Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin Shares Some Thoughts About Steve Jobs Biopic, Woz Hired As Advisor

[gmcalpin]

Instead he invented some crap about how Facebook was created to get back at a girl. And now most everyone thinks that's true.

The only reason you think the movie says that is because you read some moron say so somewhere. The movie doesn't SAY that at all. Anywhere.

 

[inkswamp]

Not sure if a suit-and-tie type like Sorkin should be scripting the life of Steve Jobs. Just doesn't seem right to me.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Ugh, it sounds like Sorkin is probably going to pull the same crap he did with The Social Network and fictionalize it. Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie. But he clearly didn't understand the fact that someone can build something just for the sake of building it. Instead he invented some crap about how Facebook was created to get back at a girl. And now most everyone thinks that's true.

I'm sure he understood it, but that doesn't mean it would make for a compelling and cohesive narrative in a movie. All movies based on real stories, real events and/or real people suffer a similar fate.


Lethal

 

[kalsta]

Sorkin also disclosed that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has been hired as a consultant by Sony Pictures to advise the filmmakers on the technical aspects of computers…

If only Walter Isaacson or his editors had thought to do the same thing, they wouldn't have had so many embarrassing technical bloopers in the book! At least get Woz to read over the bloody script before the actors get hold of it, and avoid the usual Hollywood technobabble.

 

[entropys]

If they want to frame it around something that drove Jobs' life, how about something fiction based along these lines:


Steve Jobs: "We're better than you are! We have better stuff."
Bill Gates: "You don't get it, Steve. That doesn't matter!"

I am surprised nobody thought to put something like that in a movie before.

 

[rrl]

Here, just watch "Pirates of Silicon Valley". YouTube has hosted it in its entirety for years. Noah Wyle was a decent Steve Jobs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L0IvI00AY4

 

[entropys]

Snap!

 

[rrl]

Snap!

That's funny. I didn't see your entry before I wrote it.

 

[belisle]

"Drama is tension versus obstacle. Someone wants something, something is standing in their way of getting it. They want the money, they want the girl, they want to get to Philadelphia - doesn't matter ... And I need to find that event and I will. I just don't know what it is," Sorkin said.

So he's saying he needs to find the MacGuffin. And then he'll write a movie that is essentially accurate, just not factually accurate.

 

[Giuly]

Jobs and Woz founding Apple, Jobs getting kicked out of Apple, building up NeXT, gets rehired and revolutionizes the industry.

That's a whole movie right there.

 

[Morod]

Yay, Woz!

 

[Millah]

I just wish a person who TRULY knew and understood Steve could be the one telling his story to the world. sorkin might be a good screenwriter, but he obviously doesn't know Steve's life well enough. Otherwise he'd already know that Steve's life has tons of moments filled with tension and struggle. He doesn't need to add any dramatic filler or alter his story.

Woz can certainly give some guidance on Jobs hippy days. But the parts of his life which are certainly his most important in transforming him: NeXT, Laurene, and his return to Apple, Woz won't be able to offer much.

 

[Nostromo]

This will not be a bow to Steve Jobs.

This will be drama, an era seen through a lens called Steve Jobs.

So curious how they'll handle the production design (70's change to 90's and beyond).

Thumbs up for Sorkin.

 

[Bill Killer]

Frankly, I don't want to see a movie that is nothing more than a factual representation of Jobs' life. That's boring. It'll eventually turn into a JOBS IS AMAZING!!! film. Screw that.

I would rather see a great movie. If that means fabricating some of the truth in order to provide a more entertaining and character driven film that doesn't make heroes and villains so black and white, so be it. Sorkin did a masterful job telling a fascinating story with The Social Network, creating an interesting CHARACTER in Zuckerberg, no recreating his life.

I'm thrilled this may be the route Sorkin is going.

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And I said this in another thread: Stanley Tucci for Jobs.

 

[justinfreid]

Rosebud?

 

[Norco]

This will not be a bow to Steve Jobs.

This will be drama, an era seen through a lens called Steve Jobs.

So curious how they'll handle the production design (70's change to 90's and beyond).

Thumbs up for Sorkin.

I'd be VERY surprised if he spanned this film over decades. I suspect he's looking for a singular product/fight/challenge in Steve's career that is a representation of Steve's life at large. As great as all the iProducts are, I bet he'll avoid them because there's no drama in products selling millions and millions and kicking everyone's butts.

 

[OlMighty]

He's a good screenwriter, it should be an interesting film and it should be called "One more thing..."

 

[DavidLeblond]

I'm sure he understood it, but that doesn't mean it would make for a compelling and cohesive narrative in a movie. All movies based on real stories, real events and/or real people suffer a similar fate.


Lethal

No, the girlfriend bits of The Social Network added nothing to the movie.

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The only reason you think the movie says that is because you read some moron say so somewhere. The movie doesn't SAY that at all. Anywhere.

It was implied.

 

[Cloudsurfer]

I want to see NO Vaio whatsoever in this movie. Not a single Sony laptop!

 

[Sackvillenb]

Well, having Woz as a consultant will be a good thing. It'll be pretty interesting to see how this movie turns out...

 

[ryansimmons323]

"Someone wants something" - well, Steve just wanted "to make a dent in the universe". I think that's a pretty good story for a movie.

 

[JHankwitz]

BS? What about The Social Network is BS? If you love or hate Facebook, the movie was fantastic.

That's just the point. It was a fantastic movie that had little to do with reality. The 'jobs' movie will end up being the same, as stated in the article. It will be a great movie with enough snippets of stuff from the book to create a tie-in and create viewership, but it will basically and fundamentally be BS.

I do hope they emphasize how Steve's auditing typesetting classes was a driving force for developing the Mac. If it weren't for that, we would all still be looking at DOS green-screens and using dot-matrix printers. It makes me think of the 1970 "Colossus - the Forbin Project" movie predication of future computers.

 

[zoozx]

Sorkin, another hollywood hack with connections and takes the credit for the little peoples work.

You don't know what to hang the movie, laughable.
Read the book, Jobs drive in business over every thing else.

 

[JHankwitz]

Zen

I would think the central theme of the movie would tie into Steve's connection with Zen. You see it pop-up time and again throught the book. Ultimately becoming one with the universe would be a cool ending. Oh wow!

 

[gschumsky]

I lost interest in this movie when Ashton Kutcher was announced to play Steve.

Actually that's for an independent film not tied to the Sony picture at all. They clarified that in the post with the pics of Kutcher all "Jobs'd out".

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As far as something to hang it on- I see where it could start off with Steve being betrayed (yet again) but by the whole Android thing, where he swore he'd spend everything up to Apple's last penny to put Google out of business.

From there you do a series of Flashbacks (worked great for LOST), only to have him die before he accomplished his "one more thing"...

THAT would make a very good and engaging way to weave the whole life of Steve together.