Aaron Sorkin’s attempt to make Steve Jobs light up the big screen has been filled with disaster thanks to a rash of casting dropouts and production hold ups, but all the problems the movie’s facing can’t be blamed on Sorkin’s script.
Emails from Sony released by hackers this week reveal that pretty much anyone who’s read Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie script has loved it. Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson told Sony execs that he had a tear in his eye when finishing, and that the script is “totally awesome.”
Sorkin told Sony that shooting the film would be a breeze because the only locations they’d need are “two auditoriums, a restaurant and a garage.” Another email from Oscar-winning director David Fincher, who was originally signed on to direct Sorkin’s movie, gushes with positivity on the film that’s really more like a play.
Here’s what Fincher told Sony after reading the script in February:
Subject: JOBS
Is great. It’s a play, but a really quicksilver, cinematic one.
I would think you would want to cast and rehearse very carefully (couple months)
Shoot very quickly (4 or 5 weeks — 8 days per ACT??)
The venues would be easy (we could probably find them all in town)
Editing is where we would spend time.
Can SONY market a ONE MAN SHOW(?)
Can you guys make the LENNY of it all, the MUST SEE?
Fincher backed out of the movie in March after the studio decided no to meet his salary demands. The Sony hack has also revealed the flock of A-list actors who have expressed interest in the film. Tom Hanks wanted to play John Sculley, while Tobey Maguire and Matthew McConaughey said they wanted to play Steve Jobs.
Plot details for the film haven’t been revealed other than that the movie will be divided into three acts, each taking place backstage at an Steve Jobs keynote. Sorkin has said that Steve’s daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs will be the main heroine of the film, and Isaacson’s email gives us a little more detail of how she’ll be used to pull on your heart strings.
“I have a tear in my eye having just finished. I was deeply moved by the narrative arc and by the beautiful end. I loved the line, ‘No way she’s not my kid,’”
Source: The Verge
