Steve Jobs writer Aaron Sorkin has been doing the media rounds as of late. Last night he appeared on Conan, where he made a kinda-sorta apology to Tim Cook for their recent falling-out — only to then turn around and joke about Apple hacking his personal files.
As you do.
Tim Cook and Sorkin’s war-of-words started after Cook accused the movie of being “opportunistic,” after which Sorkin hit back by accusing Apple of exploitative labor practices in its iPhone factories.
Sorkin apologized to Tim Cook in front of Conan, although it was more of an “I’m sorry you’re upset” apology than an “I’m sorry for what I said” one. Sorkin also repeated the labor practices dig as a recap for people who hadn’t heard it the first time round, prompting an audible wince from the audience as well as some applause.
Sorkin did, however, say he understood Tim Cook’s perspective, since he was protecting Jobs as a friend. He then joked about how upsetting Apple — a company well known for its pro-privacy stance — could result in his files being hacked.
This isn’t the first time I’ve suggested that the behind-the-scenes drama with this movie is almost as fascinating as anything we’re likely to see on-screen.
I’m going to be really interested to see what (if any) impact all of this has on the movie’s box office, which we should have some idea of by Monday.
On the one hand, I’ve noted a number of reader comments from people here saying they plan to skip the movie (and, let’s face it, Cult of Mac readers should pretty much be the ideal demographic for this film) on account of its portrayal of Jobs. On the other hand, well, no publicity is bad publicity, right?
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
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.
12 responses to “Steve Jobs‘ Aaron Sorkin apologizes to Tim Cook. Sort of.”
I think Sorkin is a cunt, I think Jobs was a cunt and I think Cook is a cunt. I think Seth Grogan is a bigger cunt than all 3 of them. Grogan is a shitcunt.
Wow. You seem to be in love with using the C word. And where do you think this is stemming from? Lack of fame? Lack of fortune?
Who knows or cares or dares to think?
I’m not chomping at the bit to see it, but I’m not going to skip it either. Like many of the readers of CoM I want to be able to have an informed discussion of all things Apple. And being informed means seeing the movie. I can, however, voice my opinion with my wallet. I don’t plan to spend top dollar to see this in the theatre, I’ll wait patiently until it appears on Netflix. I think it will be an entertaining film regardless of any inaccuracies. Let’s face it, mocking the blatant errors will probably make it even more entertaining.
That’s actually a perfect response!
I’m probably a lot less curious – I’m less interested in a movie about Steve Jobs and more interested about Apple and design/making the products.
Yep. I was 90 percent of the way through writing pretty much that. Good response Marcintosh.
“I don’t plan to spend top dollar to see this in the theatre”
THIS.
When they decided they didn’t need to find an actor who looks like Steve Jobs, I decided they wouldn’t be getting any of my money. Imagine if the 2012 movie Lincoln didn’t bother to make the lead character look like Abraham Lincoln. Ridiculous.
To add to my earlier comment, I just hope we get a sense of what made Jobs great. It’s very easy to portray Jobs as an unqualified guy who got lucky (he had no engineering qualifications, but happened to meet Woz), as someone born in the right time and place (grew up in Silicon Valley and was a teenager when the first personal computers were coming around), who yelled at people (everyone who worked with Steve has some colorful anecdote), etc. But while there is some truth to all of this, there’s a reason he became the Steve Jobs we know today — and it’s not because people gullibly bought into what he was selling. I don’t think this movie needs to be (and it clearly isn’t) a whitewash that presents him as perfect. But it needs to show what he had that others didn’t. And it’s nowhere near as simple as saying he was willing to tread on people.
“Steve Jobs‘ Aaron Sorkin apologizes to Tim Cook. Sort of.”
Sorkin appears to be a frustrated Mark Zuckerberg/Steve Jobs wannabe. He derides similar aspects of each man’s character (read: faults), yet shamelessly weaves them into his scripts to an inflated degree. Maybe it’s plain old jealousy of the tech giants, or maybe he is not-so-subtly offering up a kind of veiled confession for his own faults. In any case, he seems unconcerned with the fallout to the family, friends and colleagues of his subjects. Certainly, other so-called “bio-pic” writers seek to tell all, but there seems to be a personal edge infused into Sorkin’s scripts that goes beyond the typical ticket-generating fare. If Jeff Besos or Elon Musk become his next targets… I mean subjects, maybe Sorkin’s motives will become clearer.
It’s the new Hollywood kinda reality Movies. Instead, they just pick really famous celebrities in the high tech industry because they are getting as much attention as a lot of rock stars, so let’s do some kind of sort of biography, but with a Hollywood twist to make it a popcorn flick and then get some fairly famous celebrities to play the parts, and then go around an trash talk and create more media buzz, and then go on the talk show circuits and make some sorta apology to tap into the audience’s sympathy to help sell tickets, while getting more attention. It’s almost like the movie script isn’t the only thing that was pre-planned.
One thing about Hollywood, is they have lots of PR people that are HIGHLY creative when it comes to spinning a new movie to create more attention, and free publicity. For every Sorkin writing a movie, there are others that are writing scripts and plans on how to media hype and publicity stunt the product (movie) and the people behind them to do what? Sell more tickets?
In Hollyweird, no attention is worse than anything, but controversy, publicity stunts, creating drama, sympathy, etc. etc. is the game. See how much attention they got from how little Sorkin really says? Lots of free publicity of the movie.
Oh so right on!
I’m skipping it. Biopics – particularly of the recently deceased – seem opportunistic at best; exploitive at worst.