One and a Half Days at Aaron Sorkin’s Canadian January 6

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This week, groups of masked men – some in work clothes and tactical gear, and carrying American flags – were seen near the Microsoft offices in downtown Vancouver. This unusual sight was particularly unsettling given the current strained relationship between Canada and the United States. Rumors quickly spread online, blaming Aaron Sorkin and the filming of his new project, The Social Reckoning, which began on October 20th. Some claimed he staged a reenactment of the January 6th insurrection in Canada as part of the production.

Sony Pictures says the new movie, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, will be thematically similar to his 2010 film, The Social Network (though David Fincher isn’t involved). While Jeremy Strong is playing a role similar to Mark Zuckerberg (previously played by Jesse Eisenberg), the story will focus on Frances Haugen, the whistleblower who leaked documents to The Wall Street Journal. These leaks revealed issues like the spread of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, negative effects on young people, and Meta’s decision to shut down an internal project fighting misinformation. Haugen argued this inaction contributed to the January 6th Capitol attack, and the film will include a recreation of that event. A video from the set, showing actors portraying rioters at a building dressed to look like the Capitol (actually Vancouver’s Art Gallery), was briefly posted on X (formerly Twitter) by a fan account before being taken down. Photos from the scene have also surfaced on Reddit, with reports that paid actors were used for the reenactment.

I went downtown shortly after seeing a tweet about a disturbance and found a movie shoot had spread onto the streets. I knew I’d found the right location when I saw someone in military gear, with an American flag over their shoulders, step out of a tent and head towards the catering area, where a man was preparing a huge bowl of carrots. The area in front of the art gallery was blocked off, but you could still see camera equipment from the street. At the corner of West Georgia and Howe Streets, extras dressed as a large militia group were marching with a lot of energy. A voice yelled “Reset!” through a megaphone, and they quickly returned to their starting positions on the sidewalk, moving with the precision of a Broadway performance. When I tried to take a picture, a security guard gave me a disapproving look. Most locals just stood by and watched the activity. A barista at a coffee shop across from the gallery explained that they were filming a movie all week. I asked her what she thought about seeing people dressed in MAGA hats, camouflage, and with American flags. She just said she didn’t know what to make of it.

As a film buff living in Vancouver, I’ve always found it’s a strangely generic city. You can wander down a lot of streets and, honestly, it could be almost anywhere in North America. That’s actually a huge part of why Hollywood loves filming here – plus, the tax credits are amazing! Last year, The Last of Us completely transformed the area around a friend’s place into a post-apocalyptic Seattle for a few weeks. I even lived near where they filmed Happy Gilmore years ago! It’s become so common to see restaurants and public spaces closed off for filming – usually it’s something for Tracker. But the idea of recreating the January 6th riots right here in downtown Vancouver? That felt particularly bizarre. It’s funny, Canada often feels like America’s polite neighbor, so using Vancouver to replay some of America’s most troubled moments feels… fitting, somehow. Just last week, I was trying to get my coffee at Trees near Gastown’s steam clock, but a Netflix crew was filming The Altruists, with Anthony Boyle playing Sam Bankman-Fried and Julia Garner as Caroline Ellison.

I stopped by the art gallery on Wednesday, hoping to spend more time there, but they were already taking the exhibit down. Workers were loading props – including fake doors meant to look like they belonged in the Capitol building – onto trucks. I pretended I didn’t know what was happening and asked one of the people in charge. She told me they were setting up for a farmers’ market. It was clearly a misleading answer, but not completely false. A few hours later, real farmers would be there selling their goods in the square.

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2025-10-23 23:54