Sony announced on Tuesday that Aaron Sorkin would pen the screenplay adaptation for Walter Isaacson’s biography on Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. (This will also be titled ‘Steve Jobs’ and a separate project from the indie film ‘Jobs’ starring Ashton Kutcher.) Aaron Sorkin has made a name for himself with TV shows such as ‘Sports Night,’ ‘The West Wing,’ and the upcoming ‘The Newsroom.’ His last two screenplays for Sony “The Social Network” and “Moneyball” were adaptations on stories, which focused on pioneering visionaries. Both films went on to earn Oscar nominations while (‘Network’) rightfully won the Best Adapted Screenplay statue. Here’s the press release:
CULVER CITY, Calif., May 15, 2012 – Academy Award® winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin will adapt Steve Jobs, a motion picture based on the best-selling biography of the legendary Apple co-founder by award-winning journalist Walter Isaacson, it was announced today by Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Doug Belgrad, President of Columbia Pictures. The project is being produced by Mark Gordon, Scott Rudin and Guymon Casady.
Published late last year, Steve Jobs was Amazon’s best-selling book of 2011. In addition, the biography ranked #1 among bestselling hardcover books by a 2:1 margin, with sales of 2,246,569 in 2011, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Commenting on the announcement, Pascal said, “Steve Jobs’ story is unique: he was one of the most revolutionary and influential men not just of our time but of all time. There is no writer working in Hollywood today who is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life for the screen than Aaron Sorkin; in his hands, we’re confident that the film will be everything that Jobs himself was: captivating, entertaining, and polarizing.”
AARON SORKIN won the Academy Award® for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on The Social Network. His other screenplays include Moneyball, Charlie Wilson’s War, The American President, Malice, and A Few Good Men. He has also acquired the motion picture rights to The Politician, the best-selling book by Andrew Young about the downfall of former Senator John Edwards. He will adapt the book and make his directorial debut with the film, which he will also produce. For television, Sorkin created “The West Wing,” “Sports Night,” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” He is currently in production on the HBO series “The Newsroom,” which is scheduled to premiere on June 24, 2012 . For the stage, Sorkin wrote “A Few Good Men” and “Making Movies”; he returned to Broadway in 2007 with “The Farnsworth Invention.” Sorkin will return to the theater and make his Broadway debut as a librettist with the 2013-2014 production of “Houdini.” Based on the life of legendary magician Harry Houdini, the musical will star Hugh Jackman and will feature music and lyrics by Oscar and Grammy winner Stephen Schwartz.
I read “Steve Jobs” last year and it is a brilliant, lengthy account of the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Aaron Sorkin is one of the best screenwriters in the business and is capable to meet the very demanding challenges of adapting the biography. Sorkin has a near flawless track record of adapting detailed oriented screenplays with playful wit and stark commentary. In an industry focused on everything but a solid, well rounded screenplay, Sorkin fills a creative void. I am eagerly anticipating what soon-to-be-iconic movie lines penned by Sorkin will define the late Steve Jobs!
