Jeremy Strong eyed to play Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network sequel

Jeremy Strong eyed to play Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network sequel

Jeremy Strong is reportedly the leading choice to play Mark Zuckerberg in the upcoming sequel to The Social Network. According toDeadlineandVariety, sources claim that though no formal offer has been made, the Succession actor is the preferred pick to play the Meta CEO and Facebook founder in The Social Network Part II, alongside The Bear's Jeremy Allen White and Anora's Mikey Madison in unspecified roles. Related:Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network sequel officially in development Aaron Sorkin, who won a best adapted screenplay Oscar for the first film, will write and direct the new entry after years of tinkering with a new angle to the story of Facebook. David Fincher directed the 2010 film, which starred Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg alongside Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer and Rashida Jones. The Social Network Part II,confirmedto be in development this June, will reportedly not be a straightforward sequel to the story of Facebook's founding in a Harvard dorm room, but rather a follow-up focusing on recent controversy surrounding the social media behemoth. The new screenplay will be based on reporting by Jeff Horowitz for the Wall Street Journal in a series called The Facebook Files, which explored the inner workings and harm caused by the company. The 2021 investigation exposed how internal findings had been buried, as well as Facebook's influence on the January 6 riot and the mental health of teenage users. Deadline reports that White would ideally play Horowitz, with Madison – fresh off her best actress Oscar win this March – playing the whistleblower at the heart of the articles. Sorkin had previously teased more overt political leanings for the new script. "I blame Facebook for January 6," he said in 2024 on a special edition ofThe Town podcast, live from Washington DC. When asked to explain why, he responded: "You're gonna need to buy a movie ticket. "Facebook has been, among other things, tuning its algorithm to promote the most divisive material possible," Sorkin said. He added: "There is supposed to be a constant tension atFacebookbetween growth and integrity – there isn't." The Social Network, based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, made $224m worldwide in 2010 and won three Oscars – best adapted screenplay, original score and editing. Eisenberg, who was nominated for his starring role, is yet to be attached to the new project. In a recentpodcast interview, Zuckerberg was critical of the film, which portrayed him as calculating and ruthless. "It was weird, man," he said. "They got all these very specific details of what I was wearing, or these specific things correct, but then the whole narrative arc around my motivations and all this stuff were, like, completely wrong." Strong received an Emmy for his portrayal of Succession's Kendall Roy on the acclaimed HBO series, among many other accolades. He was nominated for an Oscar this year for playing the fearsome attorney and Donald Trump mentor Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, Ali Abbasi's film tracing the young Trump's rise in 1980s New York. He will next appear on screen alongside White in the Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere, playing the record producer and Springsteen collaborator Jon Landau.

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

July 31, 2025

Jeremy Strong eyed to play Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network sequel

Jeremy Strong eyed to play Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network sequel Jeremy Strong is reportedly the leading choice to play Mark Zuckerbe...

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Conan O’Brien Says Adam Sandler Saved ‘SNL’ From Feeling Like ‘Life or Death’ and Brought Fun Back: ‘This Is a Possibility? You Can Like’ Working Here?

Conan O'Brien Says Adam Sandler Saved 'SNL' From Feeling Like 'Life or Death' and Brought Fun Back: 'This Is a Possibility? You Can Like' Working Here?

Conan O'Brien told fellow "Saturday Night Live" alum Andy Samberg during a chat on the "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" podcast that Adam Sandler more or less saved the NBC sketch comedy series from sinking into behind-the-scenes despair in the early 1990s. O'Brien was a writer on "SNL" from 1998 to 1991. Sandler joined as a cast member in 1991 and stayed on the show through 1995. "I was in that state of mind, and I think, you know, [Robert] Smigel and [Bob] Odenkirk and Greg Daniels were like, 'It's life or death,'" O'Brien said (viaEntertainment Weekly). "And it feels like that's kind of how everyone feels." More from Variety Cameron Boyce's Mom Thanks Adam Sandler for 'Happy Gilmore 2' Tribute, Reveals Sandler Was 'Strategizing' on Their Next Movie Together in the 'Days Leading Up' to Boyce's Death 'Happy Gilmore 2' Director and Actor Defend That Major Death in the First Three Minutes: 'When I Found Out I Was Killed, I Started Laughing' Adam Sandler Remembers Cameron Boyce in Subtle 'Happy Gilmore 2' Tribute But Sandler's vibe was notably different. "He was like, 'This is so much fun to be at 'SNL. Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. Yippee!'" O'Brien remembered. "And he had that, 'I'm going to do Opera Man. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. This is great, guys!' I was like, 'This is a possibility? You can like this?'" O'Brienadmitted last yearthat he regretted how intense he was during his "SNL" days. It seems like Sandler did not have this problem. "I was way too intense, and I think I robbed myself of some fun that I could have had," O'Brien said at the time. "I did have a lot of fun, but I think I could have had more fun. And I think I could have maybe written there a little longer if I didn't make it such a grind for myself." "I burnt out. I burnt out. And [Lorne Michaels] could not have been nicer," O'Brien added about his "SNL" experience. "This was a couple years before he contacted me about the late night show. But I was burnt out and I was like, 'I've got to go,' and that's when I went to 'The Simpsons.'" Odenkirk, a writer on the show from 1987 to 1991, sharedsimilar thoughtsas O'Brien during an interview with EW earlier this moth, saying: "I was too hard on the show. I had a lot of attitude when I got hired there, like, 'This show could be better, this show could be 'Monty Python,' this should be more cutting edge, this should be more dangerous.' And I was frustrated by it not representing purely my point of view. I wanted it to be me, my show." Watch O'Brien and Samberg's full podcast episode in the video below. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in August 2025 What's Coming to Netflix in August 2025 Sign up forVariety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us onFacebook,Twitter, andInstagram.

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

July 31, 2025

Conan O’Brien Says Adam Sandler Saved ‘SNL’ From Feeling Like ‘Life or Death’ and Brought Fun Back: ‘This Is a Possibility? You Can Like’ Working Here?

Conan O'Brien Says Adam Sandler Saved 'SNL' From Feeling Like 'Life or Death' and Brought Fun Back: 'This Is a Possi...

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CT Tamburello Reveals He and Trishelle Tried To Split the Money With MJ in 'The Traitors' Finale (Exclusive)

CT Tamburello Reveals He and Trishelle Tried To Split the Money With MJ in 'The Traitors' Finale (Exclusive)

CT Tamburello Reveals He and Trishelle Tried To Split the Money With MJ in 'The Traitors' Finale (Exclusive)originally appeared onParade. Back on the Season 2 finale ofThe Traitors, withKate Chastainouted as a Traitor, the final three contestants,Chris "CT" Tamburello,Trishelle CannatellaandMercedes "MJ" Javidhave a choice to make. They can either vote to end the game and split the $208,100 prize pot evenly. Or,f they think that a Traitor is still in their midst, they can make the choice to banish one more player. Given that all three seem to understand that only Faithfuls remain, it's surprising that both CT and Trishelle vote to banish again. MJ (and many viewers) are confused. During the first round of re-voting, Trishelle votes for CT, CT votes for MJ and MJ votes for Trishelle. On the revote, Trishelle and CT, both alumni ofThe ChallengeandThe Real World, vote out MJ, leaving the pair as the Season 2 winners. Following the finale, fans were suspicious and accused Trishelle and CT of working in secret to nab MJ's third of the prize money. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 While that's what viewers watched on their TV screens, CT, in a recent sit-down withParade, says that's not exactly how it happened in real life. "It's funny," the five-timeChallengechamp says. "I always thought it was weird how people think that me and Trishelle had every plan on taking the money from MJ. I think it came down to an extra 30 grand a piece. When it's like, I just went toThe Challenge, and gave away 200 grand." CT is referencing a moment during the finale ofThe Challenge 37in which he andKaycee Clarkparted with $200,000 so that the other finalists could also receive prize money. "What people didn't know," he continues, "Is that when we threw the bags into the fire, like the red or the green, after the initial vote, and then we draw. We all were like, 'Okay, now what do we do?' Everybody has one vote. We couldn't re-throw in now. [The producers said,] 'No, you guys said you wanted to vote somebody out. Now you're going to vote somebody out.' And we go, 'No, no, no, no. What if we just switch it up, and we all want to share the money?' [The producers said,] 'No, it's too late now,' but they didn't show that. Instead, it was just, 'No, now you have to vote.' And that made it seem like we tried to snake MJ for 30 grand, which I thought was kind of disappointing. I felt like my character along withThe Challengeplays, would have given me the benefit of the doubt on that one, but whatever, it's part of the game." Related:Meet the Full Cast of 'The Traitors' Season 4 Despite the game not ending quite how he wanted it to, CT loved his time onThe Traitors. When asked if he'd come back to play again, he says, "I loveTraitors.Traitorswas such a blessing for me because it was the first show I had come on after I'd taken a hiatus.The Challenge39 I came in as a mercenary, but this was the first one I really stepped out and had done a full show. I love that. I love the dynamic of it." UnlikeThe Challenge,The Traitorsis a lot easier on his body as well. "Maybe it's because we're getting older," he says, "But I love how it was more heavy on the politics, and the games we would do were fun mind [games]. I enjoyed the games. And what I really liked was that everybody, one way or another, always had a fair shot of winning. There was always a little bit of luck, a little bit of strategy. But you didn't have to train for the Olympics. The political game was much stronger. I mean, we're dealing with people from the type of shows that we were dealing with, and they're just people with strong personalities, with a lot of life experience. To me, I was really proud of that one, just because of the way I played it." While there don't seem to be any legends fromThe Challengeon the upcoming season ofThe Traitors(although who knows what twists may await), CT namesAneesa Ferreiraas the next MTV alum he'd like to see in Scotland. "I really think Aneesa would thrive in that environment," he says. When reminded of her fiery arguments from old seasons ofThe Challenge, he pushes back on the idea she would be overly volatile at the Round Table. "She's way smoother than that. If you go in there loud and start fighting, you're not gonna last very long. I think she'd do very well onTraitors." Related:'The Traitors' Is Coming Back for Season 4: Everything to Know CT Tamburello Reveals He and Trishelle Tried To Split the Money With MJ in 'The Traitors' Finale (Exclusive)first appeared on Parade on Jul 31, 2025 This story was originally reported byParadeon Jul 31, 2025, where it first appeared.

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

July 31, 2025

CT Tamburello Reveals He and Trishelle Tried To Split the Money With MJ in 'The Traitors' Finale (Exclusive)

CT Tamburello Reveals He and Trishelle Tried To Split the Money With MJ in 'The Traitors' Finale (Exclusive) CT Tamburello Reveals H...

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Sheriff's deputies are disciplined in traffic stop that led to student's ICE detention

Sheriff's deputies are disciplined in traffic stop that led to student's ICE detention

Five sheriff's deputies from Colorado are being disciplined aftera college student spent two weeks in a federal immigration detention center last month after a routine traffic stop. Anadministrative reviewconcluded that Sheriff's Deputy Alexander Zwinck shared information on a Signal group chat that included federal immigration agents after he had pulled over Caroline Dias-Goncalves, 19, a student at the University of Utah, Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell said ina statementWednesday. The agents then used that information to track Dias-Goncalves down and arrest her. She was taken to a detention facility in Aurora,where she was held for 15 daysbeforebeing released on bond. "The Mesa County Sheriff's Office should not have had any role in the chain of events leading to Miss Dias-Goncalves's detention," Rowell said. Colorado law restrictscoordination betweenlocal law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.It prohibits state and local law enforcement fromproviding information about a person's immigration statusto federal officials ordisclosing personal identifying informationto immigration authorities. "I regret that this occurred. I apologize to Miss Dias-Goncalves," Rowell said. Zwinck pulled Dias-Goncalves over while she was driving on Interstate 70 outside Loma on June 5. Zwinck claimed Dias-Goncalves was driving too close to a semi-truck. Thetraffic stoplastedabout 20 minutesand Zwinck released Dias-Goncalves with a warning. Shortly after she exited the highway, federal immigration agents stopped her, arrested her and took her to the Aurora detention facility,where she was held untilJune 20. Born in Brazil and raised in Utah since she was 7, Dias-Goncalves is one ofnearly 2.5 million peopleliving in the United States known as"Dreamers,"young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.Dias-Goncalvesarrived on a visa that expired over a decade ago and has a pending asylum case. In interviews conducted as part of the review,Zwinck claimed he did not know he was violating any lawsor policies when he shared Dias-Goncalves' information and location with federal authorities in a group chat meant to discuss drug crackdown efforts. According to the review's findings, Zwinck was involved in at least four other incidents last month in which the information he shared on the group chat following his traffic stops led to federal immigration enforcement actions. Zwinck also told investigators that he had received and read two department-wide emails from the sheriff's office last year and in January, both outlining how deputies should interact with immigration authorities. The review concluded there was "a preponderance of evidence" showing that Zwinck as well as Sheriff's Deputy Erik Olson, who was on the group chat, and their supervisor, Sgt. Joe LeMoine, "acted outside of agency policy." Zwinck was placed on unpaid administrative leave for three weeks and Olson for two. Both will be reassigned to patrol. LeMoine was suspended without pay for two days. Lt. David Holdren, LeMoine's supervisor, received aletter of reprimandand Holdren's supervisor, Capt. Curtis Brammer, was provideddocumented counseling. Earlier this month, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiserfiled a lawsuit against Zwinck, alleging that he had violated Colorado laws limiting cooperation between local and federal immigration authorities. Rowell said the lawsuit "sends a demoralizing message to law enforcement officers across Colorado" and urged Weiser to "apply the law equally to all law enforcement and government officials instead of making Deputy Zwinck an example."

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

July 31, 2025

Sheriff's deputies are disciplined in traffic stop that led to student's ICE detention

Sheriff's deputies are disciplined in traffic stop that led to student's ICE detention Five sheriff's deputies from Colorado are...

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Federal court denies Boston bomber's request for new judge to oversee death sentence appeal

Federal court denies Boston bomber's request for new judge to oversee death sentence appeal

BOSTON (AP) — A federal court on Thursdaydenied a requestby attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to remove the judge overseeing the protracted legal battle over his death sentence. The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument made by Tsarnaev's lawyers that U.S. District Court Judge George O'Toole should be recused from the case because, the lawyers contend, he is not impartial. During an August 2024 hearing, Tsarnaev's attorneys pointed to what they said were comments O'Toole made about the case on podcasts and at public events during the appeals process. In a two-page judgment released Thursday, appeals court judges ruled that O'Toole should continue to preside over the case, determining that "two panel discussions and a podcast in which Judge O'Toole discussed various aspects of organizing complex jury trials and the problems associated with social media in that context" did not constitute grounds for his removal. One of O'Toole's attorneys, David E. Patton, didn't immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment. A federal appeals court in March 2024 ordered O'Toole to investigate claims of juror bias by the defense and to determine whether Tsarnaev's death sentence should stand. He was convicted of helping carry out the 2013 bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds of others near the marathon's finish line. It's unclear when O'Toole might rule on the juror bias issue. If he finds that jurors should have been disqualified, he should vacate Tsarnaev's sentence and hold a new penalty-phase trial to determine if Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death, the appeals court said. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Courtreinstated the death sentencegiven to Tsarnaev after the 1st Circuit threw out the sentence in 2020. The circuit court found then that the trial judge did not sufficiently question jurors about their exposure to the extensive news coverage of the bombing. The 1st Circuittook another look at the caseafter Tsarnaev's lawyers urged it to examine issues the Supreme Court didn't consider. Among them was whether the trial judge wrongly forced the trial to be held in Boston and wrongly denied defense challenges to the seating of two jurors who they claim lied during questioning. Tsarnaev'sguilt in the deathsof those killed in the bombing was not at issue in the appeal. His lawyers have argued that Tsarnaev fell under the influence of his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed in a gun battle with police days after the bombing. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted of all 30 charges against him. Prosecutors portrayed the brothers — ethnic Chechens who moved to the United States from Russia more than a decade ago — as full partners in a brutal and coldblooded plan to punish the U.S. for its wars in Muslim countries.

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

July 31, 2025

Federal court denies Boston bomber's request for new judge to oversee death sentence appeal

Federal court denies Boston bomber's request for new judge to oversee death sentence appeal BOSTON (AP) — A federal court on Thursdayden...

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