You watched the scripted congressional hearings in 2022. Now here comes Jan. 6: The Movie.

Sean Penn is getting back behind the camera for the ripped-from-the-headlines film, albeit headlines from 2021.

The Oscar winner’s project will star Bradley Cooper as a DC cop who battled MAGA radicals at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. It’s the kind of movie we expect from a partisan superstar like Penn.

But his efforts might be upstaged by another political film that could beat the erstwhile Spicoli to the punch.

Director Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning” targets Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg’s platform for supposedly misleading the public via misinformation and cruel algorithms.

The film’s first trailer slams the “free speech” advocate for supposedly letting anything appear on his platform. (That would be news to the thousands of people who have been censored on, or suspended from, Facebook.)

The film, a sequel to 2010’s “The Social Network,” reportedly ties Facebook posts to Jan. 6.

In October, footage leaked from Sorkin’s set featured a reenactment of the riot, with a Vancouver building standing in for the US Capitol.

Former Facebook engineer Frances Haugen (played by “Anora” alum Mikey Madison) once claimed the platform “played a role in enabling the events of Jan. 6.”

The trailer lacks any Jan. 6-style footage. The filmmakers may be holding back on that part of the story, or they want to keep that element a surprise until closer to the film’s release date. 

Another possibility? They know anything tied to Jan. 6 will alienate a good swath of the country, hurting the film’s box office potential.

It’s still possible the footage won’t make the final cut. That’s unlikely, given Sorkin’s involvement.

He’s a loud and proud Democrat with a history of savaging President Donald Trump. He previously shared a letter he penned to his wife and daughter following the 2016 presidential election, calling Trump a “thoroughly incompetent pig with dangerous ideas.”

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

He might not pass on a chance to remind the public of Jan. 6 before the midterm elections. The film’s release date is Oct. 9, which is likely no accident: In Hollywood, a film’s release plan is given intense scrutiny, no matter the title.

Penn’s project, in comparison, has no firm date as of yet. It could be held until 2028, a presidential election year, for maximum perceived impact.

Penn’s politics aren’t a state secret, either. Consider his description of Trump: “President Donald Trump is an enemy of Americans, Republicans, Democrats, Independents and every new child born. An enemy of mankind. He is indeed an enemy of the state.”

Plus, Penn has shown a keen interest in the Capitol riot. He even attended a 2022 hearing of the Jan. 6 Committee — a one-sided forum whose public hearings were scripted by a former head of ABC News.

Key facts from that awful January day aren’t in dispute, but Americans have been misled about some basic facts about the riot.

Don’t just blame Facebook. The mainstream media did their part, too.

Early reports claimed, for example, that Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died after being struck by a fire extinguisher (DC authorities determined his death as caused by a stroke). The New York Times was one of several outlets to spread that false information, only correcting the matter for its readers more than a month later.

The only person to be killed on that awful day was Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, shot by a plainclothes police officer. Will her death get a close-up by Team Penn?

These projects have more than box office glory in mind. An Oscar nomination or three wouldn’t hurt, but their real goal is political.

Most Americans have already decided what they think about Jan. 6. For MS NOW viewers, it was the worst day since Pearl Harbor. MAGA loyalists, on the other hand, see it as the ultimate government psyop to crush their movement. 

The truth lives somewhere in the middle of the competing narratives, but can Hollywood be trusted to tell it?

Both films can expect endless media coverage. Sorkin is a respected, Oscar-winning screenwriter who made a credible transition to the director’s chair. The subject matter of “The Social Reckoning” — social media malfeasance — is both relatable and bipartisan.

Penn’s film is already stirring headlines along with some anti-GOP angles: ”Three-Time Oscar Winner’s Next Film Is a Nightmare for Trump,” says The Daily Beast.

Audiences may approach both projects with skepticism. The industry’s left-leaning ways are well known, and it’s unlikely these projects will take a nuanced approach to the material.

The films may end up as the cinematic equivalent of the Jan. 6 Committee hearings: all sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Christian Toto is the founder of HollywoodInToto.com and host of The Hollywood in Toto Podcast.