First he brought the story of Facebook to the big screen. Next, he’s bringing the story of Apple. Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter of The Social Network, has reportedly turned in his script for an upcoming movie about Steve Jobs to Sony.
Variety reported the news accompanying that of the third and final season of Sorkin’s HBO show The Newsroom.
Sony’s interest in Sorkin for the project, based on the bestselling bio penned by Walter Isaacson, first became public in 2011, before an official announcement was made in 2012.
As the year progressed, Sorkin shared some hints about the direction he planned to take. For example, he said that whoever plays Steve Jobs would need to be intelligent. Josh Wolford recapped some of what Sorkin said at the D10 conference back then:
Sorkin acknowledged that biopics are oftentimes difficult to write, simply because the structure of the film is almost already written. We can expect his script to sway from the traditional “cradle-to-grave structure” of many biopics. Instead, he said that he was “going to identify the point of friction that appeals to me and dramatize that.” Of course, we could rattle off a few notable “points of friction” rather quickly, so it’s unclear what Sorkin will choose to focus on. We know that the “competing” Steve Jobs biopic (the indie one starring Ashton Kutcher) will focus heavily on Jobs’ early years.
Adding another layer of difficulty to the development of the script is Jobs’ iconic presence. Sorkin likened it to writing about The Beatles, in that so many people have so many strong opinions about Jobs that it will be hard to navigate what he called a “minefield of disappointment.”
Later in the year, Sorkin hinted at the film’s structure, saying it would be divided up into three 30-minute scenes, each taking place backstage before one of the company’s big product launches.
Now that the script is in Sony’s hands, perhaps we’ll soon learn more about other names to be attached. We’re certainly eager to see who will direct, and who will play Jobs. While reviews for Jobs, the other Jobs biopic, which came out last year, got mixed reviews, it’s hard to imagine anyone topping the Ashton Kutcher casting strictly in terms of appearance.
Apple enthusiasts will almost certainly be more drawn to Sorkin’s film, as co-founder Steve Wozniak was hired as a “tutor” for the film. Wozniak was highly critical of the first film.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
