Jeremy Strong reached out to Mark Zuckerberg to assure him that he would approach the role "with respect" in The Social Reckoning.
The Succession actor plays the Facebook founder in Aaron Sorkin's upcoming movie, a follow-up to 2010's The Social Network, in which Jesse Eisenberg starred as Zuckerberg.
Strong, who asked Sorkin to consider him for the role if Eisenberg didn't want to return, has now revealed that he reached out to the social media mogul and assured him he was taking his portrayal "very seriously".
"I wrote to him - I'm probably going to give Sony an aneurysm - I sent him an email. Just to say that I take this responsibility very seriously, and the veracity of it seriously, and I'm approaching it with respect," he told GQ.
Strong confirmed that Zuckerberg wrote back but declined to share details about his response. He noted that if the businessman had invited him for a meeting, he probably wouldn't have accepted, as he prefers to research his subjects from an objective distance.
The Apprentice star shared that he embarked on "the mother lode" of research, consuming everything he could about Zuckerberg and watching footage of him testifying before Congress "until (his) eyes fell out of (his) head". He also signed up for a Facebook account for the first time to read through all of Zuckerberg's posts from the beginning.
Strong admitted to the publication that it was "crazy" to take on such a polarising character and "the perils of that could not be greater", however, he was fascinated by the role.
"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," he said.
"It feels incredibly fraught to talk about the movie, to talk about Mark and being the person who is playing Mark and representing Mark in a sense to the world and to posterity. I feel an enormous sense of weight and responsibility. My job is to understand and defend his point of view and fight his fight."
The Social Reckoning, which also stars Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White, will be released on 9 October.
