Intro for August 1, 2025

Dear Gossips,  

Yesterday, Lainey wrote about Mikey Madison potentially starring in Aaron Sorkin’s sequel to The Social Network, and why she is such a good choice to play Frances Haugen, the data scientist who exposed Facebook’s internal mess to the SEC and The Wall Street Journal. Jeremy Allen White is also in talks for the film, to play the journalist who broke the story. But then…who will play Mark Zuckerberg? Guess who, it’s your favorite Method boo: Jeremy Strong.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jeremy Strong is “circling” the role, taking over from Jesse Eisenberg, who was nominated for an Oscar for portraying Zuckerberg in The Social Network. According to THR, Eisenberg has already passed on the chance to reprise the role, though they note no deals have closed, and this could be a negotiating tactic from Eisenberg. If so, announcing another actor as a serious candidate for the role is one way to counter, showing Eisenberg and his reps that Sorkin and his team aren’t sitting around waiting, they’re moving to make deals, get on board or lose out, yadda yadda.

I’m of three minds. One, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, Jesse Eisenberg was brilliant as Mark Zuckerberg, stop playing games and let him have the role. Two, Eisenberg, who seems much more comfortable with his fame level and career these days than he was back in The Social Network era, actually doesn’t want to revisit that well and really did pass. In which case, three, Jeremy Strong is 100% the way to go.

Strong excels at playing pathetic power mongers, it’s why he won awards for playing best boy Kendall Roy and was Oscar nominated for playing Roy Cohn in The Apprentice. Eisenberg captured the nervy, calculating greed and ego of a guy determined to win at all costs in The Social Network, but the Zuckerberg of now has been king of the mountain for well over a decade. He’s one of the richest men in the world. He’s seen his reputation go from boy wonder to reviled billionaire bootlicker, and he seems to be embracing his villain era right now. Now is the time for a Wet Pathetic Dog performance from Jeremy Strong.

The only acceptable alternative is, coincidentally, Strong’s The Apprentice co-star Sebastian Stan. Like Strong, Stan specializes in playing rich assholes. But where Strong excavates such depths of loserdom in his characters he renders them pitiable—not likeable or even sympathetic, just pitiable—Stan’s style is, well, meaner. If Sebastian Stan plays a rich idiot, you WILL come out hoping that character gets shoved into a ditch. Jeremy Strong’s rich idiots are more like seeing someone get sloshed by a taxi in the rain. 

Anyway, if this project really is moving as fast as everyone says, we will likely know in the coming days who will play the central trio in Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up. I like the promise of a film starring Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison, and Jeremy Strong. That’s a strong combination, no pun intended. If Jesse Eisenberg really doesn’t want it, this is the way to go. Aaron Sorkin directing his own script, though, is less assured. Let’s hope it’s more Molly’s Game and less Being the Ricardos.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah