Steve Jobs (film)

Steve Jobs is an upcoming biographical drama film based on the life of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, starring Michael Fassbender in the title role. The film is directed by Danny Boyle, produced by Scott Rudin, and based on a screenplay written by Aaron Sorkin, which was adapted from Walter Isaacson's biography Steve Jobs. It will be released on October 9, 2015, four days after the anniversary of his death.^[3]

Plot

According to Universal's press release, the film is "set backstage at three iconic product launches and ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac, the film takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution to paint an intimate portrait of the brilliant man at its epicenter."^[4]

Cast

• Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc.
• Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc. and creator of the Apple I and Apple II.
• Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, the CEO of Apple from 1983 to 1993 and the former president of Pepsi-Cola.
• Michael Stuhlbarg as Andy Hertzfeld, a member of the original Mac team.
• Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman, a member of the original Mac team and the NeXT team.
• Perla Haney-Jardine, Ripley Sobo, and Makenzie Moss as Lisa Brennan-Jobs (at different ages), Jobs' first child.
• Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan, Lisa's mother (Jobs' high school girlfriend and an early employee of Apple).
• John Ortiz as Joel Pforzheimer, a journalist for GQ magazine who interviews Jobs throughout the launches.
• Sarah Snook as Andrea "Andy" Cunningham, an entrepreneur and collaborator with Jobs for several product launches at Apple.
• Scotty Wood as Larry Tesler, a computer scientist at Apple.
• Tyson Wheeler as Bruce Horn, a member of the original Mac team.
• Chris Amato as Steve Capps, a member of the original Mac team.
• Mike Siemsen as Larry Kenyon, a member of the original Mac team.
• Cristina Swift as Rony Sebok, a member of the original Mac team.
• Adam Shapiro as Avie Tevanian, former Senior V.P. of Software Engineering at Apple from 1997 to 2003

Production

Screenplay

Although specific plot details are currently unknown, Sorkin has revealed that the film will consist of three, 30-minute scenes spreading across sixteen years of the life of Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. All of the scenes will dramatize backstage events before three major Apple product launches (the Macintosh in 1984, NeXT in 1988, and the iMac in 1998). These scenes will take place in real time at "two auditoriums, a restaurant and a garage," with a few flashbacks depicting key moments of Jobs' life inserted throughout the story.^[5][6][7]

Sorkin has also indicated that the film will focus on Jobs' relationship with seven other characters, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, former Apple CEO John Sculley, Jobs' first child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, and Joanna Hoffman, one of the members of both the original Mac and NeXT teams.^[8][9] Andy Hertzfeld (another original member of the Mac team)^[10] and Chrisann Brennan (a painter who was Jobs' high school girlfriend,^[11] an early employee of Apple Inc. before it went public,^[11][12] and Lisa's mother)^[13][14] will also appear in the film.

Development and pre-production

Sony Pictures acquired the rights to Isaacson's book in October 2011,^[15] hiring Aaron Sorkin to adapt it.^[16] George Clooney and Noah Wyle (who previously portrayed Jobs in the 1999 TV movie, Pirates of Silicon Valley) became initial choices for the title role.^[17] In 2013, another project about Jobs was released, starring Ashton Kutcher.^[18] In May, Sorkin officially confirmed he was writing the script,^[19] and enlisted the help of Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, for historical accuracy.^[20] By the end of that year, Sorkin addressed what he was planning to do with the biopic, stating the film would consist of three 30 minute long scenes.^[21]

After Sorkin's completion of the script in January 2014, development on the project began to heat up when David Fincher entered negotiations to direct the film,^[22] with Fincher selecting Christian Bale as his choice for Jobs.^[23] However in April, Fincher exited the project due to contractual disputes.^[24] Danny Boyle was then hired to direct, with Leonardo Dicaprio in discussions for the role.^[25] In October, Dicaprio exited, with Bale, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Bradley Cooper being considered.^[26]

Sorkin revealed in an interview that Bale was once again cast in the role,^[27] with Seth Rogen entering negotiations to play Wozniak, and Jessica Chastain being eyed for a part.^[28] Ike Barinholtz revealed he had auditioned for the role of Wozniak.^[29] In November, Bale once again left the project,^[30] with Michael Fassbender emerging as a frontrunner to replace him, and Scarlett Johansson reportedly being offered a role before Sony suddenly pulled the plug on the project, putting it in turnaround.^[31][32] Universal Pictures then acquired the project.^[33] Natalie Portman entered into negotiations for a role,^[34] but in December she withdrew from the film.^[35] At the same time, Jeff Daniels began negotiations for a role and Michael Stuhlbarg joined the cast as Andy Hertzfeld.^{[10][35][36][37]} On December 19, Kate Winslet entered negotiations to star in the film, with Fassbender and Rogen confirmed to star^[38] and her participation in the film as Joanna Hoffman was confirmed on January 27.^[4] Daniels was also cast as John Sculley.^[4] Katherine Waterston was cast as Chrisann Brennan on December 23^[4][14] and Perla Haney-Jardine was cast as Lisa Brennan-Jobs on January 5, 2015.^[4][8][39] On February 11, John Ortiz had joined the film to play the GQ magazine journalist, Joel Pforzheimer.^[40]

Filming

Home of Paul and Clara Jobs, on Crist Drive in Los Altos, California. Steve Jobs formed Apple Computer in its garage with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. Wayne stayed only a short time, leaving Jobs and Wozniak as the primary co-founders of the company.

Principal photography began on January 16, 2015, at Jobs' childhood home in Los Altos, California.^[41] Additional scenes will be shot throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.^[42] Production took place in Berkeley on January 23–24, 2015 at La Méditerranée (a restaurant on College Avenue in the Elmwood district).^[43][44] Filming next took place on January 29, 2015 at Flint Center, De Anza college (the location of the original unveiling of the Macintosh in 1984) and continued through mid-February.^[45][46] In late February, production moved to San Francisco and filming took place at Opera House, Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall and Civic Center, San Francisco which continued until March 2015.^[47] Filming wrapped on 10 April, 2015 after overnight filming in San Francisco Bay Area.^[48][49]

Post-production

On February 26, 2015, it was announced that London based company named Union will handle the Visual effects (VFX) of the film.^[50]

Response

Steve Wozniak

In a February 2015 interview with the BBC, Steve Wozniak states that he has spoken with Seth Rogen a few times about the film before its production started, but is not involved with Rogen's interpretation or other aspects of the film. Wozniak also stated that he is confident in Rogen's ability to portray him well.^[51]

2014 Sony Pictures hack

Sony was hacked in late November 2014, resulting in screening copies of their films (amongst them Fury and Annie) getting leaked.^[52]

In December, e-mails shared between CEO Amy Pascal and film producer Scott Rudin emerged, detailing the events leading up to Sony putting the Steve Jobs project in turnaround. In them, a dispute occurred surrounding the possibility that Angelina Jolie was luring then-director David Fincher away to helm a remake of Cleopatra. Also revealed in the e-mails were the news Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey and Charlize Theron were at one point met with to discuss potential roles in the film.^[53]

See also

• Jobs (film) (2013), a biographical film about Steve Jobs, from 1974 to 2001.
• Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview (2012) is a documentary that includes the entire 70-minute interview Jobs gave for Triumph of the Nerds in 1995.
• The Social Network (2010), a drama film about the founding of Facebook (screenplay by Aaron Sorkin).
• Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999), drama film about the rise of Apple Computer (Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak) and Microsoft (Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Paul Allen) from 1971 to 1997. Jobs is portrayed by Noah Wyle.
• Triumph of the Nerds (1996), a television documentary about the rivalry between, and personalities of, Apple and Microsoft, written and hosted by Robert X. Cringely.

References

External links

• Steve Jobs at the Internet Movie Database

Steve Jobs Career Apple Computer Macintosh NeXT Pixar Return to Apple Legacy Artistic depictions Honors and Public Recognition Family Laurene Powell Jobs (widow) Mona Simpson (sister) Lisa Brennan-Jobs (daughter) Chrisann Brennan (high school girlfriend and Lisa's mother) Other Stevenote Reality distortion field Jackling House Seva Foundation Venus 1984 commercial Think different

Steve Wozniak Products and projects Apple I Apple II Apple Desktop Bus Breakout iWoz US Festival Companies Acquicor (co-founder) Apple, Inc. (co-founder) CL 9 (founder) Fusion-io (chief scientist) Wheels of Zeus (founder) Awards Grace Murray Hopper Award (1979) National Medal of Technology and Innovation (1985, with Steve Jobs) Film Jobs Pirates of Silicon Valley Steve Jobs Triumph of the Nerds TV appearances "The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification" (The Big Bang Theory) Dancing with the Stars season 8 Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List season 4 Related Apple IIGS with limited edition signed case Blue box Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution Homebrew Computer Club Steve Jobs Phreaking Segway polo