Michael Fassbender portrays 'poorly made' Steve Jobs
There is a revealing moment in Steve Jobs when the iconoclastic Apple co-founder explains how he can perfect such world-altering products and yet still clearly struggle with people.
"I'm poorly made," says Jobs, portrayed by Michael Fassbender.
Even amid the whirlwind 182-page Aaron Sorkin screenplay, Fassbender recalls the telling line highlighting the central conflict in the Danny Boyle-directed film, which opened in New York and Los Angeles over the weekend to critical adulation and awards discussion.
Review: 'Steve Jobs' marvels as man and movie
"Steve Jobs tried to make products that are not poorly made, but maybe that was to make up for his own shortcomings," says Fassbender. "All of his energy goes into these products he's creating, while his own life suffers."
Sorkin agrees that the line is "pivotal" in the screenplay, based on Walter Isaacson's best-selling authorized biography of the same name, which published days after Jobs' death in 2011.
"My hypothesis going into this was that deep down, Steve believed himself to be kind of an irreparably damaged person, unworthy of being liked or loved," says Sorkin. "But he had enormous talent and ability to make products."
That approach has brought Steve Jobs attention and controversy as it opens across the nation through Oct. 23.
'Steve Jobs' defined through product launches
Steve Jobs experienced turmoil throughout its production. Original director David Fincher dropped out of the project, while Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio both withdrew from talks to star. Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, reportedly lobbied to stop the film and Jobs' successor Tim Cook called it "opportunistic."
"We've had some interesting moments," says Boyle. "But Steve Jobs is a huge public figure that's had an enormous influence on our lives. It's necessary that these people are not just deified."
The uncompromising Jobs is shown through three product launches and 15 years, butting heads with central figures such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen), Apple CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) and oldest daughter Lisa.
Sorkin says he inferred much of the dialogue from Isaacson's book and his own interviews with Jobs' intimates (including Lisa Brennan-Jobs).
"As with all of the dialogue with maybe two exceptions, those were all my creations," says Sorkin. "(Isaacson's) job as a journalist was to be objective. Mine was to be subjective, to infer things, come up with various hypotheses and dramatize them."
Boyle sees the work not as a traditional biopic, but an Impressionist-like portrait.
As 'Steve Jobs,' Michael Fassbender may be Oscar-bound
"This is not about being a Steve Jobs documentary or the definitive word on him. It's our version of him," says Boyle. "(Sorkin) takes some of the facts and bases the drama on them and discards other facts. It's an exploration of our version of Steve Jobs."
For that reason, Fassbender didn't need to physically resemble the famous face.
"I don’t look anything like (Jobs) and Danny said, 'What interests me is getting the essence of the man,' " says Fassbender. "So we did change my eyes from blue to brown (with contacts) to give something to the audience to go with and hold onto. And in the third act, I wore that iconic (black turtleneck) outfit with the glasses."
It's also the act in which Jobs' humanity struggles to the surface.
"I played him with the utmost respect. I never tried to play him as a cruel person, but as somebody who was passionate about his vision," says Fassbender. "He pushed for the best, sometimes to the breaking point. But when you're changing the world in such Teutonic kind of way, then maybe that's what is required."
