Leaked Sony emails reveal possible shooting locations for Steve Jobs biopic, hint at storyline

Posted:
in General Discussion edited December 2014
Fallout from a massive Sony Pictures hack continues to provide nuggets of information about an upcoming Steve Jobs biopic, the latest being emails from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher, who was previously slated to direct the movie.

Steve Jobs


The emails paint Sorkin as the driving force behind the forthcoming film, which has seen its share of troubles including a transfer to Universal after Sony dropped out of the project in November.

One email from Sorkin to Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin, as reported by The Verge, shows the Academy Award winner tried to salvage Fincher's spot on the team after negotiations with the director went south earlier this year.

"I do not know why he's like this (anymore than I know why Steve Jobs was like Steve Jobs) and I don't want this movie to be a bitter drink for the people at the top because you all have other things you can do and you'll just walk away," Sorkin said. "But we're looking at a home run pitch coming at us."

After Sony rebuffed Fincher's demands of $10 million in upfront payments and full control over marketing, he ultimately detached from the project in April.

While on board, however, Fincher lauded the script, saying, "Is great. It's a play, but a really quicksilver, cinematic one."


Source: The Verge


Sony's leak also provides a look inside the film's production, with Sorkin alluding to "two auditoriums, a restaurant and a garage." This lines up with previous reports claiming the movie will be broken up into three main scenes that take place before major product unveilings for the first Mac, NeXT and the original iPod. In an email from November, Sorkin mentions Symphony Hall in San Francisco, the site where Jobs unveiled NeXT.

Finally, Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson sent an email in February lauding Sorkin's script.

"The script is totally awesome. I have a tear in my eye having just finished. I was deeply moved by the narrative arc and by the beautiful end. I loved the line, 'No way she's not my kid,'" Isaacson wrote, likely a reference to Jobs' daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs.

Sorkin previously said Brennan-Jobs plays a critical role in the movie's story arc, though an actress has yet to be cast for the part. Most recently, Natalie Portman was in talks for the part, but passed on the role this week.

Along with Portman, other big-name celebrities once tied to the picture include Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio. Currently, Michael Fassbender is slated to play Jobs with co-star Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak. Danny Boyle will direct when production gets underway in spring 2015.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11

    And this story appears just minutes after appearing on The Verge... Ah, well. At least they got a link and image credit.

  • Reply 2 of 11

    At least something interesting came out of the hack. Thanks, Norks.

  • Reply 3 of 11
    shsfshsf Posts: 302member

    Why doesn't Sony make a movie about themselves about how they got f.ed in every significant sector they had a stronghold on but had to  compete with Steve's Apple then put it up on some porn tube under rough sex?

  • Reply 4 of 11
    I'm curious about the four story arcs. I'm guessing "apple II", "Macintosh", "next", "iPod/iPhone". But I read somewhere the movie would focus on the later years, so I'm hoping "next", "iMac", "iPod", iPhone".
  • Reply 5 of 11
    hkzhkz Posts: 190member

    Amazes me that Apple centric websites are perfectly okay with posting stolen information on this in article after article. Have you no ethics?

  • Reply 6 of 11
    Easy on the Apple websites, CNN had no ethical qualms using stolen information to babble on and on. Seems to me journalists in general only pull out there ethics and protected rights when they want to break the law or use information that was obtained unethically. Hiding behind 'the public has a right to know' is BS. If someone breaks into your house and steals your sex tape is it now okay to post it, report on it, use its content in your reporting, and basically walk all over the victim (yes Sony can be a victim). I'm no Sony fan boy, but this doesn't see right anywhere.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    Easy on the Apple site, even CNN couldn't resist using stolen material for their pursuit of ratings. It seems to me all journalists lack a true understanding of ethical, it's only a word they throw out when they want to seem more credible than they really are. Sure report on the hack, report personal and corporate data, some of which may be embarrassing to Sony, was stolen; but to then give details crosses the line from reporting the story to taking part in the offence.

    Using information you know was stolen is wrong, the media in general should be ashamed at their role in giving these thieves a voice.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,033member
    New media site operators (like bloggers) have no ethics.

     

    They only worship the Almighty Pageview, nothing else on this planet matters.

     

    Real journalism (and journalistic integrity) died in the Nineties.

  • Reply 9 of 11
    I wonder how Jobs's family feel about this film.

    Do they need the money? No.

    Do they want it to be made? Unlikely.
  • Reply 10 of 11

    It sounds like Fincher had a real angle to this movie and could have made it a great success. His pitch sounds wonderful. Bold, at least in Hollywood terms.

     

    This movie would be more than simply a stupid biography like the one that came out a year or two ago. This would would be more than that.

     

    Sounds like Sony really screwed up here. $10 million is nothing and you need to let the director have creative control. Fincher has a good track record. 

     

    Oh, well. The making of this could be Sorkin's "Hearts of Darkness" adventure in film making. 

     

    Yes, treat it like a play. Make it fast. A one-man show. 

  • Reply 11 of 11
    Christian [I]Bailed.[/I]
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