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<\/p>\nActor-director Jesse Eisenberg, who is at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival as the recipient of this year\u2019s President\u2019s Award, spoke about not reprising his role as Mark Zuckerberg in Aaron Sorkin\u2019s upcoming \u201cThe Social Reckoning,\u201d the sequel to David Fincher\u2019s 2010 drama \u201cThe Social Network.\u201d<\/p>\n
During an in-conversation event, the actor was asked if he felt any \u201cresponsibility\u201d for changing the image of the technology mogul through his performance in Fincher\u2019s drama chronicling the origins of Facebook. Eisenberg responded to the question by stating he doesn\u2019t want to reprise the role as he no longer wants \u201cto be associated\u201d with Zuckerberg. \u201cSuccession\u201d star Jeremy Strong stepped into the role of Zuckerberg for Sorkin\u2019s upcoming film. Best actress Oscar-winner for \u201cAnora\u201d Mikey Madison plays young Facebook engineer Frances Haugen, who blows the whistle on the social network\u2019s most guarded secrets to a Wall Street Journal reporter, played by \u201cThe Bear\u201d lead Jeremy Allen White.<\/p>\n
More from Variety<\/p>\n
Eisenberg then recalled first being attached to the film, saying he made an audition tape alongside his young sister and then got a call to meet with the film team in California. \u201cI think they were having trouble finding the person to play the part or something,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very strange kind of role.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey flew me out to California. I memorized 15 pages of dialogue, and then, when I got into the room with [Fincher], I said: Do you want me to read anything? He was like, \u2018Nah, put that away. I just want to tell you about this guy I knew,\u2019\u201d he went on. \u201cAnd he told me about this guy who was running a studio at the time and said: \u2018You have to play a guy like that.\u2019 I was like: What is he like? And he was like: \u2018You just never know what he\u2019s thinking and he could just stare at you and you have no idea what he\u2019s thinking. It\u2019s very unnerving.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Faced with the chance of playing such a role, Eisenberg said: \u201cOh, that sounds great. I would love to do that. And that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for whether he feels any \u201cresponsibility\u201d for helping popularize Eisenberg\u2019s persona in the public consciousness, the actor mentioned how the mogul \u201cwasn\u2019t very known at the time\u201d they made the film.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, at the time, the movie seemed like such a strange thing to me because no one really knew who he was,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was interviewed on \u201860 Minutes,\u2019 which is our big news show, but otherwise he wasn\u2019t in the public a lot. I thought of it like an interesting character. And then he\u2019s become famous and now I don\u2019t want to do the movie [\u2026] I don\u2019t want to be associated with him anymore because I don\u2019t really like the comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prodded about how he feels about the growth of social media since the release of the 2010 film, Eisenberg said that, as an actor, he talks about himself \u201ctoo much.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s not healthy. No human being has ever talked about themselves as much as I talk about myself. So I\u2019m not on any [social media]. All that stuff scares me so much, you know, Facebook and social media, Twitter, whatever, because I already feel humiliated to be in public talking about myself. It\u2019s disgusting. All that stuff terrifies me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, being in the movie about it, too, made it even more scary because I see that the person who created this website is not a person who cares about people,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m like: well, if this guy is the creator of this world, I don\u2019t want to live in that world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, Eisenberg received the Karlovy Vary President\u2019s Award ahead of a packed screening of Richard Ayoade\u2019s \u201cThe Double.\u201d The actor is currently preparing to release his next directorial effort, A24\u2019s \u201cThe Debut,\u201d starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti and scheduled to come out in the U.S. on Dec. 3.<\/p>\n
Best of Variety<\/p>\n
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