Monday, April 2, 2012

Ashton Kutcher to play Steve Jobs

Star of Two and a Half Men is to take the lead role in biopic to be directed by Joshua Michael Stern

Ashton Kutcher has been cast as Steve Jobs in one of two competing biopics about the late founder of Apple, reports Variety.

Kutcher, who bears some resemblance to the young Jobs, has been cast in a version by Swing Vote's Joshua Michael Stern which will chronicle the entrepreneur's journey from "wayward hippie" to co-founder of the iconic technology firm, "where he became one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of our time". Little else is known about the project, other than that it is based on a screenplay by Matt Whiteley and is likely to shoot as early as May. Producers are hoping to steal a march on a second Jobs biopic from studio Sony which was announced in the autumn.

The other Jobs film is based on Walter Isaacson's bestselling authorised biography of the Apple founder, and Sony was at one point tapping Aaron Sorkin of The West Wing and The Social Network fame to take on screenwriting duties. "Right now I'm just in the thinking-about-it stages," said Sorkin in November. "It's a really big movie and it's going to be a great movie no matter who writes it. He was a great entrepreneur, he was a great artist, a great thinker."

Isaacson's book Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography is the only authorised book about Jobs's life. Published in the UK just 19 days after Jobs died from pancreatic cancer, it sold 37,000 copies in its first five days here and more than 379,000 copies in its first week in the US. The volume is based on more than 40 interviews with Jobs conducted over two years, as well as interviews with more than 100 family members, friends, adversaries, competitors and colleagues.

Kutcher, who replaced Charlie Sheen in TV sitcom Two and a Half Men last year, has been in the news recently following his high-profile split from Demi Moore. His film credits include romantic comedy fare such as New Year's Eve and No Strings Attached as well as more serious material such as Emilio Estevez's historical drama Bobby and the science-fiction themed The Butterfly Effect. Stern is best known for the 2008 Kevin Costner election comedy Swing Vote and little known 2005 literary drama Neverwas, starring Aaron Eckhart.

The only previous film to tell Jobs's story was 1999's made-for-TV docudrama Pirates of Silicon Valley, which starred ER's Noah Wyle as the Apple founder.


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/apr/02/ashton-kutcher-steve-jobs-biopic

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