Steve Jobs‘ Aaron Sorkin apologizes to Tim Cook. Sort of.

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Screen Shot 2015-10-09 at 16.57.04
Sorkin's a great writer but, man, is he orange!
Photo: Conan

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.

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