Aaron Sorkin to write Steve Jobs as a hero in upcoming film
Aaron Sorkin, who is writing an upcoming film about Steve Jobs, said he will write the lead character as if Jobs were writing a letter to God on why he should be allowed into heaven.
The Academy Award-winning screenwriter who has been charged with putting together the script for the film “Steve Jobs,” said his story will depict Jobs as a hero. He also said the movie will not focus on the whole of Jobs’ life but rather a “point of friction.”
Jobs “is an extremely complicated guy,” he said, according to Engadget. “I can’t judge the character. He has to, for me, be a hero. I have to find the parts of him that are like me. I have to be able to defend this character.”
“With someone like Steve Jobs, to put it as simply as possible, you want to write the character as if they are writing their letter to God on why they should be allowed into heaven,” he said at the D10 conference.
Sorkin said he was initially hesistant to take on the job of writing the screenplay for the movie, which is based on the Walter Isaacson book released late last year. He said writing about Jobs is like writing about the Beatles, and he will probably let some fans down.
“I saw a minefield of disappointment,” Sorkin said. “Hopefully when I’m done with my research I’ll be in the same ballpark as some of the folks in here in terms of their knowledge about Jobs -- I hope people don’t say, ‘You really missed the big thing.’ But, that’s bound to happen.”
However, Sorkin said his movie should only be taken as a snapshot of the entrepreneur’s life, noting that many films could be made about Jobs.
“All I can say at this early stage is that you should think of this as a painting, not a photograph,” he said.
And indeed, another movie is in the works. In that film, Jobs will be played by actor Ashton Kutcher. As for his movie, Sorkin said the actor who plays Jobs will need to be very good and smart.
But at this point, the movie is in its very early stages, Sorkin said.
“To the untrained eye,” he said, “it’ll look a lot like watching college football.”
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