Aaron Sorkin is always arrogant, but there's no doubt that he's a screenplay genius. I'm not sure that moviegoers who have not read Walter Isaacson's biography on Steve Jobs would like the movie or not. The biography is a wonderful book and because Steve Jobs had only authorized Isaacson to interview people and write the biography without even his final approval prior to publication, I trusted its authenticity. But to condense that biography into a two-hour movie was no small feat! I think the one attribute that stood out in the movie was its sharp, tight, witty and true-to-origin script and all the kudos should go to Sorkin (The Social Network, Moneyball, The West Wing, The Newsroom).
I've never watched The Newsroom, but I understand that the actors for the movie Steve Jobs all auditioned for their respective roles by reading scripts from the award-winning TV series instead of the script from the movie. The second credit for this very enjoyable movie should go to the lead actor Michael Fassbender who does not look a bit like the late Apple founder. But throughout the film, I had no doubt that Fassbender was Jobs. Isaacson's depiction of Jobs as both a genius and a jerk was fully vivified by the actor. Having seen Ashton Kutcher in Jobs in 2013, there's no doubt that Kutcher looks more like the Apple founder, but I've always said that good actors do not need to be excellent impersonators. It requires more skills for an actor who doesn't look like Jobs to give a convincing performance, and Fassbender did that beautifully - portraying, in essence, the eccentric, intense, foul-mouthed, ill-tempered but also brilliant, charming and extremely-gifted Apple founder, as described by Isaacson in his book.
I was surprised to hear that Sorkin originally wanted Tom Cruise for this role and thank God the latter had declined. So did Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale. The latter could probably play Jobs equally well because he's such a fine actor. Apparently, Fassbender admired Bale and actually called the latter and told him that he should have taken that role.
I've also read that Kate Winslet heard of the movie in the making from her makeup artist, and immediately craved for the role of Jobs's marketing director Joanna Hoffman. She wanted to be in a film with Fassbender and director Danny Boyle and sent them a photo with herself in a black wig. Well, she got the job, but I'm not sure that she excelled in it. Her American accent sounded a bit contrived and she totally looked frumpy and unattractive in the movie, maybe by design. Frankly speaking, any actress could have played that role exceedingly well and Winslet's superb acting skills were quite wasted in this film, in my opinion.
Director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) did a decent job with the movie as the film condensed the book into three acts - the launches of the Macintosh in 1984, NeXT in 1988, and the iMac in 1998. There were flashbacks to Jobs's earlier life at the garage with Steve Wozniak (effectively played by Canadian Seth Rogen); and negotiations with the Apple board and John Scully (played by Jeff Daniels). But I did not expect the entire film to be focusing so much on Jobs's relationship with his daughter Lisa Brennan because this part did not even play a big role in Isaccson's biography at all.
Wozniak was a consultant to the movie and maybe that's why it enhanced the authenticity of Jobs really presented as a jerk even in front of his partner and co-founder of Apple. I also don't understand why it took three non-Americans (Boyle, Fassbender and Winslet) to do a movie on one of the most influential U.S. icons when there are so many other talented filmmakers and actors in Hollywood.
All in all, if you've read Isaacson's book, you would love the film. Otherwise, you might be a bit disappointed, even though if you are a fan of Aaron Sorkin and The Newsroom.
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