Jeremy Strong Went Full Zuckerberg on ‘The Social Reckoning' Set: “He Did Not Speak in His Own Voice”

In recent years, there's been pushback against predominantly male method acting — and it's been led largely by women. Natalie Portman called it a "luxury that women can't afford," adding that she doubted her children or partner would have been understanding about making everyone call her "Jackie Kennedy" for months. Anya Taylor-Joy told Complex that "women don't method act because we have things to take care of, so we can't completely lose our minds." Toni Collette said going method is "total bullshit" and "utter wankery." Kristen Stewart told the NYT, "Have you ever heard of a female actor that was method?"

Me? I don't mind any of it. Anything for the sake of art. If the performance is up there on screen, I'm not going to argue how it got there. De Niro drove a cab for months before "Taxi Driver," then put on sixty pounds for "Raging Bull." Day-Lewis stayed in the wheelchair for all of "My Left Foot," fed and carried by crew, reportedly cracking ribs from the posture. Adrien Brody sold his car, dropped thirty pounds and learned Chopin for "The Pianist" and walked out the youngest Best Actor winner ever. Hilary Swank lived as a man for a month before "Boys Don't Cry." Charlize Theron shaved her eyebrows for "Monster," which Ebert called one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema. Note those last two — so much for the idea that women don't do this. Whatever it cost them, it's on the screen. That's the part that survives.

That said, Jeremy Strong is at it again.

Director Aaron Sorkin tells The New York Times, in the latest edition of "The Interview," that his "The Social Reckoning" star — a method actor of some renown, as anyone who survived the "Succession" press cycle will recall — spent the shoot treating his co-stars "the way he imagines" Mark Zuckerberg would treat them. Strong, of course, plays the Meta CEO in the "Social Network" follow-up.

"Jeremy does a lot of his own work. He does a tremendous amount of work before he shows up on your set," Sorkin said. "He did not speak in his own voice on the set or walk the way Jeremy walks."

So Sorkin did the only sensible thing: he warned everybody in advance.

"I told all the other actors in his scenes: 'Guys, he's not going to be hanging out with you at craft service. He's not going to be yucking it up with you between takes. He's probably not going to speak to you at all. He is going to treat you the way he imagines Mark treats the people around him,'" Sorkin said. "And that's what happened. You cannot argue with the results."

The actors on the receiving end were Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison, Bill Burr, Betty Gilpin and Billy Magnussen. The film follows whistleblower Frances Haugen, who teams with Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz to expose the inner workings of Zuckerberg's Facebook.

Strong's reputation precedes him. The most blatant example comes from Michael Schulman's 2021 New Yorker profile, which reported that Strong asked to be hit with real tear gas while filming "The Trial of the Chicago 7" — a request Sorkin, then as now his director, declined. On "Succession," he famously kept a distance from castmates that Kieran Culkin and Brian Cox both addressed publicly, Cox rather less charitably. And on "The Judge," Strong paced around the set weeping.

"The Social Reckoning" hits theaters Oct. 9.