Danny Boyle’s long-gestating biopic of the late technology guru and Apple founder Steve Jobs has finally begun shooting in San Francisco with Michael Fassbender in the lead role.
The as-yet-untitled film, working from a screenplay by the Oscar-winning writer of The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin, has been through numerous painful permutations on its way to getting the green light. It was originally a Sony production with David Fincher directing Leonardo DiCaprio, then Christian Bale, in the lead. But the final version sees Boyle and Fassbender working with rival studio Universal.
Fincher withdrew in April following a reported dispute about his proposed $10m (£6.25m) paycheck. There were also suggestions in leaked emails released following December’s Sony cyber-attack that he walked away under pressure from Angelina Jolie, who was hoping to secure his services for her long-planned Cleopatra movie. DiCaprio followed suit in October, by which time Boyle had come on board, and replacement Bale jumped ship a month later just prior to Sony’s controversial decision to pass on the project.
Joining Fassbender in the final cast are Kate Winslet as former Macintosh marketing chief Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Jeff Daniels as former Apple CEO John Sculley. The film also features Katherine Waterston, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sarah Snook, Adam Shapiro, and child actors Perla Haney-Jardine, Ripley Sobo and Makenzie Moss in supporting roles.
It is understood Sorkin’s unorthodox three-act structure remains in place. The screenwriter, who has adapted Walter Isaacson’s bestselling Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography, previously said he envisages a biopic comprised of just three scenes, each shot in real time and taking place just before a vital Apple product launch. Reports suggest the final sequence will be set in 1998 with the unveiling of the first iMac.
Jobs died on 5 October 2011 of cancer. An earlier biopic, titled Jobs, was released in 2013 with Ashton Kutcher as the Apple founder and Josh Gad as Wozniak. It received short shrift from critics and struggled at the box office.
