War of the Steve Jobs films starts as Apple developers arrive in SF
A movie about the life of Steve Jobs with Ashton Kutcher in the title role starts filming on Monday in the California garage that gave birth to Apple, says the San Jose Mercuy News, quoting a member of the production crew.
Ashton Kutcher . . .plays Jobs
In death as in life, there is tough competition .The movie, entitled "jOBS," (with a small'j ) is a rival to the Sony film which has Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak advising. Aaron Sorkin of "The Social Network" is writing the script based on Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography "Steve Jobs."
As the crew of "jOBS" arrives at Steve's old garage on Monday , thousands will be gathering in San Francisco for Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference with new CEO Tim Cook centre stage.
According to a news release, executive producer Mark Hulme and Five Star Feature Films launched the jOBS movie project immediately after Jobs' retired in August 2011.
The is how the release describes jOBS, "A rousing narrative of this business and tech icon, 'jOBS' pulls no punches and does not speculate, telling only the candid and captivating account of the life of Steven Paul Jobs," it said.
The film focuses on Jobs' life between 1971 and 2000 and, according to the producers, is based "on months of exhaustive research and interviews with Steve Jobs' friends, colleagues and mentors to develop the most truthful and gripping picture of Jobs' life."
In an interview, Wozniak said he had not spoken to anyone associated with "jOBS."
"I am not involved with them," Woz said. "I hope they get things very accurate as far as personalities, characters and what incidents had meaning. I hope they don't over-dramatise it. The real events that happened were interesting."
Wozniak, quoted in the Mercury News , said he had no problem have an actor portray him as a shy engineer. He liked "Pirates of Silicon Valley," a 1999 made-for-television film directed by Martyn Burke that dramatised the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft and Jobs' sometimes erratic and harsh leadership.
"They got the personalities right," he said. "I was a good engineer and I cared about people."
The jOBS project, with a budget said to be around $5 million is expected to be one of the big talking points at Cannes. Sony , according to the Hollywood Reporter is in no rush with its project. Landing Sorkin as script writer is quite a coup and they have not even named the star who is to play Jobs.
Sony , says the Reporter, "believes that pedigree will be one of its distinguishing factors. "