Sorkin: Directing Gaps Are Unlearnable

Aaron Sorkin stated during an interview in Newport Beach that the specific weaknesses in his directing career are the aspects he believes cannot be acquired through study.

The writer and director made the remarks while accepting the Maverick Director Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. He discussed his latest film, The Social Reckoning, which he wrote and directed. The picture centers on Facebook and the whistleblower who exposed the company's internal knowledge of its societal harm. Mikey Madison portrays the whistleblower, while Jeremy Allen White plays the journalist and Jeremy Strong appears as Mark Zuckerberg.

Sony released the $40 million film nationwide on Oct. 9. The movie has earned a worldwide gross of $15 million. Critics have responded with mixed reviews, giving the film a 54 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Sorkin noted that he preferred David Fincher to direct the project. Fincher, who directed the 2010 film The Social Network based on Sorkin's script, currently holds an exclusive deal with Netflix. Because the new film was owned by Sony, Sorkin stepped behind the camera for the fourth time.

Sorkin has written 35 years of screenplays, including A Few Good Men, The American President, and Moneyball. He has won two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay. Despite his writing success, he has faced criticism for his work as a director on Molly's Game, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Being the Ricardos. He compared his current feeling to a football coach who believes the ingredients for a win existed but failed to coalesce.

"I’m very worried that the parts of directing that I’m not good at are those parts that you can’t learn," Sorkin said. He explained that while some skills in screenwriting can be taught, the elements that define talent often cannot. Sorkin added that he was surprised by how little of the technical science of filmmaking he had absorbed. He specifically cited his lack of visual sensibility as a primary hurdle.

The 65-year-old director acknowledged that he learned from working with prominent directors like Rob Reiner, Bennett Miller, Mike Nichols, and Danny Boyle. However, he said the learning curve for visual composition was steeper than he expected. He contrasted this with his experience working with actors, which he found less problematic. Sorkin expressed a desire to continue directing, hoping that a future project will allow him to combine his strengths.

Sorkin also addressed the current state of the film industry during the podcast recording. He suggested that most of his 11 prior movies would now be produced as streaming series rather than theatrical features. He cited The Social Reckoning as an exception that might still qualify as a feature film in today's market.

The next scheduled release for Sorkin is a new stage production of A Few Good Men at Lincoln Center. He is rewriting the play, which he wrote when he was 25. He stated that he is working on the project sober, marking a departure from his experience during the original Broadway debut.