Michael Fassbender

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on Michael Fassbender:

Michael Fassbender considered breaking his own arm to avoid Steve Jobs movie

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Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
Alternatively he could have just quit.
Photo: François Duhamel/Universal Studios

Actor Michael Fassbender, who played Apple’s late CEO in last year’s movie biopic Steve Jobs, has said he was so worried he had been miscast that he started planning some slightly extreme ways to get out of the role.

“In rehearsals, I was trying to find a way to get out of the job,” he told reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I remember telling my driver, ‘If I put my arm in the door, you should slam it. It should cause a break and it should get me out of this gig.’”

7 reasons Steve Jobs failed to meet its early Oscars buzz

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Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
Steve Jobs wasn't the movie many fans hoped for.
Photo: François Duhamel/©2015 Universal Studios

It’s the Oscars this weekend, and if you’re an Apple fan, one question that lingers in the mind is what exactly happened to all the early awards buzz for Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic.

Initially hailed as one of 2015’s crowning cinematic achievements, the movie bombed at the box office and even registered on some “worst movies of the year” lists. Although it has picked up Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Supporting Actress (Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet), the movie failed to get put forward for Best Picture, while Sorkin was also a notable absence in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.

Having now seen Steve Jobs three times (twice at the theater and once on Blu-ray), here are my thoughts on why the flick was ultimately a disappointment.

Winning a Steve Jobs Blu-ray is easier than writing a biopic

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Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
You don't have to do any of whatever Michael Fassbender was doing in this scene to win yourself a Steve Jobs Blu-ray.
Photo: François Duhamel/© 2015 Universal Studios

Maybe moviegoing audiences didn’t completely fall in love with director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs, but we liked it a lot. And if you also enjoyed it — or are just looking to score yourself a free copy — keep reading.

Sorkin snubbed as Steve Jobs lands two Oscar nods

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Kate Winslet, middle, praises the portrayal of Steve Jobs by Michael Fassbender (right).
Kate Winslet, middle, and Michael Fassbender, right, received Oscar nominations for Steve Jobs.
Photo: Universal Pictures

Steve Jobs flopped at the box office and with Silicon Valley, but with two Oscar nominations the film continues a kind of redemption tour through the awards season.

Jobs actor Michael Fassbender was nominated for best actor and co-star Kate Winslet, who already won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of former Apple marketing chief Joanna Hoffman, received a supporting actress nomination.

Steve Jobs ‘flop’ bags two Golden Globe awards

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Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
Cheer up, Steve. You won!
Photo: Universal Pictures

Steve Jobs picked up Golden Globes for “Best Screenplay” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role,” but lost out on the “Best Actor” and “Best Original Score” prizes at last night’s star-studded Hollywood event.

“I’m usually better at words,” said screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, claiming his award. “You can perform surgery on me. I’m so stunned by what’s happened.”

Steve Jobs picks up three prestigious movie award nominations

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Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
It may have failed at the box office, but Steve Jobs is racking up award nominations.
Photo: François Duhamel/©2015 Universal Studios

Surprise box office bomb Steve Jobs has racked up yet more award nominations in the form of three BAFTA awards, a.k.a. the U.K.’s most respected film prize.

Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s controversial movie picked up nominations in the Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Actor categories.

Steve Jobs wins film prize, despite ‘unfortunate box office’

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Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
Steve Jobs, Master of Magnetism. Wait, that was the other Fassbender movie, wasn't it?
Photo: François Duhamel/Universal Studios

Steve Jobs may have bombed worse than the Power Mac G4 Cube, but that’s not stopping the movie from being lavished with prizes on the film festival circuit — en route to the upcoming Oscars.

This weekend, Steve Jobs actor Michael Fassbender was awarded the International Star prize at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, presented by his Steve Jobs co-star Kate Winslet.

Golden Globes loves Steve Jobs even if nobody else does

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Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
Photo: François Duhamel/©2015 Universal Studios

It may not have done well at the box office, but Steve Jobs is poised to make a huge splash this award season.

The film picked up four Golden Globe nominations when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the candidates this morning. The association loved the Aaron Sorkin flick so much they made it the second-most nominated movie for the prestigious award show set to take place on January 10th.

Controversial Steve Jobs movie gets love from Apple PR vet

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Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
Photo: François Duhamel/©2015 Universal Studios

The new Steve Jobs movie gets just about everything wrong, says the PR veteran who worked with the Apple CEO during the first Macintosh’s launch. From the situations to the dialogue, almost nothing’s accurate.

“How many things are not true in the movie?” laughed Silicon Valley PR vet Andrea “Andy” Cunningham during a phone interview with Cult of Mac. “Several hundred!”

But Cunningham said she loves the new Steve Jobs biopic anyway, because it captures the truth — a truthier truth.

Watch Woz warn Jobs he’s going to get killed in new Steve Jobs clip

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Steve Jobs (played by Michael Fassbender) and Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) before a NeXT keynote in a scene from Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs (played by Michael Fassbender) and Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) before a NeXT keynote in a scene from Steve Jobs.
Photo: Universal Pictures

Steve Wozniak lashes out at his Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, asking the Apple CEO what he actually does, in a just-released scene from the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic.

While the pair remained close friends until Jobs’ death in 2011, the scene shows the two meeting before the unveiling of the NeXT Computer. After confronting Jobs about his roll in creating computers, Woz warns Steve that he’s about to get killed for releasing the NeXT, which was marketed toward schools and students — but came with an ungodly $6,500 price tag.

Watch the heated exchange below:

Chill, haters — Sorkin says you might like his Steve Jobs flick

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Michael Fassbender is Steve Jobs.
Michael Fassbender is Steve Jobs.
Photo: Universal Pictures

Laurene Powell Jobs and Tim Cook have slammed Aaron Sorkins’ upcoming biopic on Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, but according to the Sorkin, they actually might like it, if they ever go see it.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has opposed the film by calling out “opportunistic” filmmakers like Sorkin for making movies about Jobs, while Steve’s widow tried to kill the movie starring Michael Fassbender. At a press screening in New York City on Monday, Sorkin addressed their concerns, saying it might surprise them.

Steve Jobs stars talk up movie’s brilliant innovation

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Kate Winslet, middle, praises the portrayal of Steve Jobs by Michael Fassbender (right).
Kate Winslet, middle, praises the portrayal of Steve Jobs by Michael Fassbender (right).
Photo: Universal Pictures

Michael Fassbender doesn’t look anything like Steve Jobs in the upcoming movie about the Apple CEO’s life, but according to his co-star Jeff Daniels, that doesn’t matter because it’s the most truthful telling of Steve Jobs yet.

“Michael’s really making sure that he tells the truth with STeve Jobs. That he really tries to get to the core of why STeve did this and why he did that,” say Daniels in a new behind-the-scenes video. “It’s certainly not an impression, nor is it intended to be, but the truth is there.”

Seth Rogen, Kate Winslet, Danny Boyle, and Fassbender all sat down to talk about the movie that will be released next month, providing insight on what it was like to enter the world of the iconic tech figure.

Check it out:

Michael Fassbender could be the best Steve Jobs actor yet

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Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
Reviewers are already throwing around Oscar talk.
Photo: Universal Pictures

After a rocky pre-production period which saw it switch directors, lose actor after actor, and even be ditched by its original studio, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic finally made its debut at Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival this weekend — and, boy, does it sound like it was worth the wait!

Reviews so far are all good-to-excellent, but the real surprise is the unanimous support for Michael Fassbender as Jobs. We’d noted before how little Fassbender physically resembles Steve although, as has been proven time and again, that doesn’t stop good actors from inhabiting a role — which is exactly what it sounds like Fassbender has done.

Here’s what people are saying about the movie:

Michael Fassbender: I don’t need to look like Steve Jobs

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Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
Fassbender doesn't think looking like Steve Jobs is particularly important.
Photo: Universal Pictures

One of the biggest criticisms of the upcoming Steve Jobs movie is that actor Michael Fassbender looks nothing like Jobs. In a new interview, Fassbender acknowledges the lack of resemblance, but says that making himself into a Steve lookalike was never part of the goal.

“We decided that I didn’t look anything like [Jobs], and that we weren’t going to try to make me look anything like him,” Fassbender says. “We just wanted to try to encapsulate the spirit and make our own thing of it.”

Steve Jobs will be centerpiece of New York Film Festival

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"Ta-da!"
Photo: Universal Pictures

The Aaron Sorkin-penned film Steve Jobs has been chosen as the centerpiece movie of the 53rd annual New York Film Festival and will be screened at the the event on Saturday, October 3rd.

Starring Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs, and Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, the film is based on Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography. The movie won’t be released publicly until this fall, but NY Film Festival director Kent Jones’ review heaps praise on the film, calling it “dramatically concentrated, yet beautifully expansive; it’s extremely sharp; it’s wildly entertaining.”

Director Danny Boyle had the following to say about the honor:

Kate Winslet says upcoming Steve Jobs biopic ‘like Hamlet’

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Kate Winslet, middle, praises the portrayal of Steve Jobs by Michael Fassbender (right).
Kate Winslet, middle, praised the portrayal of Steve Jobs by Michael Fassbender (right).
Photo: Universal Pictures

Actress and one of the stars in the upcoming biopic aptly named Steve Jobs Kate Winslet, dished about some details of the movie. It seems she’s pretty enthusiastic about it, proudly boasting about how the film was made. She also had kind things to say about co-star Michael Fassbender, who plays Steve Jobs in the movie.

Steve Jobs actor still uses a broken iPhone 4

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Michael Fassbender
Even his Ancient Greek character in 300 had a 5s.
Photo: Warner Bros.

Michael Fassbender is a lot of things: actor, producer, Magneto … but one thing he isn’t is on the cutting edge of technology.

The man playing Steve Jobs in the upcoming biopic from director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) confessed in a recent interview that he is a little behind the times, phone-wise.

Michael Fassbender responds to doubts that he can play Steve Jobs

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Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
Fassbender as Steve Jobs. Photo: Sean Nung/Instagram
Photo: Sean Nung/raqu3l

It’s no secret that Michael Fassbender — the actor probably best-known for playing Magneto in X-Men: First Class and Days of Future Past — wasn’t writer Aaron Sorkin’s first choice for the role of Steve Jobs in the upcoming biopic.

But in a new interview, Fassbender says the screenwriter’s early lack of faith in him isn’t something he’s too bothered by, and puts it down to a difference of opinion.

Fassbender poses as Steve Jobs in fake NeXT poster

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Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
Photo: Sean Nung/Instagram
Photo Sean Nung/raqu3l

Filming for the upcoming Steve Jobs moving got underway yesterday at the San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House for a major scene in the movie where Steve Jobs unveils the NeXT computer in October 1988.

The set was crowded as hundreds of people arrived to be extras in the picture, and Danny Boyle’s production crew tried to make the scene as authentic-looking as possible. They even put up fake NeXT posters around the opera house, showing Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs posing with the NeXT cube.

Driverless Apple cars, macho men and Apple Watch apps on The CultCast

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He's a tower of power, too sweet to be sour.  Photo: Matt Ufford, WarmingGlow.com
He's a tower of power, too sweet to be sour. Photo: Matt Ufford, WarmingGlow.com

This week: A curiously equipped mystery van has us wondering if Apple’s working on self-driving autos. Plus, we review everything that Apple Watch apps can’t do, Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs biopic gets a cast and not everyone is thrilled, Apple’s plans for a global “data command center,” and Macho Man Randy Savage helps us answer listener questions in an all-new Get to Know Your Cultist.

Our thanks to lynda.com for sponsoring this episode. Learn virtually any application at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at lynda.com.

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Full show notes ahead!

Spoiler alert: Here’s what you can expect from Steve Jobs movie

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steve-jobs-movie
Cult of Mac's mockup of the Steve Jobs movie poster. (The release date has changed since we made it.) Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m excited about upcoming movie Steve Jobs, written by one my favorite writers, Aaron Sorkin.

Early photos suggest lead actor Michael Fassbender doesn’t look that much like Steve Jobs, and I’d be a bit more psyched if David Fincher was directing, but I firmly believe this is the theatrical movie about Jobs that could finally do justice to its main character.

Ahead of the movie’s October 9 release (which should put it squarely between the iPhone 6s release and the next iPad announcement), we have a few more details about the movie that shed some extra light on how we can expect things to play out onscreen.

Meet the official cast of the Steve Jobs movie

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The official cast of Steve Jobs has been announced. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The official cast of Steve Jobs has been announced. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie has been down a hard road on its way to production. Disasters like fickle actors and directors have plagued the project, but filming is finally underway in San Francisco as we speak, and for the first time ever, we have an official cast list.

Universal Pictures announced the official cast for the movie this week as filming has already wrapped up at Jobs’ parents garage. The logline confirms the film will be “set backstage at three iconic product launches and ending in 2001 with the unveiling of the iPod. The film takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution to paint an intimate portrait of the brilliant man at its epicenter.”

We already knew Michael Fassbender has been tapped to play Jobs, but the official cast list includes a few surprises — like the three different actresses that will play Steve’s daughter — and a veteran Apple PR guru we didn’t see coming.

Here’s the full cast alongside the real-life people they’ll play: