One of the most talked-about movie projects in recent years died this week. Sources say it went quietly, surrounded by Sony execs. It was just a few years old.
The high-profile Steve Jobs movie has been put into turnaround by Sony Pictures, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The movie, which was being produced by Scott Rudin, Mark Gordon and Guymon Casady, was to be directed by Danny Boyle from a script by Aaron Sorkin. Michael Fassbender is attached to play the Apple co-founder.
For a time, Christian Bale was set to play Jobs (after Leonardo DiCaprio left), Seth Rogen was going to play Steve Wozniak, Danny Boyle was going to direct (after David Fincher wanted too much money), and everything seemed to be falling into place. Then Bale dropped out and it all went to hell. You can’t have a movie predicated on a celebrity doing an impression of a historical figure without the celebrity. Producers are now trying to shop it to other studios, with Universal supposedly expressing interest. Maybe they can just skip the movie and give each other Oscar statues made of chocolate in Aaron Sorkin’s ping pong room.
One source says Boyle needed the film to go into production in January, because he had a short window before starting another project.
Sony has several movies already in production for 2015 and wanted the film to shoot later. Also, Fassbender has commitments for Fox’s X-Men: Apocalypse in the spring. Sony declined to comment. [THR]
As previously reported, the film, which we dubbed “Ya Think Different,” “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.”
So goodbye for now, inevitably smarmiest biopic project ever. Maybe we’ll see you on the other side (of Sony’s front gate).