“Four years after Steve Jobs’s death, a new movie is reopening a debate over the Apple Inc. co-founder’s legacy,” Ben Fritz and Daisuke Wakabayashi report for The Wall Street Journal. “Mr. Jobs’s allies, led by his widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, say the film ‘Steve Jobs,’ and other recent depictions, play down his accomplishments and paint Mr. Jobs as cruel and inhumane. Ms. Jobs repeatedly tried to kill the film, according to people familiar with the conversations. She lobbied, among others, Sony Pictures Entertainment, which developed the script but passed on the movie for financial reasons, and Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures, which is releasing the $33.5 million production on Friday. ‘A whole generation is going to think of him in a different way if they see a movie that depicts him in a negative way,’ said Bill Campbell, a longtime Apple board member and friend of Mr. Jobs. Mr. Campbell hasn’t seen the film.”
“The film is based on a best-selling biography of Mr. Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Mr. Jobs cooperated with Mr. Isaacson while he was writing the book, but some friends and former colleagues, including Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, have criticized it in recent months,” Fritz and Wakabayashi report. “Asked about the movie by ‘The Late Show’ host Stephen Colbert recently, Mr. Cook said, ‘I think a lot of people are trying to be opportunistic and I hate this.'”
“People behind ‘Steve Jobs’ say they offered to include Ms. Jobs in the film’s development, but she declined,” Fritz and Wakabayashi report. “She refused to discuss anything in Aaron’s script that bothered her despite my repeated entreaties,’ producer Scott Rudin said in an emailed response to questions from The Wall Street Journal. He said Ms. Jobs ‘continued to say how much she disliked the book, and that any movie based on the book could not possibly be accurate.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This film, about which we were once hopeful (despite the fact that we hate Isaacson’s POS book as well), is sounding more and more like a nightmare with each passing day.
SEE ALSO:
‘Steve Jobs’ biopic too nasty to win Best Picture award – October 2, 2015
Andy Hertzfeld: ‘Steve Jobs’ movie ‘deviates from reality everywhere’ but ‘aspires to explore and expose the deeper truths’ – October 2, 2015
Aaron Sorkin blasts Apple’s Tim Cook over ‘Steve Jobs’ critique: ‘You’ve got a lot of nerve’ – September 25, 2015
Kate Winslet on ‘Steve Jobs’ biopic: ‘Sorkin makes it almost not about Steve Jobs at all’ – August 26, 2015
Watch Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs in new official trailer – July 1, 2015
See Michael Fassbender as ‘Steve Jobs’ in first movie trailer – May 18, 2015
Universal Pictures announces full cast of ‘Steve Jobs’ as biopic begins shooting – January 28, 2015
Filming for Steve Jobs biopic underway at Apple co-founder’s childhood home – January 17, 2015
Perla Haney-Jardine to play Lisa Jobs in Universal’s ‘Steve Jobs’ biopic – January 6, 2015
Kate Winslet eyed for female lead in ‘Steve Jobs’ biopic – December 22, 2014
Jeff Daniels eyed to play former Apple CEO John Sculley in ‘Steve Jobs’ biopic – December 9, 2014
