jOBS biopic fills key roles as casting nears completion

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
The cast of the upcoming "jOBS" indie biopic, which has already started principal photography, is filling out as Kevin Dunn, J.K. Simmons and four more sign on to play co-starring roles opposite Ashton Kutcher's portrayal of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

According to the Hollywood Reporter Kevin Dunn, who gained notoriety as the father of Shia LaBeouf's character in the "Transformers" series, will play former Apple CEO Gil Amelio.

Another veteran actor, J.K. Simmons of NBC's "Law & Order" and HBO's "Oz" as well as the big-screen's "Spiderman" and "Juno," is set to take on the role of venture capitalist and Apple investor Arthur Rock.

Also joining the project is Elden Henson who will play original Mac development team member Andy Hertzfeld while Giles Matthey is set to portray Apple Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Sir Jonathan Ive. Lenny Jacobson and Victor Rasuk have also signed on to play Mac developer Burrell Smith and Apple's first employee Bill Fernandez, respectively.

Kevin Dunn width=
Kevin Dunn will play Gil Amelio. | Source: Getty Images via IMDb


The newly-announced members enter into a production already full of big-name talent like Matthew Modine and Ahna O'Reilly. Modine will be former Apple CEO John Sculley, the executive many recognize as being the man who "fired" Jobs from his own company in 1985. Playing the lead female role of Chris-Ann Brennan, Jobs' ex-girlfriend and mother to his daughter Lisa, is O'Reilly who comes off her latest project "The Help." Broadway star Josh Gad is pegged as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

J.K. Simmons
J.K. Simmons is set to play
Arthur Rock. | Source: Getty Images via IMDb


"jOBS" is being led by "Swing Vote" director Joshua Michael Stern jOBS and has started principal filming at Jobs' old Los Altos, Calif. home where the first Apple computer was built. The film will chronicle the tech guru's "30 most defining years" from 1971 to the early 2000s.

The indie film will be followed by a relatively big-budget adaptation of Walter Isaacson's official biography written for the screen by "The Social Network" scribe Aaron Sorkin and produced by Sony. A report from May claimed that the production retained the services of Wozniak to "tutor" cast and crew on the specifics of Apple culture.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa…

    Oh, wait, he was more of a stereotypical "father" caricature than a monkey on PCP, wasn't he…

    [QUOTE]J.K. Simmons is set to play…[/QUOTE]

    Rest of the sentence doesn't matter. I want to see it now.
  • Reply 2 of 15
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post



    Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa…



    Oh, wait, he was more of a stereotypical "father" caricature than a monkey on PCP, wasn't he…


    Quote:

    J.K. Simmons is set to play…




    Rest of the sentence doesn't matter. I want to see it now.


    He'll have a hard time outdoing his performances in those Farmer's Insurance commercials.

  • Reply 3 of 15


    Hmm. One movie is "indie" budget, being rushed out, stars Ashton Kutcher, is directed by the "Swing Vote" director, and plans to cover 30 years of a man's life. 


     


    The other is big-budget, taking its time, is focusing on particular point of interest using Walter Isaacson's biography as base material, and will use a director involved in Social Network, Moneyball, West Wing, and A Few Good Men. My instincts are telling me one of these will be a much better film...

  • Reply 4 of 15
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by acslater017 View Post


    The other is big-budget, taking its time, is focusing on particular point of interest using Walter Isaacson's biography as base material, and will use a director involved in Social Network, Moneyball, West Wing, and A Few Good Men. My instincts are telling me one of these will be a much better film...



     


    We'll see about that. Sorkin's newest series sucks. As an HBO subscriber, I hate to see my money being wasted on such crap.


     


    I'm not claiming that either film will be good, we'll just have to see. But just because one of them has a bigger budget, that doesn't mean that it's automatically going to be better.

  • Reply 5 of 15
    jupiteronejupiterone Posts: 1,564member
    quinney wrote: »
    He'll have a hard time outdoing his performances in those Farmer's Insurance commercials.

    I've always liked his work. But now when I see in him in anything, all I hear is Cave Johnson.
  • Reply 6 of 15
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    quinney wrote: »
    He'll have a hard time outdoing his performances in those Farmer's Insurance commercials.

    And in Portal 2. On that note, some of the best audio he recorded for that game is in the new DLC, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to hear it in-game…

    Chariots, chariots.
  • Reply 7 of 15
    morkymorky Posts: 200member
    If only Chris Farley was alive to play Balmer.
  • Reply 8 of 15
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    morky wrote: »
    If only Chris Farley was alive to play Balmer.

    Just get Ballmer from PoSV.
  • Reply 9 of 15

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Morky View Post



    If only Chris Farley was alive to play Balmer.


     


    Farley would've signed on to play Mike Daisey.


     


    Ballmer would be played by an angry gorilla...stomping on his employees' iPhones.

  • Reply 10 of 15


    Guys: that's "principal" photography:


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_photography

  • Reply 11 of 15
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JupiterOne View Post



    I've always liked his work. But now when I see in him in anything, all I hear is Cave Johnson.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post



    And in Portal 2. On that note, some of the best audio he recorded for that game is in the new DLC, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to hear it in-game…

    Chariots, chariots.


     


    “When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what the hell am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!”


     


    And who would have thought him to be this guy?


     


    936full-yellow-m&m.jpg

  • Reply 12 of 15
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    I say this only out of respect for Steve. I will probably get flamed for saying this but here goes...

    This sort of stuff should be in an entertainment blog on CNN etc and has little if any relevance to this tech blog. I find the whole cashing in on Steve's memory by Holywood as tacky and nothing to do with reverence and everything to do with profit. I know he wanted his bio written but I suspect his reason for this was precisely because he knew the tabloid versions that would be coming and wanted at least a basis for fact out there first.
  • Reply 13 of 15
    trx1975trx1975 Posts: 6member
    I say this only out of respect for Steve. I will probably get flamed for saying this but here goes...
    This sort of stuff should be in an entertainment blog on CNN etc and has little if any relevance to this tech blog. I find the whole cashing in on Steve's memory by Holywood as tacky and nothing to do with reverence and everything to do with profit. I know he wanted his bio written but I suspect his reason for this was precisely because he knew the tabloid versions that would be coming and wanted at least a basis for fact out there first.

    Well said, totally agree man.
  • Reply 14 of 15
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member


    The name of this site is Apple Insider.   It's not Apple Tech Insider.    As far as I'm concerned, anything of note relating to Apple fits the bill.  The fact that movies are being made about Steve Jobs is quite relevant as it adds to the perception that Apple is a very important company.    I bet that other "wanna be" tech companies start competing to have films made about them.     I wouldn't be surprised if the ones with huge sums of cash actually fund such a film.   There are a lot of egos at stake here. 


     


    Whether or not you think the movies should be made or not is irrelevant to whether the story is appropriate for this site.  


     


    My personal problems with movies like this is that it's absolutely impossible to do a decent job telling the story of a person's or company's life/history in a two hour movie.     In order to do so, shortcuts are taken, characters are combined, others are left-out and the facts are played with to make a point.     I don't even think you could properly tell the story of Apple up until the release of the Apple II in a two-hour movie.   IMO, these types of stories are much better told in a mini-series than in a theatrical film. 

  • Reply 15 of 15
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    zoetmb wrote: »
    Whether or not you think the movies should be made or not is irrelevant to whether the story is appropriate for this site.  

    What of the emaciated Steve Jobs pictures put out a few weeks prior to his death? By none other than TMZ, of course; the people responsible for this film.
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