“Apple Inc. design chief Jony Ive joined critics of a new movie about his friend and colleague, Steve Jobs, and said that he finds it ‘ever so sad’ that it depicts a person ‘I don’t recognize at all,'” Jack Nicas reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Mr. Ive said he hasn’t seen the movie ‘Steve Jobs,’ being released by Comcast Corp. Universal Pictures on Friday, but friends have told him it inaccurately portrays the late Apple co-founder,” Nicas reports. “‘How you are portrayed can be hijacked by people with agendas that are very different than your close family and your friends,’ Mr. Ive told a Vanity Fair technology conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. ‘That’s a bit of a struggle personally.'”
Nicas reports, “Mr. Ive is the latest person close to Apple to criticize the movie, and other recent depictions of Mr. Jobs in books and films.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, we’re reserving judgement until we see the thing, but the visceral negative reaction from Jobs’ co-workers, family and friends (the ones who weren’t paid to consult on the film, that is) makes us very leery.
SEE ALSO:
The Strange Saga of ‘Steve Jobs’: A widow’s threats, high-powered spats and the Sony hack – October 7, 2015
‘Steve Jobs’ director Danny Boyle warns of ‘tremendous, terrifying power’ of tech giants like Apple – October 7, 2015
Forbes reviews ‘Steve Jobs’: ‘An electrifying interpretive dance of abstract biographical cinema’ – October 7, 2015
Steve Jobs’ daughter Lisa skips movie screening, but parties with cast – October 7, 2015
Philip Elmer-DeWitt reviews ‘Steve Jobs’ movie: ‘I loved it’ – October 7, 2015
Aaron Sorkin: Steve Jobs just wanted to be loved – October 6, 2015
The ‘Steve Jobs’ movie that Sony, DiCaprio, and Bale didn’t want is now an Oscar favorite – October 6, 2015
Michael Fassbender already the odds-on favorite to win an Oscar for ‘Steve Jobs’ – October 5, 2015
Steve Jobs’ widow and friends take aim at Hollywood over ‘Steve Jobs’ biopic – October 5, 2015
‘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
Jobs had a big enough and strong enough presence to change the world we live and work in in very profound ways. He changed, and/or introduced many of the memes forming the foundation of our interactions in the present day fields of education, work, art, entertainment, communication, media, music, etc… The man is an iconic legend that will be portrayed variously as some mix of villan and hero to suit the needs of story tellers as time goes on. None of those story tellers will recreate the man.
Begs the question: What are Aaron Sorkins needs here? The movie doesn’t seem to be about SJ at all, just uses his fame to create controversy.
That’s what is so disappointing about the different Steve Jobs movies and books. Steve sometimes acted out in dramatic ways and those scenes might provide fodder for good movie drama but that doesn’t tell us who Steve was or why he was able to do what he did.
How can Ive’s say, that he finds it so sad that this new movie about Steve Jobs; a movie Ive’s has not yet seen yet realize on friends comments, that the actor depicts a person he doesn’t recognize?
My opinion of Ive’s is very high, plus he worked extremely close with Jobs, even more so both were good friends. However, I am hoping the Ive’s words were not manipulated or twisted… still I must think… Ives without seeing the movie is a little quick to pass comment, furthermore Ives never met the young Steve Jobs… people do change – and from what I heard the actor depicts the earlier Jobs not the returning to Apple Jobs.
“furthermore Ives never met the young Steve Jobs… people do change – and from what I heard the actor depicts the earlier Jobs not the returning to Apple Jobs”
Well, this is the point, I think. If the movie is supposed to be about the legendary Steve Jobs — the whole Steve Jobs; his legacy — then a focus on his early career is incomplete and therefore misleading. It is sort of like never being allowed to forget, or move beyond, or live down some stupid things or personal shortcomings that any one of us might’ve done 20 or 30 years ago. Give the man a break. In the grand scheme of history, such things melt away. Or are superseded. Steve Jobs was happily married since 1991, and had 3 children with Laurene. Focusing on one girlfriend during his youth, who got pregnant when they were about to break up, is a bit shallow and misleading in my view.
The other thing is: people don’t have to see any movie they don’t want to. They can learn about it from their trusted friends. There is no need to beat Jony up about it. I don’t have to hit my thumb with a hammer to know I won’t like it. Personally, I decided I probably won’t like the movie based on the trailers.
One of the anecdotes I love about Steve from an early unauthorized biography was a friend who saw him in the parking lot one day. Steve was meticulously examining the “fit-and-finish” of car doors. He was awed at how good the industrial design and production was. It is a telling example. I think we see Steve’s attention to detail in most, if not all, of Apple’s products.
Another anecdote I love about Steve was when he called out someone on a blog for dissing stuff other people (eg, Apple) did, when he asked “what’ve you ever done, besides put people down who are trying to do things?” (Or something like that.)
Cheers!
Ive has the same access to the trailers that we have, and he also has much greater access to Hollywood inside information than you or me. He knows enough about this movie to form an opinion.
Also, Ive would have a much better understanding of Jobs life–including his earlier years–than a Hollywood director who is clueless regarding technology.
I’ll have to see it. I hate to give them my money if they don’t deserve it… But I’d also like to hear complaints and critiques from people who love Steve who have actually seen the movie!
I’ve heard from two people who knew Steve and have seen the movie, and they both liked it (while admitting the obvious in that it’s not perfect): Steve Wozniak and Andy Hertzfeld.
Everyone who has denounced it hasn’t seen it yet. I don’t care who you are — Tim Cook or Laurene Powell Jobs — at least watch the thing before forming an opinion.
Exactly. I am sure Ive could have had a pre-screening if he wanted it.
If you are going to publicly review it, then see it first.
I would be much more interested in his post-viewing reaction and more nuance from him. As in, what it got right, what it didn’t, but also how good it was as a movie in its own right.
(Movies are never going to be perfectly accurate, so that is not the final judgment for a move.)
Right and how much were they involved with the Steve that created NeXT, bought Pixar and returned to Apple to help turn it into the most valuable company in the world? This movie stops at iMac in 1998. A very incomplete picture of the man.
Think about this:
Would *you* trust your spouse or parents to sum up your life, thought processes, feelings and motivations? Do you believe anyone really knows what makes *you* tick?
What chance does a stranger have using 3rd hand info and a mind for making profit? The result can be nothing more than a sensational farce that dares to suggest you are merely the sum of your most notable mistakes or successes.
Don’t feed the greedy bastards.