Is Danny Boyle’s new retelling of the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs a cinematic triumph? Absolutely, according to the critics. However, to what extent it is historically accurate is a very different matter. Particularly strong controversy has surrounded the portrayal of Jobs himself, which begs the question: How much of the real Jobs can be seen on-screen?
“I felt like I was actually watching Steve Jobs and the others, not actors”
Up until pretty recently, there was much good reason to reckon that Steve Jobs, as the movie is succinctly called, would be the most authentic cinematic portrayal of the tech icon yet. Oscar-winning director-writer pair Boyle and Aaron Sorkin have impressive pedigree, while Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with Jobs, consulted with Sorkin before he wrote the script.
And, following the movie’s world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival last month, that consulting initially seemed to have really paid off. Wozniak enthused to Deadline: “I saw a rough cut and I felt like I was actually watching Steve Jobs and the others, not actors playing them, I give full credit to Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin for getting it so right”.
Fassbender “exhibits none of Jobs’s many youthful mannerisms”
However, it later emerged that many other people who had known Jobs were far from convinced. John Sculley, who led Apple for a decade from 1983, told The Wall Street Journal: “If one tries to come away with a complete picture of who was Steve Jobs, they wouldn’t get it from this movie”. He described the young Jobs as often “very warm” and “a good person”, qualities he said the movie overlooks.
Meanwhile, The New York Times columnist Joe Nocera, who revealed that he had long closely followed Jobs and even spent a week at Jobs’ company NeXT shortly after it was founded in the mid-1980s, reported his conviction when watching the new film of “how little it had to do with the flesh and blood Steve Jobs”. He opined that, in playing the title character, Michael Fassbender “exhibits none of Jobs’s many youthful mannerisms, and uses none of his oft-repeated phrases”.
So, what was the real Steve Jobs like?
With the fourth anniversary of the man’s death having just passed earlier this month, many current prominent Apple personnel, including current CEO Tim Cook, Chief Design Officer Jony Ive and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller, have shared their anecdotes about Jobs. You can read them in the current issue of AppleMagazine – where, in our cover article, we investigate further in search of the genuine Steve Jobs. Download our app and subscribe to see if we solve the mystery.
