Film Review: "Steve Jobs" (2015).

"... you don't care how much money a person makes, you care what they make. But what you make isn't supposed to be the part of you." This is unexpectedly at the heart for Steve Jobs. This biographical drama film directed by Danny Boyle; written by Aaron Sorkin; based on the biography of the same name by Walter Isaacson. The film is structured into three acts which cover fourteen years (1984-98) in the life of personal computing innovator and Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, with each act taking place immediately prior to the launch of a key product - the Apple Macintosh, the NeXT Computer and the iMac G3.

Sony Pictures acquired the rights to Isaacson's book in October 2011, hiring Aaron Sorkin to adapt it. In May 2012, Sorkin officially confirmed that he was writing the script. Sorkin revealed before the film's official release that it would consist of three, 30-minute scenes spreading across sixteen years of the life of Steve Jobs. All of the scenes will dramatize backstage events before three major product launches (the Macintosh in 1984, NeXT in 1988, and the iMac in 1998). These scenes will take place in real time at "two auditoriums, a restaurant and a garage," with a few flashbacks depicting key moments of Jobs' life inserted throughout the story. Sorkin also developed the screenplay around Jobs' relationship with a few key people: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Jobs’ "right-hand-woman" Joanna Hoffman, former Apple CEO John Sculley, original Mac team developer Andy Hertzfeld, and Jobs' first child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, as well as her mother Chrisann Brennan. After Sorkin's completion of the script in January 2014, development on the project began to heat up when David Fincher entered negotiations to direct the film, with Christian Bale as his choice for Jobs. However, in April 2014, Fincher exited the project after his demands - a $10,000,000 salary and full creative control of the project - could not be met by the studio. Danny Boyle was then hired to direct, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Bale, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Bradley Cooper being considered. Ultimately, Michael Fassbender emerged as a frontrunner before Universal Pictures acquired the project from Sony. Principal photography began in January 2015, at Jobs's childhood home in Los Altos, California, with additional locations including the San Francisco Bay Area and Berkeley. Filming wrapped in April 2015. To distinguish each of the three product launches depicted in the movie, Boyle and cinematographer Alwin Küchler implemented three different film formats: 16mm for 1984, 35mm for 1988, and digital for 1998. They also wanted each of the film's three time periods to illustrate the advancement in Apple's technology across the 16 years depicted of Jobs' life.

The film stars Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Katherine Waterston, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jeff Daniels. The cast gave terrific performances, all of them nailing the raw intense emotions and the verbally driven directions of both Boyle and Sorkin.

Impeccably scripted, beautifully directed, and filled with fine performances, Steve Jobs is a riveting, ambitious example of modern filmmaking at its finest. However, the biographical part takes liberties with its subject. So everything that's seen isn't necessarily to be believed.

Simon says Steve Jobs receives:

Also, see my review for Trance.