Aaron Sorkin has admitted it "never occurred" to him that Jesse Eisenberg wouldn't want to be in The Social Reckoning.
The 42-year-old actor played the Facebook founder in the 2010 movie The Social Network but declined to return for the new film, despite the filmmaker's best efforts to change his mind.
Aaron had kept the script under wraps but when he was "just a couple of pages from being done", he ran into Jesse at a party.
He recalled to Entertainment Weekly: "[I said] ‘I’m gonna be sending you something in a couple of weeks.’ And he smiled and nodded, and I sent it to him. It never occurred to me that he wouldn’t wanna do it.'"
Over the course of a three-day weekend, the screenwriter tried to change the actor's mind.
He admitted: “This is the only time I’ve written myself an outline. I don’t do it for the movies, but I did it for my conversations with Jesse.
"It was arguments for why he should do it. They included, ‘We already know you’re gonna be great because you were already once.’ You know, ‘Here are the great moments that you’re gonna get to play in the movie.’ And I laid it out for him.”
Aaron joked it was "infuriating" that even the offer of a huge pay day didn't sway Jesse.
He laughed: “I knew what the studio was offering him to do it, but money does not motivate Jesse. It’s infuriating.
“If anything, money is a disincentive for him. It’s admirable. He’s very concerned about raising his kids with too much money.”
Aaron recalled how he “wrote a list of all the things he could” do with the money, like “he could produce X number of Broadway plays of his own", but it still failed to sway the star.
However, the 65-year-old director - who ultimately cast Jeremy Strong in the role - did claim one victory of sorts.
He said: “I do remember Jesse saying at one point during the third or fourth back and forth, ‘You have come closer to changing my mind than I thought you were going to.’ So I was pleased about that.”
He also noted that Jesse had approved of the script but had his own reasons for passing on the project.
He explained: “He just doesn’t like being conflated with Mark Zuckerberg anymore.
“He doesn’t like that he kinda resembles the guy physically; that role is probably what he’s most known for.”
Jesse recently confirmed he had turned down The Social Reckoning because he is "moving in different directions in (his) life".
He told Variety: "It's an honour to speak to Aaron in any capacity, because he's so articulate and charming and so bright.
"We talked about doing the movie for several days. The way Aaron speaks, he speaks so wonderfully, as he writes that, in a way, if you're not going to do something with him, it feels like you're letting down America.
"I just told him I'm moving in different directions in my life, and you know, what he said sums it up nicely. I don't want to be associated with that character, but all of my reasons for not wanting to do the movie have nothing to do with how wonderful the movie is, and will be, and I'm sure is already."
