Christian Bale has cut ties with the Steve Jobs biopic written by Aaron Sorkin and being directed by Danny Boyle—I refuse to make any Bale/bails puns. This is the same project that potentially has Seth Rogen in to play Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (a really nice piece of casting, if it comes through), and that Leonardo DiCaprio is rumored to have passed on in favor of The Revenant. The Hollywood Reporter cites sources that claim that Bale, “after much deliberation and conflicting feelings”, decided to pass, even though the same report says negotiations had never even begun. So basically Bale didn’t feel like getting up for a meeting.
Rival trade Deadline is throwing shade-naturally- but they kind of have a point. When it comes to casting stories, being first isn’t necessarily best. Deals fall apart for myriad reasons and casting situations tend to change quickly. And when a trade reverses itself like THR has done, it looks more like covering their ass when a guess/unreliable source doesn’t pan out than actual reporting. This isn’t even the first time Bale has separated from this project—earlier this year, back when it was maybe being directed by David Fincher, he was the favorite to play Jobs, but ended up “dropping out” when Fincher exited the project.
This particular situation is a bit unique, though, because just a couple weeks ago Aaron Sorkin himself said that Bale would be playing Jobs. And now Sorkin has egg on his face because Bale dropped out before negotiations even officially began. What Sorkin was really saying is that HE thought Bale was the best guy for the job and he couldn’t imagine a world in which Bale would say no. Bitch please. Christian Bale lives to say no.
Two blown casting rumors. That’s the new rule. Two blown casting rumors before we all agree to just wait it out and see who actually ends up signing on the dotted line. If a project cycles through two busted casting rumors, then we can officially stop caring about it until there’s real news. That way, we don’t have to go through this every two weeks because it’s f*cking exhausting. (I’m looking at you, Marvel.)
