Sorry, Aaron Sorkin: Christian Bale won't be playing Steve Jobs after all. Less than two weeks after the “Newsroom” creator indicated to Bloomberg that Bale was on board to play the Apple co-founder in the biopic he wrote for director Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”), Variety is reporting that the Oscar winner has turned down the high-profile role after engaging in early talks with Boyle about the part.
“We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range and that”s Chris Bale,” said Sorkin in the Bloomberg interview. “He has more words to say in this movie than most people have in three movies combined. …There isn”t a scene or frame that he”s not in, and there”s a tremendous amount of language. So it”s an extremely difficult part and he”s going to crush it.”
Bale is actually the second actor to pass on the role; Leonardo DiCaprio previously turned it down to focus on Alejandro González Iñárritu's upcoming western “The Revenant.” It was reported last week that Seth Rogen is in talks to play Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in the film, which is the second theatrical biopic on the tech genius after last year's poorly-reviewed “Jobs” starring Ashton Kutcher.
Bale will next be seen in Ridley Scott's Biblical epic “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” which hits theaters on December 12.