The first trailer for the Steve Jobs biopic written by Aaron Sorkin, creatively titled Steve Jobs, is here and it does not show much beyond Michael Fassbender in a black turtleneck and glasses as Jobs. The movie is still shooting, so it’s no surprise there’s not much footage available, but I do like the tone this trailer is setting. Contrasting to the image of Jobs receiving orgasmically wild acclaim at a product launch is a bunch of dialogue that makes Jobs sound like an asshole. You can feel the connection to The Social Network, in that Sorkin and director Danny Boyle are less interested in mythologizing their subject than they are deconstructing him.
This is, of course, the project that Sony dropped and Universal picked up just before the Sony Hack broke. Thanks to the hack, we learned a lot about how this project fell apart at Sony, and that Sorkin had no idea who Fassbender was when he was first pitched for the role. I couldn’t really see Fassbender as Jobs initially, but now that we have this glimpse, I get why Boyle fought so hard for him. Fassbender looks nothing like Jobs and the movie is making no effort to get him there beyond the turtleneck and glasses, but that’s fine because the expression on Jobs’ face as the crowd worships at his feet is PERFECT. Once he figured out who Michael Fassbender is, Aaron Sorkin said he thought Fassy would be nominated for everything for this role. I sort of think all awards for 2015 ought to go to the flamethrower guitar guy from Mad Max: Fury Road, but Fassbender is already looking like a serious contender.
