George Clooney, Noah Wyle battling to play Steve Jobs in biopic
As Hollywood rushes to make a film on the life of Steve Jobs, two prominent actors -- George Clooney and Noah Wyle -- are both rumored to be in contention for the lead role.
According to the U.K.'s NOW Magazine, Clooney, 50, is battling with the 40-year-old Wyle for the right to play the Apple co-founder. Filming of the movie is expected to start in 2012.
Both Wyle and Clooney starred on NBC's medical drama "ER" as doctors. The bulk of Clooney's appearances as Dr. Doug Ross came between 1994 and 1999, while Wyle's Dr. John Carter held a lead role from 1994 to 2005.
The rumored inclusion of Wyle is also significant because the actor already played Steve Jobs once, in the 1999 TV movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley," which told the story of the development of the personal computer and the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. The film also featured Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates, and Joey Slotnick as Steve Wozniak.
Quickly after Jobs passed away in October, Sony acquired the rights to the new biography of the Apple co-founder authored by Walter Isaacson. When the book went on sale later that month, it became an instant hit, and is already one of the top-selling titles of 2011.
Photos of Noah Wyle and George Clooney from Wikipedia.
Another rumor surrounding the movie cropped up in late October, when it was said that Aaron Sorkin, a screenwriter who won an Academy Award for his work on the film The Social Network, was being pursued by Sony to write the film about Jobs. Sorkin, at the time, was said to be "considering the project," but had not committed.
Sorkin was also behind the films Charlie Wilson's War, The American President, and Moneyball, as well as TV shows including The West Wing and Sports Night. Sorkin also knew Jobs personally, after the Apple CEO unsuccessfully attempted to convince him to write a film for Pixar, the award-winning animation studio Jobs sold to Disney for $7.4 billion in 2006.
According to the U.K.'s NOW Magazine, Clooney, 50, is battling with the 40-year-old Wyle for the right to play the Apple co-founder. Filming of the movie is expected to start in 2012.
Both Wyle and Clooney starred on NBC's medical drama "ER" as doctors. The bulk of Clooney's appearances as Dr. Doug Ross came between 1994 and 1999, while Wyle's Dr. John Carter held a lead role from 1994 to 2005.
The rumored inclusion of Wyle is also significant because the actor already played Steve Jobs once, in the 1999 TV movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley," which told the story of the development of the personal computer and the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. The film also featured Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates, and Joey Slotnick as Steve Wozniak.
Quickly after Jobs passed away in October, Sony acquired the rights to the new biography of the Apple co-founder authored by Walter Isaacson. When the book went on sale later that month, it became an instant hit, and is already one of the top-selling titles of 2011.
Photos of Noah Wyle and George Clooney from Wikipedia.
Another rumor surrounding the movie cropped up in late October, when it was said that Aaron Sorkin, a screenwriter who won an Academy Award for his work on the film The Social Network, was being pursued by Sony to write the film about Jobs. Sorkin, at the time, was said to be "considering the project," but had not committed.
Sorkin was also behind the films Charlie Wilson's War, The American President, and Moneyball, as well as TV shows including The West Wing and Sports Night. Sorkin also knew Jobs personally, after the Apple CEO unsuccessfully attempted to convince him to write a film for Pixar, the award-winning animation studio Jobs sold to Disney for $7.4 billion in 2006.
Comments
I retract any support I may have had about Clooney doing it.
Clooney would need some coaching and make-up, and carries too much Hollywood baggage to play Jobs believably IMO... though he'd probably raise both the movie's budget and return at the box office.
Wylie for the under 40 Jobs (hippie Jobs), Christian Bale for over 40 Jobs (business icon Jobs). Plus, Bale can handle all the swearing scenes. Sorry, Clooney. I think your phone is ringing...Soderberg wants to make another Oceans movie.
Ocean's 10! (because Bernie Mac's dead)
Please not George Clooney.
+1. Nothing like a bad actor to taint a legacy
This is a mistake. The story of Steve Jobs, Atari, Next, Apple, etc. is an epic one that deserves a well written script and a carefully vetted cast. I have little faith that something thrown together on such a short timeline will be anything more than news magazine quality.
Who said they're rushing? Filming starts in 2012 that's a whole year, it could be summer or next autumn - that's plenty of time to build a strong cast and write a strong script. It's not like they're planning to start filming in March, you have to start putting a cast together at some point so you can move to the next steps and finding a 'Steve' should be the #1 goal now.
This is a mistake. The story of Steve Jobs, Atari, Next, Apple, etc. is an epic one that deserves a well written script and a carefully vetted cast. I have little faith that something thrown together on such a short timeline will be anything more than news magazine quality.
I hope for an epic miniseries. Telling the story about the greatest man in history cant be done in 2 hours.
Have a look... Steve Jobs Look alikes
Wylie for the under 40 Jobs (hippie Jobs), Christian Bale for over 40 Jobs (business icon Jobs). Plus, Bale can handle all the swearing scenes. Sorry, Clooney. I think your phone is ringing...Soderberg wants to make another Oceans movie.
Christian Bale was my choice. And Bale can nail down every stage of Jobs' life all by himself.
Pirates of Silicon valley is one of the few movies that make me cry every time. The evil of this world wins in that movie. That is why I always wanted a Pirates II with the Second coming of Jobs. The greatest turnaround in history.
But now, even Pirates II would end badly with Steve's death.
Given that Jobs helped make the best film studio in existence, I wouldn't be surprised if his friends and family found it insulting if anybody but Pixar made his documentary.
????????? You want it to be computer animated???? Pixar makes animations they have no experience making full real acted autobiographie movies. This movie is made from the book, Disney nor Pixar have anything to do with it. However, it would be nice if Pixar did make some kind of animated short-movie tribute about Jobs and put it on iTunes or DVD extra.
+1. Nothing like a bad actor to taint a legacy
You're entitled to your opinion shared by few.
Cloonie is a better actor then Wylie by far, but there are several other interesting options. How about Tom Cruise? or Ashton Kutcher? or Elliot Carver, or .... It really depends on the era the movie would focus on.
Have a look... Steve Jobs Look alikes
Tom Cruise?