There have been plenty of rumors and today we have confirmation: Christian Bale will play Steve Jobs in the upcoming movie adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s bestselling 2011 biography.
Confirmation of the casting was made by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) during an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Emily Chang for an upcoming edition of Studio 1.0.
“We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range and that’s Chris Bale,” Sorkin said. He went on to observe that Bale didn’t have to audition for the role, although “there was a meeting.”
The film is said to begin shooting in the next couple of months, with Slumdog Millionaire‘s Danny Boyle attached to direct.
Despite Bale’s considerable acting talent, however, Sorkin thinks he’s going to have his work cut out portraying one of history’s most famous tech genius entrepreneurs.
“He has more words to say in this movie than most people have in three movies combined,” said Sorkin, who is noted for his trademark dialog-heavy “walk and talk” sequences. “There isn’t a scene or a frame that he’s not in. So it’s an extremely difficult part.”
However, he feels that Bale is more than capable of rising to the challenge, noting that, “He is gonna crush it.”
Christian Bale’s name was first circulated as a potential Jobs actor during the time that The Social Network director David Fincher was still pegged to helm the film. Fincher reportedly told Sony executive Amy Pascal that he would only direct the project if Bale was to play the lead, although he wound up passing on the job regardless.
Other actors discussed for the part of Steve included Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Bradley Cooper. Ashton Kutcher played Jobs in a critically panned biopic released last year.
Rather than trying to compress the entirety of Jobs’ life into one movie, as was the case with Kutcher’s Jobs, Aaron Sorkin’s script is comprised of three 30-minute scenes, each following the backstage happenings at an Apple product announcement during different stages in Steve’s life.
As a huge fan of all involved, I can’t wait to watch it.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
3 responses to “It’s official: Christian Bale will play Steve Jobs in movie adaptation”
“It’s official: Christian Bale will play Steve Jobs in movie adaptation”
Oh jeeez, here we go again. Overrated but guaranteed opening-weekend, high-humber British actor (with a speech impediment no less), playing one of the iconic American entrepreneurs of the last 50 years… cuz, you know… all Apple lovers •must• be into Batman… and there are simply •no• American actors who could play the role, nor even be trusted to audition. The movie will be no more complete a telling than “Jobs” with Ashton Kutcher, but most likely a lot less entertaining.
C’mon. Flame on.
I don’t think the fact that Bale is British or played Batman has anything to do with it. He’s an incredible actor and would be able to play the part. The people making the film obviously have a vision for it, and the best way for it to come to fruition is clearly with Bale. All the other actors discussed were american so…
Bale vaguely resembles Jobs, and he’s bankable. Those are the two reasons he was chosen. That he’s popular is understandable, as the public is used to seeing actors overact and call it “incredible.” Bale is good, but hardly “incredible.” Daniel Day Lewis is incredible. But I can certainly see why a younger person would think otherwise. Not a dig at youth by any means, but they often have only a meager exposure to great films and great actors. (You may be an exception, I don’t know.)
Nonetheless, I can assure you the choice of Bale has absolutely nothing to do with a “vision”, unless you consider box office revenues a vision. It’s large opening weekend revenues producers want. As far as “all the other discussed were American…”, that’s a list I’d like to see. My thirty-plus years in the acting business tell me the producers actually auditioned no one, and if they did, they had no intention of choosing anyone but Bale. I like him, but in my opinion the last good film he made was “Empire of the Sun.” Everything else is scene-chewing.
Just one man’s opinion.