Danny Boyle's new film “Steve Jobs” examines the legacy of a technological pioneer at three distinct moments in his life. We glean that Jobs (played by Michael Fassbender) was both brilliant and unbearable, innovative and grim. Aaron Sorkin's script is suspensefully talky, sort of an angrier, more frustrated remix of his Oscar-winning “The Social Network.”
Sorkin's style is routinely imitated and parodied. “30 Rock” even invited him to lampoon his familiar walk-and-talks alongside Liz Lemon herself. But the most cutting bit of recent Sorkin satire came courtesy of Amy Schumer, whose “Inside Amy Schumer” sketch “The Foodroom” parodied the dialogue-based sturm und drang of Sorkin's HBO series “The Newsroom.” In a harsh criticism of Sorkin's female characters like MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), a news producer who deals with the tempestuous star anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), Schumer deadpanned, “A woman's life is worth nothing unless she's making a great man greater.”
We asked Sorkin ourselves whether he felt that was a trenchant moment of commentary.
“I think it's a funny line that she wrote,” he admitted. “I'll say this: In the very first episode of 'The Newsroom' in a scene between MacKenzie and Will, she says, 'It's time for 'Don Quixote' again.' Will says, 'You think that's me?' She says, 'No, it's me. You're his horse.'”
He added, “Right there in the first episode, she's not saying, 'I'm here to make you better.' She's saying, 'I'm here to be better. You're going to be the car that drives me there.'”
Check out our interview to hear more about why Sorkin dislikes traditional biopics and the fun of repulsive character moments.