Michael Fassbender has become a front-runner to win Best Actor and next year’s Oscar ceremony, after an early version of the biopic in which he plays former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was met with rave reviews.
Trainspotting director Danny Boyle screened a “work in progress” version of the biopic Steve Jobs at the Telluride Festival in Colorado over the weekend – an event which has a reputation for debuting key Oscar titles.
The film sees the 12 Years a Slave play the late tech pioneer as Apple launches three products. He stars alongside Seth Rogan, who has been cast as Apple co-found Steve Qozniak.
It will also focus on Jobs’ personal life, with Katherine Waterston playing his ex-partner in a film which the trailer suggest will not paint the former CEO in a positive light.
Late Apple CEO Steve Jobs pictured speaking during an Apple in April 2010 (Image: Getty)
Respected entertainment magazines Variety and The Hollywood Reporter both praised Fassbender for his performance in the film penned by The Social Network screenwriter Aaorn Sorkin.
While Fassbender’s character was “very unlikeable throughout [the film]”, according to Variety, the actor “completely owns the screen.
“The 12 Years a Slave star crushes the role... and then some,” according to the review.
Meanwhile The Wrap concluded: “Fassbender spits out Sorkin's dialogue like an ice cube maker — each withering insult sticking its landing.”
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The kudos was mirrored by The Hollywood Reporter, which said: “You get the strong sense from Fassbender of a mind that is always several steps beyond everyone else's.”
Earlier this year, Wozniak revealed that he “almost cried when viewing the first trailer for Boyle’s biopic, and that he “felt a lot of the real Jobs” was depicted.
Boyle is set to premier the final version of Steve Jobs at the New York Film Festival on 3 October, before it is screened at the London Film Festival on 18 October.
It will be released UK-wide on 13 November.
The film’s debut came on the same weekend as the Venice Film Festival, where critics were treated to the first screening of Johnny’s Depp’s lauded portrayal of Boston mafia boss Whitey Bulger in Black Mass.
The actor, who has suffered poor box-office ratings recently with films including The Tourist and Mortdecai, is expected to come up against Fassbender to win Best Actor for the film.
