Director Aaron Sorkin Omits Trump from Upcoming Film

Director Aaron Sorkin has revealed that he chose not to include President Donald Trump’s name in his forthcoming movie about the January 6 Capitol riot, titled The Social Reckoning. The film, however, appears to be struggling ahead of its release.

Sorkin mentioned in a discussion with Politico that he intentionally left out Trump’s name, despite the film tackling the Capitol riots of 2020 and the subsequent scrutiny on Facebook in the following year.

Strangely enough, Sorkin expressed a desire for his film not to feel “too political,” even when acknowledging its heavily charged themes. He elaborated that omitting Trump’s name would keep it “clean” of overt political messaging.

“I’m not going to deny, of course, that the movie is political,” he stated. “I just think it shouldn’t be. There’s really no reason for it to be.” According to Sorkin, there was no instruction from the studio regarding this decision. He recounted how he informed Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures, that they would avoid any Trump imagery, opting instead to focus on slogans like ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ and ‘Stop the Steal,’ alongside American and Confederate flags. His aim, he noted, was to highlight Facebook’s part in fostering divisiveness without framing it as a MAGA versus everyone else dispute.

He indicated that featuring Trump could act as a “distraction” from the film’s message.

“I felt like as soon as we got to that scene, as soon as you saw anything ‘Trump,’ it would just become about something else,” he reflected. “Again, I realize it’s going to kind of become about that ‘something else’ anyway. But I just like to have clean hands,” he added.

The movie explores Facebook’s alleged role in spreading “misinformation” during the 2020 election. It remains unclear whether Sorkin will delve into Mark Zuckerberg’s claims that he cooperated with the Biden administration to suppress conservative voices, raising questions about free speech rights.

As for the film’s financial prospects, it appears poised to underperform at the box office, with initial estimates suggesting an opening of only $6 to $10 million, according to Christian Toto.

Sorkin’s earlier film targeting Facebook, The Social Network, had a $40 million budget, and if this new project has similar costs, it may face challenges in recouping its investment.