On the eve of his film
Steve Jobs opening in select theaters, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin
appeared on the Conan O'Brien show to talk about the film, and got back into the brief dust-up between Cook and Sorkin, who took comments made by Apple CEO Tim Cook that biographical pictures about Jobs generally are "opportunistic." The Universal Pictures film, which has garnered strongly positive reviews, has opened in a handful of cinemas in New York and LA, and will roll out to a wider release throughout October.
The film will expand to other major cities such as Toronto, Boston and (perhaps most importantly) San Francisco on October 16, with a full nationwide rollout happening the following weekend, starting October 23. Universal has released a number of new promo spots, sneak peeks, and ancillary featurettes to accompany the film on sites like Fandango and the studio's own YouTube channel. The consensus view of the film is that, while not factually accurate, the performance by Fassbender in particular and the rest of the cast gets at "deeper truths" about both Jobs the man and his vision for Apple.
A handful of Apple veterans have weighed in based on early looks at the unfinished film, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (who worked as a consultant on the movie) saying that Fassbender captured the essence of Jobs' mercurial pesonality, while Mac OS creator and Apple veteran Andy Hertzfeld said he was "too close to the story" to accurately judge the film overall, but that while it took
wide artistic liberties, it told its story very well. Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple's design chief, was more critical of the new film, saying he "didn't recognize" the person Fassbender was playing.
Cook, while appearing on the
Late Night program, spoke generally about the biographies of Jobs, saying that he thought the films were "opportunistic" and "not a great part of our world." Sorkin took the remarks personally and retorted that someone who hadn't seen the film and was in charge of a company that relied on factory workers in China should not be calling others "opportunistic," but quickly apologized for the (largely untrue) barbs. Sorkin was apparently deeply offended at the implication that he and the rest of the people who worked on Universal's movie -- many of whom, including Sorkin, took a pay cut to help get the film made -- were just out to make money off of Jobs' story.
Talking about the movie with O'Brien, Sorkin was asked about the brouhaha and quickly reiterated his version of events, drawing a mix of boos and cheers when he summarized the "factory workers" remark, which originally claimed that iPhones were assembled by "children" making "17 cents an hour." While not fully recanting his remarks, Sorkin said that on reflection he understood that Cook was defending the "memory and legacy of his friend" but did again point out that Cook hadn't yet seen the film.
He repeated his apology and said joked that he was "cool" with withdrawing the remark, hoping that Cook and "a building full of people at Apple who know how to hack into my computer" would forgive and forget -- though his phrasing indicated that he has not heard from anyone at Apple since his initial remarks. Apple has recently deployed executives and released some previously-unseen footage of Jobs in an effort to promote what many of his "second act" colleagues and friends remember most about Jobs -- a relatively happier, lighter, and less angry version of the younger, brasher, harsher man that more of the early Apple employees recall.
While Sorkin noted that he never physically met Jobs, he mentioned in the interview that he had chatted with Jobs on the phone a few times -- including one conversation in which Sorkin modestly claimed to have "fixed some typos" in Jobs' famous Stanford commencement address. He told O'Brien that he felt he got to know Jobs from the conversations, and talking to "dozens and dozens" of people who "knew and loved" Jobs, including his eldest daughter Lisa -- the story of Jobs' relationship with her plays a significant role in the final film, though she has yet to publicly comment on the film itself.
Top