Christian Bale has reportedly dropped out of the Steve Jobs biopic written by Aaron Sorkin, to be directed by Danny Boyle and reportedly set to star Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak. It’s unfortunately, as I was really excited to see Christian Bale growl Sorkin’s most smug bons mot, but I can understand if he was intimidated by the idea of stepping into a role already immortalized by Ashton Kutcher.
Sources say Bale, after much deliberation and conflicting feelings, came to the conclusion he was not right for the part and decided to withdraw. The script is said to be divided into three acts that detail Jobs preparing for three presentations that came to define his life and the life of the company he co-founded, lost and came back to.
Boyle is due in town this week to meet with actors and actresses for the movie. Seth Rogen is in discussions to play Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, but no official offer has been made. It is unclear how Bale’s departure will affect casting. [TheHollywoodReporter]
I think we all know exactly what we’re getting with an Aaron Sorkin Steve Jobs movie (“Ya Think Different,” as we like to call it). The only way it could be more predictable is if Nicholas Sparks and Tyler Perry were collaborating on it. Playing Steve Jobs in a Steve Jobs biopic is a role for a young actor or a comedic actor (or both) desperate to reinvent himself with the most middlebrow Boomer catnip part imaginable. When you’ve already been an awards season darling, Batman, and everything in between, I can’t imagine that holds much interest. Unless you just really, really like shouting wordy monologs (which Christian Bale only does between takes). If they could go back in time and hire Good Will Hunting-era Matt Damon, he’d be perfect.