‘The Social Network’ star Jesse Eisenberg's film wins top prize at Middleburg Film Festival

By turning down the chance to reprise his famed role in The Social Reckoning, a sequel to The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg got behind the camera and directed The Debut while also starring in it.

It won the top prize at the Middleburg Film Festival, an audience-voted award.

The Debut also opened the festival before premiering at the Telluride Film Festival, where it drew strong applause and became a potential Oscar contender.

The film, meanwhile, starred Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, as its logline read, "When a shy housewife is cast in a bit part at a local community theatre musical, she transforms into a zealous method actor willing to go to extremes to protect her role, waging war against the show's domineering director."

As for his famous portrayal of Meta head Mark Zuckerberg, he recently explained why he turned down the role again.

"For me, it just didn’t feel like something I wanted to act in again," he said.

That said, Zuckerberg praised script director Aaron Sorkin for The Social Reckoning.

“I’ve talked about it a lot, and Aaron Sorkin’s talked about it a lot, and I loved his script, and he’s a genius, and the movie I’m sure is incredible,” he shared.

His decision not to opt for the movie does not whatsoever cast doubt on the film's merits.

Instead, Eisenberg said, "But that has nothing to do with how great the movie is."

He added, "The movie will be a great, great movie, and Jeremy Strong will be amazing in the movie."

The Social Reckoning, meanwhile, is running in theatres.