Sorkin on Directing: Visual Instinct Is the Hardest Skill to Learn

Aaron Sorkin admitted on Monday that he lacks the visual sensibility necessary for directing, a gap he believes cannot be corrected through study.

The 65-year-old screenwriter made the assessment during an interview recorded last week at the Newport Beach Film Festival. He was there to receive the Maverick Director Award for The Social Reckoning, a film about Facebook that he wrote and directed.

Sorkin’s path to directing the movie began with a vacancy. He stated he was his own second choice to helm the project. He said he would have preferred David Fincher, who directed The Social Network 16 years earlier, but Fincher held an exclusive deal with Netflix. Sony owned the distribution rights to The Social Reckoning, so Sorkin stepped in.

The film opened nationwide on Oct. 9 with a budget of $40 million. It has since earned $15 million in global box office receipts. Critics have been less favorable than those of Sorkin’s previous work, with the title currently holding a 54 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sorkin has written films for 35 years, including A Few Good Men, The American President, and The Social Network. He won screenplay Oscars for The Social Network and nominations for Moneyball, Molly’s Game, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. He also wrote every episode of the first four seasons of The West Wing.

In recent years, Sorkin moved behind the camera for Molly’s Game, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Being the Ricardos. He acknowledged that the transition has been difficult. "There’s a big part of me that feels like I just got into the movie business a few minutes ago, and that there’s so much I don’t know," he said.

He compared his situation to a football coach after a loss who claims the elements for a win were present but did not align. "That’s how I feel about directing," Sorkin said. "There are things that I’ve been doing right along the way. Just give me one more chance, and one of these days I’ll be able to put it all together."

Sorkin noted that he has learned from working with directors such as Rob Reiner, Mike Nichols, and Danny Boyle. However, he said the learning curve was steeper than expected, particularly regarding the science of filmmaking. "I have no visual sensibility, it turns out," he said.

He also discussed the changing economics of the film industry. Sorkin said that of his 11 films, only A Few Good Men would likely qualify as a feature release today. He suggested the rest would need to be streaming exclusives. He also mentioned a new Lincoln Center revival of his 1989 play A Few Good Men, which he is rewriting for the stage.

Sorkin expressed a desire to revive The West Wing, noting that he misses the cast and the show. He said the primary obstacle is finding a story, as producers require more than just dialogue. He also noted that the original cast has aged since the series ended.