Ashton Kutcher will play Steve Jobs in a new movie.
According to Variety:
The King of Twitter is now the King of Apple, as “Two and a Half Men” star Ashton Kutcher is attached to play Steve Jobs in the indie pic “Jobs,” which Joshua Michael Stern (“Swing Vote”) will direct from a script by Matt Whiteley.
The film will chronicle Steve Jobs from wayward hippie to co-founder of Apple, where he became one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of our time.
Five Star Institute’s Mark Hulme is financing and will produce the pic, which is skedded to start production in May while Kutcher is on hiatus from his hit CBS series.
Stern, who made his helming debut with the 2005 Aaron Eckhart vehicle “Neverwas,” previously directed Disney’s 2008 election comedy “Swing Vote,” toplined by Ashton Kutcher’s “The Guardian” co-star Kevin Costner. Helmer is also attached to direct Stone Village’s “Carnaval,” an R-rated comedy that pairs John Cusack with fellow CAA client Johnny Knoxville.
But I think the most interesting aspect to this announcement is the few tweets that Kutcher tweeted last fall in the wake of Mr. Jobs passing:
“Sending love & light to everyone @Apple & the entire Jobs family. Today we lost a Giant who will be missed even by those who didn’t know him.”
“We have all surfed on the wake of Steve Jobs ship. Now we must learn to sail, but we will never forget our skipper,”
“I never thought I could be so busted up about the loss of someone I never met.”
My two cents is that this could work. I saw the PBS special on Jobs last week and it was dry and empty. The Walter Isaacson bio was not much better. In my view, Mona Simpson said more in her 10 minute eulogy about Jobs, her biological brother, than those two previous works. I was once told that movie-making and story-telling is all about putting the energy of the right place. There are many different approaches that the Jobs story could take. I think a young guy like Ashton Kutcher who grew up in the digital revolution (and disruption) might actually help bring the right stuff to this. I think Jobs, outside Edison, has had the most impact on technology in the last 100 years and he has made technology accessible and alluring. Perhaps, Ashton Kutcher’s reservoir of emotion will create something special of a remarkable and complicated Giant.
I want to thank my Facebook friend, Josh Wood, who let me know about this on Facebook. Josh is a recent graduate of UCLA Film School. I hope he is going to change the world through his movie-making endeavors!
