First there was Capote versus Infamous. Then there was Lovelace versus Inferno, and now in the latest round of battling biopics, it is Steve Jobs versus Jobs, two separate dramas aiming to unfold the complicated man who made Apple what it is today. In the Steve Jobs corner, Sony has secured Academy Award-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) to translate Walter Isaacson's heralded biography of the same name into a stirring and complex narrative. In the Jobs corner, Five Star Institute has…Swing Vote director Joshua Michael Stern and Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs.
For many, as soon as Sony snagged Sorkin, this battle was over before it began. Still Jobs has recently kicked off principal photography, and so will have the advantage of hitting theaters well ahead of its more prestigious-on-paper rival. But to his credit—and our surprise—Kutcher does look the part. Additionally, he'll be bolstered by some solid supporting players including The Help's Ahna O'Reilly and The Book of Mormon's Josh Gad, who'll play Job's girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak respectively.
Now, as Jobs is shooting on location in Jobs' childhood home in Los Altos, California—within the very garage where Apple was born— THR reveals Matthew Modine has signed on to portray businessman John Sculley, who cajoled Jobs to become Apple's CEO, then booted him just two years later. While Sculley could easily be seen as the villain of this piece, Modine has a kinder insight to the Apple exec, explaining:
"It's my feeling—and I think there's a lot of people who feel—that had John Sculley not fired Steve Jobs from Apple Computer and [let] Steve go on the journey that he did when he was away from Apple Computer, that we wouldn't be speaking about Steve Jobs today."
Jobs will exhibit Job's life from 1971 into the 2000s, from when he first met Wozniak, through his return to apple, and his rise to international icon. It is expected to open this fall.
