Christian Bale latest star in line to play Steve Jobs

Christian Bale looks set to be the latest Hollywood A lister to play Steve Jobs. Sources confirm the actor is in talks to star in Jobs, Sony’s biopic about the late Apple co-founder and technology deity. Sony acquired rights following the Apple mogul’s death in 2011.

The movie will be directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin. Danny Boyle is a capable director having directed Slumdog Millionaire and the cult film Trainspotting, among others. Aaron Sorkin is, of course, famous for the slew of hit films he’s written, including A Few Good Men and The Social Network.

At one point, Sony was in talks with David Fincher to direct the film, with Leonardo DiCaprio taking on the title role, but ultimately failed to come to anything. If something had come of it then Fincher would have had a reunion with Sorkin, one that would no doubt produced magic on screen, as they did with The Social Network.

The movie is not a sequel to ‘Jobs‘, the 2013 movie that starred a banal Ashton Kutcher and an unimaginative script by Matt Whiteley, along with terrible direction choices by Joshua Michael Stern. Indeed, the movie’s dullness was such that one reviewer likened it to a “Powerpoint presentation”.

The new movie has a lot of responsibility. It will not be enough if it is great, it has to be exceptional, even more, to escape its predecessor’s legacy.

The new film is based on Walter Isaacson’s biography Steve Jobs and will be produced by Scott Rudin, Mark Gordon and Guymon Casady.

Sorkin has publicly said the script will only feature three long scenes, with each scene focusing backstage on one of Apple’s famous product launches. The first scene will be of the launch of the Mac, the second NeXT and the last of the iPod. Speaking about the writing the script, Sorkin said, “it’s a little like writing about the Beatles. There are so many people out there that know him and revere him.”

Image: meg via Flickr.