It seems Ashton Kutcher is delighted to be playing Steve Jobs in Mark Hulme’s upcoming movie, so much so that he has canceled all of his other projects and has already begun meeting with Steve’s friends to “get inside the voice.” Hulme reports that Kutcher has “poured himself” into the role that was “meant for him.”
In an interview with iPad magazine The Daily, Mark Hulme from Five Star Feature Films said:
He is already meeting with folks that knew Steve Jobs. He’s working with professionals to get inside the voice. He’s letting his hair grow out. I understand he’s canceled all meetings and actually canceled all other projects.
He believes the role was meant for him.
News that Kutcher would be playing Steve in the movie, simply titled “Jobs,” was met with mixed reactions earlier this week. It didn’t help that the story broke on April Fools’ Day. While many were pleased to see Kutcher bagging the role, others believed it was a joke and felt Kutcher wasn’t the right person.
However, Hulme is confident that Kutcher will “prove to the world that this is the right part for him.”
According to the report, Hulme’s movie was already in the works before Steve Jobs passed away last October, and before Walter Isaacson’s biography was published. Filming is scheduled to start next month, with the film’s release set for this Thanksgiving.
The movie will focus on Steve’s early days, according to Hulme:
We decided between 1971, the initial partnership of Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, is where we would start and then the bulk of the script remains in the early years of Apple and the recruiting of [former Apple CEO] John Sculley from Pepsi and then of course Jobs’ ousting and a smaller portion is his triumph and his return.
MacRumors notes that Kutcher does have the backing of Steve’s friend and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who told TMZ:
The fear that many might have is that Ashton was selected because he’s ‘hot’ right now. But I feel that his selection was done in the most professional manner. And I’m glad that he’s onboard. I think he’ll put a lot into it and that he cares about this particular subject.
Another film about Steve is being developed by Sony Pictures, which purchased the rights to Walter Isaacson’s biography last year. However, details on this are still very thin at this point.
