A ‘Kind Of Hesitant’ Jeremy Allen White Shares Why He Went From Playing Springsteen To Another Biopic With Social Network 2

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It’s noticeably different for actors to play made-up characters versus real people. With fictional roles, there’s freedom to be creative, even when portraying well-known heroes or villains. But when playing a real person, the expectation is to accurately imitate them. So it’s understandable that Jeremy Allen White felt hesitant about moving from the documentary Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere to the upcoming sequel, The Social Reckoning.

I recently read an interview with the star of The Bear, and it was fascinating! He talked about how he almost didn’t take the role in Aaron Sorkin’s Social Network sequel. He explained that when he played Bruce Springsteen, he was constantly worried about the real Springsteen seeing his performance. He didn’t want that same pressure while playing Jeff Horwitz, so he was hesitant at first. He shared all this with Variety, saying…

I remember talking to Aaron pretty early in the process. After finishing the Bruce movie, I admitted I was a little worried about immediately jumping into another role playing a real person – it felt like a big weight to carry. He pointed out that this particular person wasn’t as famous, which was true, but I still felt the pressure – they were out there, living their life, and I wanted to do them justice.

The book The Social Reckoning centers on the 2021 leak of internal Facebook documents. These documents showed that Facebook was aware its platform was causing harm to users. The story was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal in a series of articles, and later detailed in the 2023 book Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Harmful Secrets by Wall Street Journal tech reporter Jeff Horwitz.

Jeremy Strong will be taking over the role of Mark Zuckerberg in the next film, replacing Jesse Eisenberg. Oscar-winning actress Mikey Madison will play Frances Haugen, the whistleblower.

Jeremy Allen White felt better about taking the role once he realized how much Aaron Sorkin wanted him to play a character inspired by Jeff Horowitz, rather than trying to perfectly imitate the real person. Understanding that Sorkin envisioned a fictionalized version of Horowitz eased White’s concerns and changed his perspective on the project. He explained,

I asked him how crucial it was that I resemble and sound like the original actor. He explained that he’d discussed the project extensively with that actor, who fully supported the idea. He emphasized that this was his interpretation of the characters and that he wanted me to focus on delivering his script, not trying to recreate someone else’s performance. It was reassuring to have that direction and to be able to work with Sorkin’s writing.

Aaron Sorkin is renowned for his brilliant dialogue, as evidenced by his acclaimed screenplays for films like The Social Network, A Few Good Men, and Moneyball, as well as the creation of The West Wing. Even without considering the challenge of portraying a real person, his writing is notoriously difficult for actors to master, and Jesse Plemons had to fully understand it to perform the role.

It’s demanding work, but once you get through it, that’s essentially all there is to it. It’s not about improvising or figuring things out – everything is very straightforward and the pace is clear. Personally, it felt like a welcome change of pace. The actor playing Jeff is very grounded and stable. While the characters he portrays face huge external conflicts, he himself seems quite settled. It was refreshing to not have to do a lot of intense emotional work, and instead focus on connecting with the other actors and delivering Sorkin’s dialogue faithfully.

Filming for The Social Reckoning finished earlier this month, and it’s expected to be released in theaters on October 9th, potentially making it eligible for awards in 2026.

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2025-12-29 23:39