Roger Fingas
Laurene Powell Jobs — the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs — reportedly tried several times to halt the development of the Universal biopic about her former husband.
In her efforts, Powell Jobs lobbied both Universal and the film's original studio, Sony Pictures Entertainment, according to The Wall Street Journal. She is even said to have refused involvement in the movie's development, for instance opting not to go over anything in Aaron Sorkin's script with producer Scott Rudin.
Powell Jobs would only say that she disliked the Walter Isaacson biography the movie is based on, and that any film based on that book couldn't be accurate, Rudin explained to the Journal. Isaacson grounded his writing in numerous interviews, including many with Steve Jobs himself.
Steve Jobs will publicly premiere this Friday, and notably veers away from Isaacson's work and historical accuracy. Fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, however, commented to the Journal that the movie "did a great job" in its main goal, which was conveying Steve Jobs' personality.
A spokesman for Powell Jobs said that Universal offered her a sneak preview of the film as long as she didn't discuss it prior to its debut, but the screening was declined.
She and her allies have claimed that Steve Jobs and other recent depictions, like the Alex Gibney documentary Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine, downplay his achievements while highlighting his dark side, suggesting that he was cruel and inhumane. One centerpiece of both films for example is his first child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, who he initially disowned and refused to support until his paternity was confirmed with DNA testing. The two eventually reconciled and became close.
William Gallagher
Malcolm Owen
Charles Martin
37 Comments
Poor woman. I feel sorry for her. Must be impossible to move on.
Understandable. If Jobs treated those close to him better than he treated those who were his ... workers..., or if his behavior had generally and genuinely improved beyond the behavior he's infamous for, the people who cared about him wouldn't want the bad versions of him to be continuously retread by the media, especially after losing him to death.
Well, for good or ill, it's in the hands (and purses) of the audience now.
Laurene Powell Jobs should take solace in the fact that a lot of reasonable people know very well that Steve was a pretty complicated guy, and we still love him anyway. I'm going to see the movie, and will not be looking at it either through the lens of how accurate it is (on a character level, I believe it'll hit the right marks), or whether or not it enhances or dings Jobs' legacy. By most accounts it appears to be a well written, directed, and acted film and should be a very entertaining character study of one of the most transformative industry titans of the past century.
Interesting how both movies just release do a 'drama' of the one side of him denying the child was his, but never show how they reconciled and became close. Just one example of how these movies don't show the true arch of Steve and his life as he grew as a "person". So far we've seen only movies show him as an idol or villain(as these last 2 movies like to portray him).. /shrug.. Oh well, they will make money off his corpse...