Wozniak on jOBS biopic: 'So far from anything that really happened'
At least one critic is unimpressed with what he's seen of the forthcoming Steve Jobs biopic: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says Jobs would have been "offended and embarrassed" by Kutcher's portrayal of him in jOBS.
Wozniak's comments came after a sneak peek of Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad as Jobs and Wozniak debuted on the Internet Thursday. Speaking to "Good Morning America" this week, the Apple co-founder was harshly critical of the first footage to emerge from the film.
"As far as the personalities that were in that scene [laughs] this was just ridiculous. Like Steve Jobs as some sort of 'oh my gosh, I'm the father of society, I've got the ideas that are gonna drive the--' No, he didn't act like that at all."
Wozniak says Jobs didn't embrace the role of tech visionary until much later in his life.
The "Good Morning America" interview is the third time in two days that Wozniak has criticized the film publicly. Initially, he took to the comment thread of a Gizmodo post announcing the clip, saying it appeared the filmmakers got his and Jobs' personalities "very wrong although mine is closer."
He later followed up in an email saying that it was he, not Jobs, who initially recognized the potential in democratizing technology. Jobs, he says, was more interested in monetizing Wozniak's designs.
"The Apple I was the [fifth] time I designed something just for fun that Steve found a way to turn into money, and the Apple ][ was the [sixth] time."
Back with "Good Morning America," Wozniak continued, saying that he thinks the late Jobs would have been "a little offended and embarrassed by it just like myself... I think he would say that was, you know, a little bit too phony."
jOBS, set for release on April 19, covers Jobs' earlier years, including the founding of Apple, through to the company's eventual triumphs and Jobs' death in 2011. The publicist for the film, speaking with Entertainment Weekly, said that the film "is not a documentary, nor is it meant to be a blow by blow, word for word account of all conversations and events... [it] is feature film entertainment about one of the most important, creative and impactful people [in] our culture's history..."
Wozniak did not act as a consultant in the development of jOBS; instead, he was contracted to work on a rival film, due out later from Sony and penned by "The Social Network" scribe Aaron Sorkin. Wozniak leaves open the possibility that the Kutcher film could still be good, noting that he's only watched one scene.
One last thing the film appears to have gotten wrong, though: the wardrobe. Woz says "I never wore a tie or looked like a professional and in that scene I kind of looked like, like a real professional."
Wozniak's comments came after a sneak peek of Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad as Jobs and Wozniak debuted on the Internet Thursday. Speaking to "Good Morning America" this week, the Apple co-founder was harshly critical of the first footage to emerge from the film.
"As far as the personalities that were in that scene [laughs] this was just ridiculous. Like Steve Jobs as some sort of 'oh my gosh, I'm the father of society, I've got the ideas that are gonna drive the--' No, he didn't act like that at all."
Wozniak says Jobs didn't embrace the role of tech visionary until much later in his life.
The "Good Morning America" interview is the third time in two days that Wozniak has criticized the film publicly. Initially, he took to the comment thread of a Gizmodo post announcing the clip, saying it appeared the filmmakers got his and Jobs' personalities "very wrong although mine is closer."
He later followed up in an email saying that it was he, not Jobs, who initially recognized the potential in democratizing technology. Jobs, he says, was more interested in monetizing Wozniak's designs.
"The Apple I was the [fifth] time I designed something just for fun that Steve found a way to turn into money, and the Apple ][ was the [sixth] time."
Back with "Good Morning America," Wozniak continued, saying that he thinks the late Jobs would have been "a little offended and embarrassed by it just like myself... I think he would say that was, you know, a little bit too phony."
jOBS, set for release on April 19, covers Jobs' earlier years, including the founding of Apple, through to the company's eventual triumphs and Jobs' death in 2011. The publicist for the film, speaking with Entertainment Weekly, said that the film "is not a documentary, nor is it meant to be a blow by blow, word for word account of all conversations and events... [it] is feature film entertainment about one of the most important, creative and impactful people [in] our culture's history..."
Wozniak did not act as a consultant in the development of jOBS; instead, he was contracted to work on a rival film, due out later from Sony and penned by "The Social Network" scribe Aaron Sorkin. Wozniak leaves open the possibility that the Kutcher film could still be good, noting that he's only watched one scene.
One last thing the film appears to have gotten wrong, though: the wardrobe. Woz says "I never wore a tie or looked like a professional and in that scene I kind of looked like, like a real professional."
Comments
Should've gotten a lesser known actor than Kutcher to play Jobs.
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Back with "Good Morning America," Wozniak continued, saying that he thinks the late Jobs would have been "a little offended and embarrassed by it just like myself... I think he would say that was, you know, a little bit too phony."
No, he'd say "This is sh*t."
I haven't seen either film, so I'm not going to say which is better or not.
But, there's a clear conflict of interest here. Woz is getting paid by Sony.
Here's the problem: We already have this movie. It didn't need a reboot. It needed a sequel.
If they'd literally just called it "Pirates of Silicon Valley II", gotten Noah Wyle to reprise his role, and set it, oh, I don't know, from 1996 ONWARD (since that's the period of time the general public actually knew about Jobs), we might have had something here. Something to which regular people might have related, too.
Instead we get an unneeded rehash of a respectable movie, except with worse actors, worse acting, and with the DISapproval of the people actually involved.
I mean, when a guy like Steve Jobs not only acknowledges the existence of the movie but INVITES THE ACTOR THAT PLAYED HIM TO IMPERSONATE HIM AT ONE OF THEIR OWN EVENTS, you know you have a good actor and at least a passable version of what really happened. Why change that up?!
But then again, it's TMZ. The people who brought us the pictures of Steve just before he died. Expecting class from them is like expecting class from Microsoft.
Back with "Good Morning America," Wozniak continued, saying that he thinks the late Jobs would have been "a little offended and embarrassed by it just like myself... I think he would say that was, you know, a little bit too phony."
"Man, that Michael Jordan is just so PHONY!"
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Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
"Man, that Michael Jordan is just so PHONY!"
clever.
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Originally Posted by blackbook
From that one clip I will say the acting was TERRIBLE
Ditto here. Couldn't be ANY WORSE than the moron-cum-actor Kutcher - terrible trailer, most probably terrible movie; he should stick to Kabbalah and nothing else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Here's the problem: We already have this movie. It didn't need a reboot. It needed a sequel.
If they'd literally just called it "Pirates of Silicon Valley II", gotten Noah Wyle to reprise his role, and set it, oh, I don't know, from 1996 ONWARD (since that's the period of time the general public actually knew about Jobs), we might have had something here. Something to which regular people might have related, too.
Probably would have been better with the "Hi, I'm a Mac" guy before Ashton.
Originally Posted by Phone-UI-Guy
I can't wait for the other film.
Sorkin won't blow it. He manages to avoid all cliches and find truth.
Having said that, I thought much of The Social Network was boring.
Too many scenes of people sitting in conference rooms looking morose and talking about law suits.
I had such a great time reading the 'Classic' Apple books back in the day (my favorite being Steve Jobs, The Journey is the Reward), I will force myself to watch any movie or documentary that covers Apple and/or Steve Jobs. Yes, even if that means I have to sit through a few hours with Ashton. Could they have picked a worse actor? What was wrong with Noah Wyle?
I also get a kick out of Woz. From what I've read, it seemed as though he was a true computer nerd. A very talented, self-taught engineer. HIs baby, the Apple I, was a computer hobbyist contraption. The Apple II reflected much more of Jobs' input, hence the nice case and keyboard.
The Macintosh would be the first computer to reflect the obsessive attention to detail and design that drove Jobs. Had Woz been a driving force for the Mac, I'm sure an entirely different product would have emerged. Something closer to a Dell than an Apple. Woz lacked what the other Steve brought to the party - the vision of the future.
His version of history is often different that what I've read. I don't bash him for that. It's natural to want to inflate your contribution. Plus he was great on Dancing with the Stars.
Why does everyone keep complementing on being so humble, etc? I read iWoz, and most of the book is him basically saying how amazing he is. So basically now, he's saying 'Steve didn't come up with this idea, *I* did. Then he goes on to pitch his book. Woz has pretty much been ragging on Apple and promoting competitors for the past decade. He bashes Apple every opportunity he gets, and slobbers over some new gimmick from any competitor, proclaiming how innovative it is and wishing Apple was that innovative. The guy has done jack shit the past 2 decades, yet he's idolized and everyone is always foaming at the mouth to get his opinion on anything. He hasn't shown a shred of insight the past 20 years, except living off his Apple stock and bringing attention to himself whenever he can, usually with an anti-Apple comment thats insanely small-minded.
Woz again.
Ugh . . .
Woz sees the obvious:
Terribly unflattering portrait of him, who appears to have been nothing without the visionary "ideas man" that Jobs was. Jobs got all the glory for the past 20 years while Woz sat it out.
It's a bit of a false alternative to pit democratising technology vs monetizing it because you won't be able to democratise anything unless you grow big enough to make a difference first.
Has Woz ever commented on Pirates of Silicon Valley? I notice Tallest mentioned it above, it is also in my DVD collection and I have watched it probably 4 times.
Give the guy a break. He wasn't that "fat" in his younger days and can be excused for objecting to his portrayal. Woz also survived a light plane crash some years back, was lucky to survive, suffered brain injuries and wasn't the same afterwards. You can forgive him "sitting out" the latter years. He wasn't a business high flyer. Just a simple computer engineer. The whole Apple hype overwhelmed him.
Because this was a nobody writer, nobody director and nobody producer trying to get attention. Movie version of hit whoring off Apple
Because they are nobodies they can't get the budget to hire big names so they had to find actors either just as desperate to work cheap or willing enough to do it to be nice so some young pups trying to get into the business.
As for the movie itself, sounds like Woz forgot this is fiction and not documentary and how do we know he's telling the truth about who said what. Or, assuming he is telling the truth as he remembers it, that he's remembering everything perfectly