‘Steve Jobs’ Director Danny Boyle Praises Aaron Sorkin: ‘In Cinema Terms He Is Your Greatest Writer’
At the Thursday night screening of “Steve Jobs” at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, director Danny Boyle said he wouldn’t have been interested in a movie about the man had writer Aaron Sorkin not been involved.
“I wouldn’t normally be interested in making a movie about Steve Jobs, but through Sorkin’s eyes I would,” Boyle said. “In cinema terms he is your greatest writer, even Tarantino said that about his dialogue. It was extraordinary to think, ‘oh my s–t, I could have a go at that.'”
The film, written by Sorkin and directed by Boyle, doesn’t take a standard biopic approach to the story of Steve Jobs, opting instead to tell the story of Jobs and those close to him backstage in the minutes before three product launches, the Macintosh, the NeXT and the iMac.
Kate Winslet said that the friendship between her character, Joanna Hoffman, and Michael Fassbender’s Steve Jobs was how she hopes the audience learns of a different part of the man who invented the Mac.
“I loved the fact that Aaron (Sorkin) used Joanna to be a composite character who existed in Steve’s life,” Winslet said. “Her spirit was something I wanted to capture and her friendship with Steve was profound and Michael and I wanted to capture that. It’s through that friendship that you are really able to engage with Steve Jobs in a way we haven’t seen before and I think that some claim didn’t exist.”
Although Hoffman really only worked with Jobs to launch NeXT before moving on and just remaining friends, Winslet said that people close to Jobs have let her know that it was nice to see some of his kindness in the film.
“All I can tell you is that when Joanna saw the movie she sent me an email telling me how much she had enjoyed it and appreciated it and to specifically tell Michael that it was lovely to see some of Steve’s real warmth come through,” Winslet said.
After the film there was a short reception where food and drinks were served at the theater. Both Winslet and Boyle were seen taking pictures and chatting with crew members.
“Steve Jobs” releases Oct. 23 and also stars Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels and Michael Stuhlbarg.
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