Steve Jobs Movie: 5 Myths, 5 Realities
The latest Steve Jobs film hits most theaters this weekend. What did the movie get right, and what did it get wildly wrong?
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Steve Jobs, the latest film about Apple's late co-founder, will be fully released this on Oct. 16. As with all movies about Jobs's life and work, this piece has come under scrutiny as critics question the accuracy of its events.
The film is directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Moneyball). Michael Fassbender stars as Jobs, and Kate Winslet as original Apple team member Joanna Hoffman.
Sorkin's adaptation takes a slightly different approach from other movies focused on Steve Jobs In an email to producer Scott Rudin, Sorkin wrote out the following plan for his film, as described in an interview with Wired:
"If I had no one to answer to, I would write this entire movie in three real-time scenes, and each one would take place before a particular product launch. I would identify five or six conflicts in Steve's life and have those conflicts play themselves out in these scenes backstage – in places where they didn't take place."
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After getting the go-ahead from Sony, Sorkin chose to write the film around three iconic product launches: the Macintosh in 1984, NeXt in 1988 and the iMac in 1998. He focuses on an earlier Jobs building the future of personal computing, long before the iPhone was even a thought.
Sorkin admits there were generous creative liberties taken while writing and arranging the film's events. As Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said in an interview with Bloomberg TV, the movie "isn't about reality. It's about personalities."
In order to depict Jobs's behind-the-scenes behavior and capture the essence of the Apple icon, Sorkin spent time with Wozniak, Hoffman, former Apple CEO John Sculley, and Jobs's daughter, Lisa. The goal is to portray Jobs and his relationships, not his life story.
Upon viewing, Wozniak described the film as "unbelievable" but also admitted much of the film was not factually accurate. Here we separate fact from fiction in Steve Jobs – what's real and what's fabricated?
Have you seen the movie or plan to make a trip this weekend? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments.
In the first moments of the film, Jobs throws a tantrum because the Macintosh won't say "Hello" shortly before its 1984 launch. Thinking the technical error could interfere with the success of its release, Jobs takes his anger out on Mac programmer Andy Hertzfeld and threatens to publicly acknowledge his failure if he does not get the demo to work before the show.
While all Apple product launches were stressful, chaotic events, the Mac glitch -- and the anger that ensued -- did not actually happen.
Critics of the film have voiced concern over the appearance of Michael Fassbender, who doesn't bear a strong resemblance to the man he plays. The actor, who was born in Germany and raised in Ireland, looks little like Jobs, who was of a Syrian background.
Fassbender was not a favorite to play Steve Jobs. Stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, and Tom Cruise were among the top picks for the part. Sorkin claimed the up-and-coming actor wasn't famous enough.
"I don't know who Michael Fassbender is, and the rest of the world isn't going to care," he wrote to Amy Pascal, who was co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment at the time.
Now, some are predicting an Oscar in Fassbender's future.
Some who knew Jobs have reported the film shows a negative depiction of the late Apple leader, who in the movie frequently gripes with colleagues, snaps at his ex-girlfriend, and is mean to his daughter.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Sculley claims the film casts him in an unfairly negative light. This is particularly because of its focus on Jobs' troubled relationship with daughter Lisa, which "was really taking one aspect of Steve Jobs' personality," he said.
In Steve Jobs, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak (portrayed by Seth Rogen) often voices his disagreement with Jobs in emotional on-screen conflicts. Wozniak, who spent "hours and hours" consulting for the film with Sorkin, admits these moments of conflict did not actually happen.
"Maybe everything in the movie didn't happen," said Wozniak to Bloomberg TV. "Everything I say, every scene that I'm in, I wasn't talking to Steve Jobs at those events."
One example, near the end of the movie, is a heated discussion between Wozniak and Jobs moments before the 1998 iMac launch. In the scene, Wozniak is requesting Jobs acknowledge the Apple II team during his keynote address.
In reality, the cofounder says, their exchange is fabricated. In an email to Tech Insider, Wozniak writes how he "was behind Jobs and the products at each introduction" and "would never even talk to a friend that way."
Wozniak's behavior towards Jobs in the aforementioned scene, he claims, is based on a phone call Wozniak made to Sculley on behalf of employees who were not recognized for their roles in driving Apple profits and therefore ready to quit. He says "the sentiment among many was like that portrayed by my character, so their feelings were put into my mouth for the movie." However, the scene does not reflect Wozniak's true character.
Aside from Wozniak's aggression towards Jobs before Apple hardware launches, there are several events in the movie that are fabricated or factually incorrect. This is due to the structure of the film, which Sorkin describes as "not a biopic."
The screenwriter is adamant in admitting Steve Jobs is "not meant to be a dramatic re-creation of actual events," as stated in an interview with the LA Times. In an on-stage interview before an Oct. 9 screening, he also joked about the unlikeliness of Jobs's critical life events occurring in the minutes before a product launch.
To paint a picture of Jobs's personality and relationships, he read Walter Isaacson's biography and tried to re-imagine how the Apple leader would have acted away from the public eye. As a result, certain events and details have been made up, or put in a different order, so Sorkin could depict the truth of Jobs as he imagined it.
In an emotional scene during the Steve Jobs trailer, Jobs vehemently denies paternity of his daughter, 5-year-old Lisa Brennan.
He did the same in 1983, when he told Time magazine that "28 percent of the male population in the United States" could be Lisa's father. Despite his initial claims, Jobs eventually accepted Lisa, though the two continued to have a rocky relationship. She lived with her father when she was in high-school and adopted the name Lisa Brennan-Jobs.
Sculley (played by Jeff Daniels) visits Jobs at one point in the film and comments on his lack of furniture. This is true to life. Jobs's perfectionism proved an obstacle when it came to things as simple as choosing a sofa.
In his biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson wrote that the tech icon embraced a Spartan lifestyle for most of his life. He kept a mattress and chest of drawers in his bedroom, and a table and some folding chairs in the dining room.
"We spoke about furniture in theory for eight years," said his wife, Laurene. "We spent a lot of time asking ourselves, 'What is the purpose of a sofa?'"
While Sorkin may have fabricated the technical errors and arguments preceding the Mac debut, Sculley claims the atmosphere of the event as depicted in the film is true to life. The audience is going crazy before the Mac appears onstage, yelling and clapping as if they're in a sports arena and not a computer launch.
When he saw the scene in an early screening of Steve Jobs, Sculley said it was "a goosebump moment for me" in an interview with Tech Insider.
Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet) is Jobs's right-hand woman and the marketing brains at Apple. In the film she serves as an advisor, confidante, and voice of reason to Jobs. Unlike other characters, the strong-willed Hoffman speaks her mind to Jobs and is unafraid to tell him what she thinks of his actions.
At one point in the movie, Jobs is getting ready to make a presentation when he sticks his feet in a toilet. This unscripted moment, an idea from Fassbender, was inspired by Jobs's tendency to wash his feet in a toilet when stressed, reports Slate.
At one point in the movie, Jobs is getting ready to make a presentation when he sticks his feet in a toilet. This unscripted moment, an idea from Fassbender, was inspired by Jobs's tendency to wash his feet in a toilet when stressed, reports Slate.
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