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.
