A prominent new movie currently in wide release has a brief but key mention of Wilmington.
"The Social Reckoning," released Oct. 9 and written and directed by Oscar- and Emmy-winner Aaron Sorkin ("The Social Network," TV's "The West Wing"), is about the so-called "Facebook Papers," internal documents that showed how the social media company, now named Meta, knowingly led some users down an internet rabbit hole filled with conspiracy theories and extremist content.
About halfway through the movie a Wall Street Journal reporter played by Jeremy Allen White ("The Bear"), who's investigating the social media giant, instructs an intern to create a fake Facebook account.
"You're a young mother from Wilmington, North Carolina, and you don't trust the government,"
the reporter tells the intern, instructing her to follow certain conservative-leaning accounts.
Soon, the fake account is being fed recommendations to follow pages espousing white supremacy and extreme conspiracy theories.
The reference in the scene, though slightly changed for the movie, was inspired by one of several fake Facebook accounts created by a Facebook researcher looking into how the platform drove political divides in the U.S. by recommending content filled with misinformation and extremism.
According to a 2021 story from USA TODAY, "Carol Smith," 41, was a conservative from Wilmington who followed the official accounts for President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Fox News. Facebook soon recommended "Carol" follow pages for the QAnon conspiracy theory, and another called "Donald Trump is Jesus."
In the movie, the Wilmington reference is used for a fake account created by journalists to research Facebook's algorithm instead of one of the accounts created by the Facebook researcher.
Interestingly, two of the actors in the scene where Wilmington is mentioned have strong Port City connections.
Kelley Pereira, who plays a plucky Wall Street Journal intern named Evelyn in "The Social Reckoning," starred as Amanda, a friend of the title band, in Wilmington-shot Amazon series "The Runarounds." Pereira also stars in a short horror film from Wilmington director Bo Webb, "Un-Dead," that's been playing the festival circuit.
Aidan Laprete, who plays a laconic Wall Street Journal intern named Zach in "The Social Reckoning," starred in 2026 Wilmington-shot movie "Driver's Ed," playing a drug dealer.
"The Social Reckoning" has gotten a mixed critical response, while its box office has lagged behind initial projections.
John Staton is the arts and culture reporter for the StarNews. You can reach him at jstaton@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington gets key mention in new movie about Facebook
