Jeremy Strong Wrote to Mark Zuckerberg After Being Cast in ‘Social Reckoning’ Even Though ‘He’s a Reviled Person’; Actor Spent 7 Months Talking in Polish Accent for Next Role

Jeremy Strong graces the latest cover of GQ magazine (and the first issue published under new global editorial director Adam Baidawi), in which he speaks out for the first time on taking over the role of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Jesse Eisenberg played the controversial tech titan in “The Social Network” and scored an Oscar nomination. Strong stars as Zuckerberg in writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up piece “The Social Reckoning.”

Sorkin originally asked Eisenberg if he wanted to reprise Zuckerberg in the new movie, to which the actor declined because he no longer “wants to be associated” with the Facebook co-founder. At the same time, Strong ran into Sorkin at an Oscars season party and told him to call him should Eisenberg not return.

“It’s the kind of role that fascinates me,” Strong told GQ about throwing his hat into the ring to play Zuckerberg. “It’s like Sebastian [Stan] playing Trump. You are wearing the cape. It’s like Jeremy [Allen White] playing Bruce [Springsteen]. It’s like, the perils of that could not be greater. To commit to it, and to be free within it, is a great challenge… Listen, I know that he is a reviled person and not a popular person in our culture, but I do not think you should have an actor playing him who wants to set out to condemn him.”