Thank you so much for your time.
06:21Good to see you. You bet. Thank you.
06:22Can I just ask you to step back? Are we okay?
06:24Okay.
06:25Um, I've been a big fan of yours since Studio 6 and the Suncestrum.
06:29Thank you very much.
06:30My goodness, it broke my heart when that wasn't continued, but I know you went on to bigger and cooler
06:34and better.
06:34Wow, I really appreciate it. Thank you.
06:36And 30 rocks up on the mantle, I guess, in a weird way.
06:38They did.
06:39Uh, welcome to London. Welcome to, uh, here.
06:41Can you share some of your favorite London, UK memories with me of your time over the years?
06:45Well, I, I'm crazy about, uh, London.
06:49Um, uh, when I've been here, it, it, it helps that when I've been here, it's been for very special
06:55occasions like this.
06:56Uh, I, I've had two plays here on the West End.
07:00Doing, there's nothing like doing a play, uh, in London.
07:03Nothing like London audiences.
07:05Uh, uh, uh, I'm, I'm very happy when I'm here.
07:08I was listening to you last week.
07:09You're in Susan.
07:09Still look the wrong way when I'm crossing the street.
07:12Oh, no.
07:13Um, we will look out for you.
07:15Don't worry.
07:15I appreciate it.
07:16Um, hey, I was listening to, uh, you, an interview the other day, saying that, uh, you didn't hear Jeremy's
07:20real voice.
07:21Jeremy's, uh, real voice until the end of the shoot.
07:24That's right. He only spoke as Mark, in Mark's voice.
07:26And how did you find that as a director?
07:27Have you had much interaction with method actors before?
07:30And what do you call it actually?
07:31Yeah, it is.
07:33Um, uh, it's, it's very immersive, uh, acting.
07:37And I've, I, this is my third time working with Jeremy.
07:40Um, he had, it's my first time where he really went this far, uh, with the immersiveness.
07:45But, uh, Jeremy's a phenomenal actor.
07:48He's a total professional.
07:49He's not nuts.
07:50Um, uh, so, uh, it, he also didn't need much direction.
07:56I mean, he, he came to the set 90% of the way there.
08:01Little things, you know, a little bit hotter there, a little bit colder there, a little slower, a little faster,
08:06that kind of thing.
08:07Well, I assume you might have that interaction with a lot of your actors because they have to, they speak
08:11in a solid dialogue.
08:13There's a music and a rhythm that, uh, that they have to get used to a little bit, but they
08:18did and they're great at it.
08:20Was it like you said, like, where do I breathe?
08:22Like, how do you...
08:22Yes.
08:25How do you ease them into, I guess?
08:28She asked one of those, how do, where do I breathe, uh, questions.
08:32And I, I read the speech out loud and I couldn't find a place to breathe in the middle of
08:37it.
08:39Um, uh, so it's, uh, again, it's, it's like music, you know, there's a quarter rest here, that kind of
08:45thing.
08:45Um, I know that, uh, kind of had a, I've had a strange back and forth with, uh, Mark Zuckerberg
08:50over the years, like in kind of public settings.
08:53Have you had a recent interaction, like, or is it all to the lawyers now with, uh, Sony and Facebook?
08:57I've, I've never met or spoken, uh, uh, to Mark.
09:01There was one public interaction, uh, where I, I wrote a New York Times op-ed, uh, to him.
09:09It's really how all the, uh, started it.
09:11Facebook had just announced that they were no longer going to fact check political ads.
09:16And so I wrote, uh, an op-ed about it.
09:19And he responded, which surprised me, but he responded, he responded on, excuse me, he responded on Facebook.
09:25Uh, and he responded by quoting a line from a movie of mine.
09:31It was The American President, a romantic comedy where Michael, uh, Michael Douglas' character,
09:36The President is defending a person's right to burn the American flag in protest.
09:42Uh, a free speech, free expression, uh, argument.
09:46And I was just surprised because surely Mark is smart enough to understand the difference between an unpopular opinion and
09:54a lie.
09:55Uh, and he, he was saying it's okay to lie when you're taking out an ad on Facebook.
10:01Uh, you know, as Bill Burr's character said, it's okay to buy an ad saying tomorrow the election's gonna be
10:05on Wednesday.
10:06Um, so I know that you've been on various forms of social media over the years.
10:10Do you have, like, we all look back at our old posts now and kind of cringe.
10:13Do you have, like, a cringey social media moment?
10:15Well, I'm sure that I would.
10:17But fortunately, I don't have any social media.
10:20Uh, no, uh, I was on Facebook for the period that I was writing the movie.
10:25Uh, and, but that's it.
10:27And you never got pulled into posts or anything?
10:29I didn't.
10:30Uh, I didn't.
10:31I, there were just mostly in my feed, there were pictures of dachshunds.
10:35That's a nice question.
10:37Uh, you know what?
10:38If that, exactly right.
10:39If Facebook was like that, if everybody woke up in the morning, the first thing that happened
10:42is they just looked at a picture of a dachshund.
10:44I'm telling you, you'd be happy all day long.
10:46I've got my daily film.
10:47Perfect.
10:48Enjoy your night.
10:48Thank you, sir.
10:49Take care.