{"id":63405,"date":"2015-10-21T22:21:25","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T03:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=63405"},"modified":"2015-10-21T22:21:25","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T03:21:25","slug":"qa-steve-jobs-screenwriter-aaron-sorkin-talks-biopics-critics-west-wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/10\/21\/qa-steve-jobs-screenwriter-aaron-sorkin-talks-biopics-critics-west-wing\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: \u2018Steve Jobs\u2019 screenwriter Aaron Sorkin talks biopics, critics, \u2018West Wing\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Aaron<\/a>
Aaron Sorkin on his Steve Jobs movie: “Mrs. Jobs, Tim Cook the CEO of Apple, Jony Ive haven\u2019t seen the movie. So they wouldn\u2019t know what\u2019s in the movie.” (Photo from ShutterStock\/Jonathan Hordle\/Rex)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2013 Aaron Sorkin will remind you that he is a writer when talking about his latest film, \u201cSteve Jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

As such, the dialogue-heavy account of the late Apple co-founder\u2019s life contains obvious fabrications in service of a larger truth.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s centred on a series of verbal smackdowns between Jobs and various members of his inner circle, with Michael Fassbender starring as the tyrannical genius, Seth Rogen as co-founder\/friend Steve (Woz) Wozniak and Kate Winslet as former Macintosh marketing chief Joanna Hoffman.<\/p>\n

In the face of ardent critics \u2013 including Jobs\u2019s widow Laurene, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple\u2019s head of design and close friend Jony Ive \u2013 Sorkin has insisted this is \u201ca painting, not a photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would describe almost all non-fiction movies that way. But this one in particular,\u201d the screenwriter says in a recent visit to Toronto to discuss the film, which largely steers clear of impersonations and familiar catchphrases.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s not to say I\u2019ve changed any biographical facts about Steve Jobs. Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve done: Steve did not have confrontations with the same five people 40 minutes before every product launch that he did. That\u2019s a writer\u2019s conceit and it announces itself pretty early on as one. The content of those confrontations, those are real.\u201d<\/p>\n

If people are looking for a journalistic account, Sorkin encourages them to check out Walter Isaacson\u2019s exhaustive biography.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Santa Fe Opera just commissioned an opera about Steve Jobs that\u2019ll be out in 2017 \u2013 I wonder if people are going to be going around saying, \u2018Now, wait a second. Was Steve really a tenor in real life?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian Press chatted with Sorkin about condensing a life, dealing with critics, and returning to \u201cThe West Wing.\u201d<\/p>\n

CP: The construct employed here is obvious. But people who were close to Jobs seem to be upset that softer elements of the man they knew are not presented as they\u2019d like.<\/p>\n

Sorkin: The people I think you\u2019re talking about \u2013 Mrs. Jobs, Tim Cook the CEO of Apple, Jony Ive \u2013 haven\u2019t seen the movie. So they wouldn\u2019t know what\u2019s in the movie. I think they\u2019re reacting to Walter\u2019s book and they don\u2019t know what\u2019s in the movie.<\/p>\n

The people who knew Steve well who have seen the movie (including) Woz… have reacted very positively to it and feel that Steve was captured. So I would just ask that judgment be reserved until you\u2019ve seen the movie.<\/p>\n

CP: Is there anything you would change?<\/p>\n

Sorkin: No.<\/p>\n

CP: It is the movie you set out to make.<\/p>\n

Sorkin: I\u2019m really proud of everything that I\u2019ve written \u2013 and that said, there isn\u2019t anything that I\u2019ve written that I wouldn\u2019t mind having back and doing it again. And the same is true for this movie, for \u2018Steve Jobs,\u2019 but not because of anything anyone has said… It\u2019s a little surprising that there are certain things which in 2015 are coming up with very sophisticated audiences.<\/p>\n

For instance, take a movie like \u201cThe Queen\u201d \u2013 no one thinks that Peter Morgan, the writer of \u201cThe Queen,\u201d was actually in Balmoral Castle when these discussions were going on… Writers are going to invent dialogue because people don\u2019t speak in dialogue and people\u2019s lives don\u2019t unfold in a series of scenes that form a narrative arc.<\/p>\n

CP: And you tell this story almost entirely through words, this film is really a series of conversations. Could this work on the stage?<\/p>\n

Sorkin: That\u2019s not the first time I\u2019ve heard that. Maybe. I just want to harken back to the times when Herman Mankiewicz was writing movies and Ben Hecht and Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder… They too made movies built almost entirely out of language. So this isn\u2019t a new phenomenon, maybe we just took a break from it for a few years.<\/p>\n

CP: The bent with Hollywood seems to be tentpole extravaganzas. This is not in that style.<\/p>\n

Sorkin: And this wasn\u2019t a bankable movie. The notion that we\u2019re being opportunistic (as claimed by Cook on \u201cLate Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d) is a little silly. If we were being opportunistic we\u2019d have done something else.<\/p>\n

CP: Seth Rogen will surprise his comedy fans for showing a lot of emotion as Woz.<\/p>\n

Sorkin: He\u2019s fantastic in this movie. I think I\u2019m right that we didn\u2019t discuss any other actor but Seth. Someone who can do comedy as honestly and intelligently as Seth does, there\u2019s really no worry in your mind that they\u2019re going to be able to do this material. You\u2019d worry, \u2018Is someone able to be funny?\u2019 but you wouldn\u2019t worry going the other way. I never had a concern about Seth being able to handle this material.<\/p>\n

CP: Next year will mark 10 years since \u201cThe West Wing\u201d left TV. Rob Lowe has said he\u2019d jump at a reunion if you were involved. Would you do it?<\/p>\n

Sorkin: If I had a really great idea for something it would be a lot of fun but I would only do it if there was a reason to do it. Otherwise they can be a little bit cheesy and I wouldn\u2019t want to tarnish the legacy of that show, which I\u2019m pretty proud of.<\/p>\n

But if I had a great idea for something it would be great to get together with the group again. \u2013 This interview has been edited and condensed<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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