“I was my second choice to direct it,” Aaron Sorkin candidly admitted as we sat down last week at the Newport Beach Film Festival to record an episode of The Hollywood ReporterIt is Rewards Discussion podcast and began discussing the film for which he was receiving the festival’s Maverick Director Award: The social reportwhich he also wrote.
This Facebook movie – specifically about the social media company’s knowledge and cover-up of its harmful effects on society, and the whistleblower (Mikey Madison) who brought them to the attention of a reporter (Jeremy Allen White), creating problems for Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) – comes 16 years after another one Sorkin wrote, the massively acclaimed film. The social networkdirected by David Fincher.
Of The social reportexplained Sorkin, “I would have preferred David Fincher to direct it – I would prefer David Fincher to direct everything – but David has an exclusive deal with Netflix, and that was owned by Sony.” Which is how Sorkin himself ended up directing the $40 million film that Sony released nationwide on October 9, which, much to his disappointment, was met with far fewer enthusiastic reviews (it’s at 54 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and ticket sales (it only grossed $15 million worldwide) than the previous film.
Sorkin has been writing films for 35 years, including 1992. Some good men1995s The American Presidentyears 2007 Charlie Wilson’s Warthe aforementioned The social network (for which he won the Oscars and Golden Globes for screenplay), 2011 silver ball (Oscar nominated screenplay), 2015 Steve Jobs (for which he won a Golden Globe for screenplay), 2017 Molly’s Game (Oscar nominated screenplay), 2020s The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Oscar nominated screenplay) and 2021 Being the Ricardos – and is widely considered one of the greatest screenwriters of all time, alongside his heroes Paddy Chayefsky and William Goldman. (He also wrote some of the most admired and provocative television series of all time, including every episode of the NBC series’ first four seasons. The west wing.)
But over the past decade, as Sorkin moved behind the camera to direct Molly’s Game, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Being the Ricardos And The social reporthe received many blows for his staging. And in Newport Beach, he was candid about how it made him feel: “There’s a big part of me that feels like I just got into acting a few minutes ago, and there’s so much I don’t know. Every once in a while I get to talk with screenwriting students, and they ask me, ‘Can screenwriting be taught?’ And the answer is, ‘There are parts of screenwriting – important parts – that can be taught and learned, but there are parts that can’t be taught? And those parts that can’t be taught? That’s usually what we mean when we use the word “talent”.
Sorkin, whose pre-Molly’s Game The films were directed by Rob Reiner, David Fincher, Bennett Miller, Mike Nichols and Danny Boyle, notes: “I’m not done wanting to work with great directors, but when you’re working with the list of directors you just read, you’d really have to not pay attention to not learn anything. » Still, he admits, the learning curve was longer than expected – not in terms of working with actors, but in terms of knowing how to artfully use a camera. “I was surprised by how little film science I had managed to absorb.” He adds: “It turns out I have no visual sensitivity. »
The 65-year-old says he identifies with football coaches he’s seen interviewed after a losing game and who insist that all the elements for a victory were there, but they just weren’t there: “That’s how I feel about achievement. There are things I’ve done along the way. Just give me one more chance, and one of these days I’ll be able to put it all together.”
Sorkin also touched on a number of other topics, as you can hear via the audio player above, or read some excerpts below…
On a possible relaunch The west wing…
“I always want to revive the show. I love the show, I love those people and I miss it, especially nowadays. The problem is you have to have a story. They don’t just let me write dialogue. Plus the cast has gotten older; I didn’t know that was going to happen.”
On the disappearance of the low-budget film…
“This (The social report) is my 11th film, and apart Some good menI don’t know if any of them would be a feature film today; I think they should all stream.
On the new renaissance of Lincoln Center Some good men…
“This production is very different from the original Broadway production…I got my start on Broadway and got addicted to cocaine around the same time…When I was 25, I was trying to write my first play, and I was struggling, and someone kind of put a joint in my face, and I smoked a little bit, and then they brought out a few lines of coke, and I would end up losing a decade of my life to drugs, I’m gone. So I’m happy, this time, to work on it in a clear and sober way. I also rewrote it, because I was very young when I wrote it – it was my first play – so in a way it’s a new play.
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