How Jeremy Strong Transformed Into a “Living Breathing” Mark Zuckerberg for ‘The Social Reckoning’

Idris Elba Had a Warning for His Co-Star Before She Worked With Aaron Sorkin: “There Is No Chill”

Summary

• Collider's Steve Weintraub talks with Wunmi Mosaku for The Social Reckoning.
• Wunmi discusses the advice she got from Idris Elba and her preparation process.
• She also discusses Jeremy Strong’s method approach to Mark Zuckerberg.

Sixteen years on, The Social Network’s Academy Award-winning writer, Aaron Sorkin, hasn’t left the twisted world of Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg behind. He’s kept tabs on the goings-on, but it wasn’t until whistleblower Frances Haugen and reporter Jeff Horwitz teamed up that he found the inspiration for his companion piece, The Social Reckoning.

In the movie, Oscar winner Mikey Madison stars as Haugen, a Facebook engineer who reaches out to Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White), a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, when she discovers the company’s awareness of its dangerous algorithm.

While The Social Reckoning focuses on the duo’s investigation and Zuckerberg’s (played by Jeremy Strong) preparation for Congressional hearings, its cast is rounded out by a host of fictional characters, including Oscar nominee Wunmi Mosaku as Facebook’s Crisis PR strategist Raya Akinola, who’s had a change of heart since first working alongside Zuckerberg. In this interview, Collider’s Steve Weintraub chats with Mosaku about her work in the film, from how Idris Elba helped her in preparation to working opposite Strong’s method acting approach to the Meta billionaire. Don’t miss the full conversation in the video above, with a transcript provided below.

Wunmi Mosaku Says Idris Elba Warned Her to Prepare for Aaron Sorkin

"There is no chill."

Image via Sony Pictures

COLLIDER: Before I get started asking about the film, I'm doing the supercut right now, and I'm asking everyone where they like to sit in a movie theater?

WUNMI MOSAKU: Depends on how many people are in the theater. But my ideal theater would be pretty empty, and I would sit maybe five rows from the back, but in the middle.

The other question I have specifically for you is, have you been to Halloween Horror Nights’ Sinners House yet?

MOSAKU: I haven't. I wanted to, but it's hard. It's hard to stay up past 7:00 p.m. for me right now.

I'm assuming you have a kid or kids.

MOSAKU: I do. I have a very, very new baby, so not a lot of sleep. And so when I get it, which normally comes around 7:00, I take it.

I'm a huge fan of Aaron Sorkin’s work, and specifically his dialogue, and as an actor, when you know you're going to be performing Sorkin dialogue, and you're going to be working with Jeremy [Strong] and all these amazing actors, what is it like for you in the two weeks leading up to the shoot? What is that rehearsal like for you individually?

MOSAKU: It was very, very nerve-wracking. I was actually filming This Is How It Goes up until like a week before I started filming on this, and so I was like, “How do I work on the film I'm working on, prepare for the film I'm about to do, and be a mom?” I was very scared about getting my lines in.

I was working with Idris [Elba], and Idris has worked with Aaron, and he was asking me every day, “Wunmi, do you know your lines yet?” And I'm like, “Idris, chill. Chill.” He's like, “No, there is no chill, because if you don't know your lines, you're in trouble.” So then Idris was like, “Don't worry, I got you. You do your work for Aaron because you need to do that.”

So yeah, it was very much like, oh, this is back to theater world, like making sure that you have every single word, every single punctuation in, and making sure you knew every cue. I studied it like I did at drama school. I have not marked a script like I did with this, the same way, since drama school. Like, “Where do I get the inspiration for my next line to make sure I get it in before I’m meant to cut them off?” I really was very meticulous about learning everyone else's lines, too, so that I knew exactly where I was going. It was a different way of working. It really was, actually.

Jeremy Strong "Felt Like He Was Living, Breathing" Mark Zuckerberg

Mosaku discusses what it was like working opposite Strong's method acting.

Image via Sony Pictures

I'm alaos a huge fan of Jeremy and the way he dives deep into a role, but have you ever worked with someone who is that deep into a character, and what is it actually like sharing a scene with someone who is literally underwater in the character?

MOSAKU: I have worked with people who think their method, but no one has come as close to Jeremy in that regard. Because I know that there are people who are method, but then using some technology that isn't true to the time, so in my opinion, that's kind of method. Whereas Jeremy just felt like he was living, breathing Mark [Zuckerberg]. I didn't see his process, but I felt it. Sorry, that sounded really shady. [Laughs]

But I really thought, like, “Oh, no, this guy is it. He's doing it. And he's doing it in a way that isn't affecting my process.”Which I think a lot of the time, people who are method can affect your process because it sometimes feels like their process takes precedent. So, I really liked that because I felt like he was very respectful. He kind of did his thing, and then it didn't affect us. We didn't have to change the way we were in between takes and in between setups. We were all able to do our own thing, whatever that thing is.

Totally. What I find fascinating with actors is how there's no right or wrong. It's just how you get there.

MOSAKU: Yeah. I really am very respectful of everybody's method. Whatever you need, do it, as long as it's not now impacting what I need. I'm someone who doesn't like a lot of sound, so if you're playing music out loud, that's affecting me. Do you know what I mean? Whereas if you're just doing your own thing, then that's great. I respect it. Whatever you need, do it. Great.

The Social Reckoning is now playing in theaters.