Face-to-Face: Mikey Madison & Jeremy Allen White on Finding the Human Story in “The Social Reckoning”
When The Social Reckoning offered Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White the chance to work with writer/director Aaron Sorkin and tell a real-world story that spotlights a clear, present problem, the acclaimed actors leaped at the opportunity.
Inspired by true events, Madison, who won an Oscar for her fierce performance in Anora, plays Frances Haugen, a young Facebook engineer-turned-whistleblower who reaches out to The Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz, played by White, when she uncovers one of the social network’s darkest secrets; the platform’s algorithm could be connected to the radicalization of users. The Social Reckoning, a sequel of sorts to the Sorkin-written and David Fincher-directed The Social Network, sees Succession‘s Jeremy Strong play Mark Zuckerberg, replacing Jesse Eisenberg.
Talking to The Credits, Madison shares how she worked with costume designer Susan Lyall to create Haugen’s sartorial arc, while self-confessed Sorkin fan White found Jeff Cronenweth‘s cinematography added a theatrical element to the film.
It’s rare that actors get the chance to make a film about something so relevant and so recent. I imagined this appealed to you both.
Jeremy Allen White: It certainly appealed to me. On so many levels, this felt like a great opportunity. It started with just Aaron Sorkin in general, and getting to read his words as an actor, and then the incredible cast led by Mikey, but the third part was that the work is incredibly compelling. There’s something wonderful in cinema, and I think especially in the United States, where we can critique ourselves, our actions, or the actions of government or large companies fairly quickly. In other cultures, in cinema or music, it takes more time. It’s one of the wonderful things about film and music here. I feel really lucky to be part of something that’s sending a message I can get behind, and it’s a perspective I share.
I love how smart Aaron’s writing is; he explains complex concepts simply. Was that a relief to you?
Mikey Madison: Reading it for the first time, I was like, “The least I can do is understand everything Frances is saying.” It’s very complicated. She exists in a totally different world than I do. I’m very disconnected from social media and tech, and she is very connected, so I really needed to do some homework and understand everything as best I could.
White: I wanted to learn as much as I could and understand Jeff’s perspective as best I could, but I remember reading the script and being like, “Oh, this is great. I’m already ignorant, and I get to stay ignorant to some of this stuff, then make discoveries alongside Jeff.” What you said in the beginning of your question is absolutely correct. Aaron has a gift for telling stories that might seem complex or hard to access. However, he writes characters and dialogue with such playfulness and charisma that he makes it accessible and entertaining, while also holding the audience’s hand and taking them through the world without demanding their perspective be this or that. It’s very honest.
Aaron told me that he cast everyone in this movie as his first choice. Did you know that, and how did that feel?
White: That’s a testament to Aaron. I felt lucky that he came to talk to me about doing the film. I’ve loved Aaron’s work since I was a child. I watched The West Wing with my father when I was 11, and it was far above my head, but even then I knew something special was going on. Since then, I’ve seen all of his work, so it is very nice to hear that.
Something I love about The Social Reckoning is the costuming work. Mikey, your character has a clear evolution, and Jeremy, your character’s costuming has subtle changes.
Madison: All the clothing, hair, and makeup were very deliberate decisions on my end. In terms of specifically the costuming, and I’m like notorious for this, I created a Pinterest board with very specific things that I wanted her to wear. I brought it to our incredible costume designer, Susan Lyall, who was willing to collaborate closely. In the beginning, Frances has a condition that causes her joints and ligaments get very cold, and she needs to keep them warm, or else it becomes very painful. Taking leg warmers and hand warmers and trying to integrate them into her costuming in a way that felt authentic and as little like a costume as possible was important. At least in the beginning, at work, she’s trying to blend in. Everything she wears is practical, and that was important to me. I tried to make some of her early wardrobe feel more timeless, and then, when she meets Jeff in the hotel room, she wears a series of date outfits. That is clothing she’s never worn before, but she bought specifically to meet Jeff, or to have something to wear outside of work. These are clothes I don’t think she’d normally wear, but they give her the confidence, or the storyline, to do these really scary, frightening things, and clothing definitely has that effect on people. Some of the dresses and heels that she wears at that time are very out of her comfort zone, and so there’s an uncomfortableness that it brings to the character and was important.
Jeremy, you came off Deliver Me From Nowhere and almost went straight into this. How long was that between the two?
White: It was probably about a year between the two, but it was the last film I did. I went back, and I did a season of The Bear in between, which was obviously returning to a character I’d already played. I was hesitant. I remember speaking to Aaron about it. Doing Deliver Me from Nowhere and playing Bruce Springsteen was an adventure and a gift, and I got to spend so much time with Bruce, who’s the loveliest man. However, when I met Aaron, the film was about to come out, and I was a nervous wreck. I was just like, “I don’t want to play another real person. I want to work with you, but I want to be something that I can make my own.” Aaron put me at ease and said, “Look, I understand. With a figure like Bruce, who’s incredibly public and one of the most well-known people in the world, I get what that responsibility must have felt like, and I hope you approach Jeff with the same care. However, I don’t expect you to be Jeff in this case. I want you to learn as much as you can.” He said that this was his version of Jeff Horowitz, and he wanted me to make it my own. He said, “Read his book and meet with him if you like, but at the end of the day, you have freedom here,” so it’s the best of both worlds where I got to read his book, listen to his voice, watch some interviews, read Aaron’s script, understand Jeff’s perspective, and then show up and surrender to the moment.
With the cinematography in The Social Reckoning, where you guys are placed in spaces, were you impressed when you got to see the fruits of Jeff Cronenweth’s labor, who also shot The Social Network?
Madison: Jeff is amazing, and I’m such a fan of his work, so I was excited to work with him and collaborate that way. The relationship between the cinematographer and actor is quite intimate because they’re often the ones receiving everything first, so I really appreciate it when the person you work with is sensitive to that. They’re seeing you do the weird actor things that you do before you go into a scene, and so it’s very vulnerable. Jeff and Aaron’s decision to shoot digitally was very intentional because of the digital landscape we’re living in. They felt like that was a statement to make, and I appreciated the thought that went behind that. The staging and choreography were intentional, moving from one mark to the next, and it almost felt like theatre. Aaron and Jeff wanted to get into the nitty-gritty of the two of us facing each other and having a conversation, with nothing else to distract from it. Something about that felt pure, interesting, and compelling.
White: Jeff is incredibly specific in his work, Aaron is incredibly specific in his work, and they know exactly what they want and how to get it. The guidelines were very clear in the writing and the staging. There’s not a lot of business going on. It’s not the famous Sorkin walk-and-talk. It’s two people looking at one another. In respect to the other movie going on in our movie, the staging is so beautiful and very theatrical, with Jeremy playing Zuckerberg, and then when you’re back with us in this more intimate setting with more close-ups. It drew a wonderful throughline from the first film, even though this isn’t a true sequel.
The Social Reckoning is in theaters now.
Featured image: Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) and Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) in Columbia Pictures’ THE SOCIAL RECKONING.
