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Christian Bale landed Steve Jobs role without an audition but will ‘crush it’ , says Aaron Sorkin

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dg_2UJDrTQ]

In an interview with Bloomberg confirming that Oscar-winning actor Christian Bale will play Steve Jobs in the forthcoming biopic, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin said that there wasn’t even a need for an audition … 

There was, he said, only a meeting.

“We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range and that’s Chris Bale,” Sorkin told Bloomberg Television’s Emily Chang on a coming edition of “Studio 1.0.” “He didn’t have to audition.”

Bale had previously been the first choice of David Fincher, who was originally set to direct the movie before being replaced by Danny Boyle over “aggressive demands for compensation and control.” It was confirmed earlier this month that Bale was in talks to play the role. “The role is an extremely difficult role. He has more words to say in this movie than most people have in three movies combined,” Sorkin said. “There isn’t a scene or frame that he’s not in, and there’s a tremendous amount of language.”

Unlike the earlier biopic which followed the life of Steve Jobs from his student days to the launch of the iPod in 2001, Sorkin’s screenplay comprises just three, 30-minute backstage scenes leading up to three keynote presentations.

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Comments

  1. Lee (@leemahi) - 10 years ago

    Yes! Yes! Yes!

  2. Neil Quinn  (@neilq5) - 10 years ago

    A great choice of actor, didn’t hear about the format before though. It sounds okay if done correctly. The iPhone intro would have been nice too.

  3. smigit - 10 years ago

    “Sorkin’s screenplay comprises just three, 30-minute backstage scenes leading up to three keynote presentations.”

    I imagine those three backstage components will simply be there to anchor the film in the same manner that The Social Network revolved around the two concurrent lawsuits and discussions with lawyers. In the end, very little of the film ended up actually taking place in those meetings, with most of the film revolving around flashbacks to key moments.

    I think the film will be broader and more diverse in it’s subject matter than some articles are making out.

  4. cdmoore74 - 10 years ago

    Batman don’t need no audition.

  5. Silence Dogood - 10 years ago

    Bales might crush it or, and this has a higher probability, Bales might go on some profanity laced tirade with another employee as this overpaid jerk seems to do. Doesn’t matter, I’ll not watch it. Not because I consider Bales an ass, but rather, ‘Oh, no. Not another Steve Jobs movie’.

    • flaviosuave - 10 years ago

      “Bales might go on some profanity laced tirade with another employee”

      Yes, one can see how this might prevent him from getting into character to accurately portray Steve Jobs. Oh, wait…

  6. chrisl84 - 10 years ago

    Be a big fail….people dont care anymore. A few goofs on websites still get chubbed up over SJ name but the rest of the world just respects him and have moved on with their lives.

    Lets see: pay 15 bucks to see SJ working or some new action packed blockbuster, I wonder what America will choose

  7. Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 10 years ago

    Christian Bale can be a good actor, but his track record of late has been pretty patchy, and his fake sounding American accent has always been terrible. They should have given this to Noah Wyle.

  8. MaxBay - 10 years ago

    Bale will do an excellent job, but it will be a work of fiction, more or less based upon Isaacson’s book. I heard the Audible version, which leaves you thinking Jobs was a lizard or cutthroat tycoon. He was a lot of things, but Sorkin is after another Oscar, and historical figures can’t come back from he grave to challenge the screenwriter’s take.

    Besides, Sorkin can never achieve what Jobs did. No matter how smart a screenwriter is, he’s always the kid with his nose against the window, looking inside and trying to understand what it’s like creating a company and making it into a revolutionary force.

    On the other hand, Sorkin wrote, “You can’t handle the truth!”, and that’s one of the truest pieces of wisdom I know.

  9. verizon2828 - 10 years ago

    Christian Bale is going to kill it. Great method actor.

  10. daitenshe - 10 years ago

    SWEAR TO STEVE!

  11. Great actor, but Kutcher looked a lot more like Steve, in fact he looked almost exactly like him, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m sure he’ll do good.

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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