Aaron Sorkin, like any top A-list screenwriter in Hollywood, is clearly a busy man.
Sorkin – who gave us A Few Good Men and The Social Network – has a new series up and running, The Newsroom, which debuts on HBO June 24, and he finally gave in and will write the life story of Steve Jobs for Sony.
Of course the Sony project should not be confused with the indie Jobs bio that’s currently shooting with Ashton Kutcher in the lead. Rather, we’re referring to the upcoming Jobs biopic based on the best-selling Walter Isaacson book that Sony bought the rights for almost immediately after the Apple visionary passed away.
Sorkin was Sony’s first choice to write the screenplay, and he initially resisted for some time, because this is clearly a big, important story that requires a lot of heavy lifting, and it would be a tough gig for any screenwriter, even one with Sorkin’s skills. Still, many screenwriters love a challenge, and the Jobs film should provide plenty, which would make it thrilling and terrifying for any writer to take on.
There’s still no word on who will star or direct, and Sorkin recently discussed the challenges of bringing Jobs to the big screen with Mark Harris at Vulture.
“I don’t know yet what I’m going to be writing about him. But Steve led a very dramatic and complicated life, with very dramatic results. As flawed as he is, I think one of the reasons we’re so drawn to him is that he built things. Nowadays especially, Americans are kind of being told that their future is in service,” Sorkin explained.
“We’re not going to be building cars, or railroads, or buildings, or rocket ships. And here comes Steve Jobs, an inventor like Thomas Edison, who invented thing that we really like. I think if you juxtapose that with the complicated, oftentimes very dark life that he led, there’s gonna be a story in there. Now it’s my job to find it.”
And funny enough, while he wrote The Social Network, you may recall that Sorkin came out against social media, and as he told Harris,
”I was asked to start tweeting as part of the ramp-up to the show. I just don’t think I can do anything in 140 characters.”
But as far as social networking today, “I’m very optimistic. You see the way that social media affects the outcome of campaigns. The Arab Spring happened because of social media. OWS – the engine behind that was young people.”
