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Jobs (film)

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Jobs
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoshua Michael Stern
Written byMatt Whiteley
Produced byMark Hulme
StarringAshton Kutcher
Dermot Mulroney
Josh Gad
Lukas Haas
J. K. Simmons
Lesley Ann Warren
Ron Eldard
Ahna O'Reilly
John Getz
James Woods
Matthew Modine
CinematographyRussell Carpenter (U.S.)
Aseem Bajaj (India)[2]
Edited byRobert Komatsu
Music byJohn Debney
Production
companies
Endgame Entertainment Five Star Feature Films
Venture Forth
Distributed byOpen Road Films
(United States)
Entertainment One (Canada)
Release dates
[1]
Running time
122 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million[3]
Box office$35.9 million[3]

Jobs is a 2013 American biographical drama film based on the life of Steve Jobs, from 1974 while a student at Reed College to the introduction of the iPod in 2001.[4] It is directed by Joshua Michael Stern, written by Matt Whiteley, and produced by Mark Hulme. Jobs also has two cinematographers: Russell Carpenter for scenes shot in the United States and Aseem Bajaj for scenes shot in India.[2] Steve Jobs is portrayed by Ashton Kutcher, with Josh Gad as Apple Computer's (now Apple Inc.) co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Jobs was chosen to close the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.[5][6]

Plot

The film opens in 2001 with a slightly older Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) introducing the iPod at an Apple Town Hall meeting.

It then flashes back to Reed College in 1974. Jobs had already dropped out due to the high expense of tuition, but was still attending classes with the approval of Dean Jack Dudman (James Woods) who took him under his wing. Jobs is particularly interested in a course on calligraphy. He meets up with his friend Daniel Kottke (Lukas Haas) who is excited to see that Jobs is holding a copy of Be Here Now by Baba Ram Dass. Influenced by this book and his experiences with LSD, Jobs and Kottke spend time in India.

Two years later, Jobs is back in Los Altos, California living at home with his adoptive parents Paul (John Getz) and Clara (Lesley Ann Warren). He is working for Atari and develops a partnership with his friend Steve Wozniak (Josh Gad) after he sees that Wozniak has built a personal computer (the Apple I). They name their new company Apple Computer, though there already is a company called Apple Records that is owned by The Beatles (Wozniak then teases Jobs that this is symbolic of his preference for Bob Dylan). Wozniak gives a demonstration of the Apple I at the Homebrew Computer Club, where Jobs receives a contract with Paul Terrell (Brad William Henke). Jobs asks his mechanic/carpenter father Paul for permission to use the family garage (set up as a carpentry/tool center) for his new company. His father agrees and Jobs then adds Kottke, Bill Fernandez (Victor Rasuk), Bill Atkinson (Nelson Franklin), Chris Espinosa (Eddie Hassell), and later Rod Holt (Ron Eldard) to the Apple team to build Apple I computers.[7] Terrell is disappointed by what they produce which forces Jobs to seek capital elsewhere. After many failed attempts by Jobs to gain venture capital, Mike Markkula (Dermot Mulroney) invests in the company which allows them to move forward.

Jobs and Wozniak develop the Apple II and introduce it at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire. The Apple II is a remarkable success and suddenly, the company (and Jobs) are very successful. But the success causes Jobs to begin distancing himself from his friends such as his housemate Kottke and his high school girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan (Ahna O'Reilly) and when Brennan tells him she is pregnant with their child, he promptly ends their relationship. Brennan eventually gives birth to Lisa Brennan-Jobs whom Jobs continues to deny as is his daughter. He also brings in John Sculley (Matthew Modine) to become the CEO of the company. As his behavior becomes more erratic (for example firing an employee for not appreciating his investment in using fonts), Jobs is moved away from The Lisa to the Macintosh Group where he works with Bill Atkinson, Burrell Smith (Lenny Jacobson), Chris Espinosa, and Andy Hertzfeld (Elden Henson). He also forces the original team leader of the Macintosh group, Jef Raskin, out of it. Though the Macintosh is introduced with a great deal of fanfare in 1984, Jobs is forced out of the company by Sculley in 1985.

The film jumps forward to 1996. Jobs is married to Laurene Powell Jobs (Abby Brammell) and has accepted Lisa (Annika Bertea) as his daughter (she now lives with them). He has a son, Reed (Paul Baretto) and is also running the company NeXT which Apple decides to buy. He is asked by then-CEO Gil Amelio to return to Apple as a consultant. Jobs does so and soon he is named the new CEO, ultimately firing Amelio and his ex-friend Markkula (who refused to support him when he was forced out of Apple 11 years prior). Jobs becomes interested in the work of Jonathan Ive (Giles Matthey) and works to reinvent Apple. The film ends with Jobs recording the dialogue for the Think Different commercial in 1997. Before the credits, there are original photos of all the main characters paired with videos of the actor playing the part.

Cast

Production

Development

Crew filming Jobs at Steve Jobs' childhood home in Los Altos, California.

Screenwriter Matt Whiteley began work on the screenplay around the time Steve Jobs took medical leave from Apple to battle pancreatic cancer.[8] Director Joshua Michael Stern stated in an interview that all material for the screenplay was collected via research and interviews:

Mark Hulme, our producer, had an expert team of researchers to comb through all public records and interviews that had anything to do with Steve Jobs. Mark, the screenwriter and the research team, also took it upon themselves to interview quite a large pool of people who either worked at Apple or worked with Steve to make sure we portrayed as accurate a portrait and telling of the events possible within the constraints of the film's length.[9]

Production

Production began in June 2012 at Jobs' childhood home in Los Altos, California, with the help of Jobs' stepmother, Marilyn Jobs (who still lives there).[10] It was also observed by his sister Patty.[11] UCLA was used as the backdrop for Jobs' time at Reed College.[12] The majority of the film was shot in the Los Angeles region.[8][13]

India

In August 2012, production moved to New Delhi and Vrindavan in order to provide the setting for Jobs' 1974 trek to India. Locations include "Delhi’s Jama Masjid, the Hauz Khas Complex, Safdarjung Tomb and Humayun’s Tomb."[13][14] Aseem Bajaj (Bandit Queen, Chameli, and Khoya Khoya Chand) served as cinematographer for the scenes shot in India. Bajaj notes that they "shot guerrilla style in the crazy and mad by-lanes of Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi. We shot near the Red Fort and the famous Jama Masjid for two full days with multiple cameras spread across everywhere. Ashton stood frozen with the chaos staring right in his face which helped us capture what Steve Jobs must have felt on his visit to India."[2][15]

Release and reception

Box office

According to Business Insider, the film "bombed" upon release, earning only $6.7 million in its first weekend and opening in seventh place overall.[16]

It had a worldwide gross of $35,931,410.[17]

Critical reception

Jobs received mixed to negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 27% rating, based on 120 reviews, with a weighted average of 4.9/10. The site's consensus reads, "An ambitious but skin-deep portrait of an influential, complex figure, Jobs often has the feel of an over-sentimentalized made-for-TV biopic."[18] Review aggregator Metacritic gave the film a score of 44 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[19]

Bogdan Fedeles of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's The Tech gave Jobs four out of five stars and states: "The intense criticism that this movie met recently left me very disappointed, as it was clear that neither the critics nor the audience truly got it; most people seemed to get bogged down disputing the factual accuracy of scenes and individual lines, or the prominence of various characters, while ignoring the artistic merits of the movie itself. This movie is a compelling, thought-provoking drama, full of nuance. Akin to Steve Jobs, it challenges the biopic genre, going further on innovation and originality. Whether you're a Steve Jobs worshipper or not, an Apple fan or a Linux nerd, this movie is a must see."[20] Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News gave the film four out of five stars, describing it as an "almost ironically styled old-fashioned biopic" and stating that "this sharp look at the late Steve Jobs and the technological and cultural changes he brought about is entertaining and smart, with a great, career 2.0 performance from Ashton Kutcher."[21] Doris Toumarkine of Film Journal International describes the film as a "terrific dramatization of late Apple founder Steve Jobs' rise from inspired, art-inclined hippie to corporate mogul and King of Cool delivers 'Mac'-nificently and should gratify everyone from die-hard geeks to gawkers curious about entrepreneurial success."[22]

Robert X. Cringely, author of Accidental Empires and creator of the documentaries Triumph of the Nerds and Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, argues that "the film is beautifully shot and Kutcher's portrayal of Jobs, while not spot-on, is pretty darned good. He certainly has the look down and the walk. But Ashton Kutcher also produced this film and he's definitely a better actor than producer. There are a lot of historical inaccuracies that just don't have to be there. [...] The great failing of this film is the same failing as with Walter Isaacson's book: something happened during Steve's NeXT years (which occupy less than 60 seconds of this 122 minute film) that turned Jobs from a brat into a leader, but they don't bother to cover that."[23] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle states that "at its best, it's a good picture, and at its worst, it's almost good."[24] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone suggests that "Kutcher nails the genius and narcissism. It's a quietly dazzling performance" but also notes that "Jobs is a one-man show that needed to go for broke and doesn't. My guess is that Jobs would give it a swat."[25] Contributor for Roger Ebert.com, Susan Wloszczyna, gave the movie 2/4 stars, saying that, "Rather than attempting a deeper plunge behind the whys and wherefores of the elite business-model gospel according to Apple Inc. guru Steve Jobs and – more importantly – what it says about our culture, the filmmakers follow the easy rise-fall-rise-again blueprint familiar to anyone who has seen an episode of VH1's Behind the Music."[26] She further discusses how Ashton Kutcher's performance, and the overall movie failed to portray Jobs in iconic manner that current pop culture suggests even after Jobs' passing. In a movie review for The New York Times, writer Manohla Dargis writes that Jobs was "inevitably unsatisfying"[27] and a result of a poor performance of the filmmakers rather than the actors themselves.

Ashton Kutcher was nominated a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor at the 34th Golden Raspberry Awards for his performance, but lost to Jaden Smith for After Earth.

Wozniak, Kottke, Fernandez, Espinosa, and Hertzfeld

In a January 2013 interview with The Verge, Steve Wozniak notes that he was approached by the crew of Jobs and given an early script to read. He read it as far as he "could stomach it and felt it was crap. The Sony people got in contact with me too and in the end I went with them. You can't do both [films] and be paid."[28] At around the same time, he responded to the first promotional clip for the film on Gizmodo by stating that the "personalities are very wrong, although mine is closer... our relationship was so different than what was portrayed."[28]

In August 2013, before the wide release of the film, Kutcher responded to these critiques in a few interviews. In an interview with the Associated Press, Kutcher stated that: "Steve Wozniak is being paid by another company to support their Steve Jobs film. It's personal for him, but it's also business. We have to keep that in mind. He was also extremely unavailable to us when producing this film. He's a brilliant man and I respect his work, but he wasn't available to us as a resource, so his account isn't going to be our account because we don't know exactly what it was. We did the best job we could. Nobody really knows what happened in the rooms."[29] He reiterated this point in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter by stating that Wozniak "is being paid by another movie studio to help support their Steve Jobs film, so he's gonna have an opinion that is connected to that, somewhat."[30] Wozniak responded to Kutcher's comments as well as to the film itself on Gizmodo by stating that "either film would have paid me to consult, but the Jobs one already had a script written. I can't take that creative leadership from someone else. And I was turned off by the Jobs script. But I still hoped for a great movie." He also believed several individuals portrayed in the film were inaccurately and/or unfairly portrayed including himself and Steve Jobs.[31] Wozniak reiterated these points in an interview with Bloomberg Television adding that he is "really easy to get a hold of, [Kutcher] could have called me and consulted over the phone any time."[32] The Verge noted that "Wozniak was in fact invited to consult on the film, but declined after reading the script, saying he and his wife were 'abhorred' by it. (He is consulting on Aaron Sorkin's forthcoming Steve Jobs film.) When asked why he didn't at least correct the inaccuracies he saw, Wozniak said, 'I have a very busy life, and it came at a very busy time in my life.'"[32]

In an interview with Slashdot, Daniel Kottke states that he consulted on early versions of the screenplay and notes that "Ashton's very good. I have no complaints with him at all, no complaints with his portrayal of Jobs. The complaint that people would rightly have about the film is that it portrays Woz as not having the same vision as Steve Jobs, which is really unfair." He also said that the early versions of the screenplay "were painful. Really painful. I forwarded the first draft to Mike Markkula because they wanted his feedback, and Mike took such a bad reaction to it, he wouldn't have anything more to do with the project. By the time it got to the fourth draft, it was okay. It wasn't making me cringe."[7] Kottke also outlines various areas that were both accurate and inaccurate in the film. Bill Fernandez was part of the same interview but states that he didn't see the film because "the whole thing is a work of fiction, and I don't want to be upset by all the things that the screenwriter has invented and don't represent the truth." Kottke responded that he didn't think of the film as fiction because "I was involved early on in the film, and they really, sincerely tried to make it as accurate as they could."[7]

Chris Espinosa stated on Twitter, "FYI My position at Apple precludes my commenting on the #JobsMovie with the press or public. But I can say that I enjoyed watching the film."[33]

The TV show John Wants Answers took Steve Wozniak, Daniel Kottke, and Andy Hertzfeld through the film scene by scene and discussed how the events actually occurred.[34]

Original soundtrack

A number of classic rock, classical music, and contemporary works appeared in the film.[35] The commercial film soundtrack focuses on an original score by John Debney and includes some but not all of the classical and classic rock works.[36]

No.TitleSingersLength
1."Peace Train" (1971)Cat Stevens[37] 
2."Allegro from: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 - in G Major BWV 1048" (18th century)Johann Sebastian Bach 
3."House of the Rising Sun" (1966)The Brymers[38][39] 
4."Silver Ghost" (1970)Parish Hall[40] 
5."Fantasie Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Op. posth. 66" (1834)Frédéric Chopin 
6."Boots of Spanish Leather" (1964)Bob Dylan 
7."Scarborough Fair"Dylan McDonald & Cassidy Cooper / Produced by Mason Cooper & Jerry Deaton 
8."There Were Times" (2013)Freddy Monday 
9."Sacrifice" (1960s)The Brymers[38][39] 
10."Life's Been Good" (1978)Joe Walsh 
11."Roll with the Changes" (1978)REO Speedwagon 
12."Shine on Me"Matthew Cheadle 
13."Walk on the Ocean" (1992)Toad the Wet Sprocket 
14."You Can Do (Whatever)" (2013)Yusuf Islam[41] 

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ IMDB Release Dates: Jobs
  2. ^ a b c "Shooting a 'frozen' Jobs". Mumbai Mirror. August 14, 2013. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Box office Mojo". Box office Mojo. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  4. ^ Peter Canavese (August 16, 2013). "Palo Alto Online Film Review: Jobs". Palo Alto Online. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  5. ^ "2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Films in Premieres and Documentary Premieres". Sundance.org. Sundance Institute. December 3, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  6. ^ Gibbs, Ed (January 28, 2013). "Sundance film festival 2013: Jobs – first look review". The Guardian. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  7. ^ a b c Assar, Vijith (August 16, 2013). "'Early Apple Employees Talk Memories of Steve Jobs, New Movie". Slashdot.
  8. ^ a b McCollum, Charlie (August 12, 2013). "Ashton Kutcher, Steve Jobs and the making of 'Jobs'". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
  9. ^ "Q&A with JOBS director, Joshua Michael Stern" (PDF). MELBOURNE PUBLICITY. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  10. ^ Taylor Bigler (August 16, 2013). "'Jobs' producer on 'the rise, the fall and the triumphant return of Steve Jobs'". Dailycaller.com. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  11. ^ "Lights! Camera! Action! Film crews descend on Los Altos to chronicle the life of Steve Jobs". Contracostatimes.com. June 11, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  12. ^ Larkin, Mike (June 19, 2012). "A Zen-sational guy: Cross-legged Ashton Kutcher adopts meditation pose on set of Steve Jobs biopic". Mail Online. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
  13. ^ a b Jobs: Filming Locations (IMDB)
  14. ^ Tsering, Lisa (August 14, 2013). "Steve Jobs' Indian Journey Depicted in 'Jobs' Biopic". India-West. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
  15. ^ Subhash K. Jha (August 15, 2013). "Bollywood cinematographer shot Steve Jobs bio-pic". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
  16. ^ "Ashton Kutcher's Steve Jobs Movie Bombed". Business Insider. August 19, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  17. ^ "Jobs". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  18. ^ "Jobs – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixter. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
  19. ^ "Jobs: Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  20. ^ Fedeles, Bogdan (August 23, 2013). "MOVIE REVIEW: Changing what's possible, in biographic cinema: Steve Jobs biopic delivers on all counts, challenges the genre". The Tech(MIT). {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  21. ^ Neumaier, Joe (August 15, 2013). "Jobs Movie Review". Daily News. New York.
  22. ^ Toumarkine, Doris (August 15, 2013). "Film Review: Jobs". Film Journal International.
  23. ^ Cringely, Robert X. (August 19, 2013). "Ashton Kutcher's Steve Jobs somehow misses the whole point". cringely.com.
  24. ^ LaSalle, Mick (August 15, 2013). "Jobs review: Kutcher's fine, but film's timing is off". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  25. ^ Travers, Peter (August 15, 2013). "Jobs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  26. ^ Wloszczyna, Susan. "Jobs". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
  27. ^ Dargis, Manohla. "Portrait of the Artist Behind Apple Ashton Kutcher in a Biopic About Steve Jobs". The New York Times. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
  28. ^ a b Miller, Ross (January 26, 2013). "Steve Wozniak turned down offer to work on Jobs after reading early script: 'I felt it was crap'". The Verge.
  29. ^ "Q&A: Ashton Kutcher talks about becoming Apple co-founder Steve Jobs". Washington Post. Associated Press. August 13, 2013.
  30. ^ Carlson, Erin (August 8, 2013). "Jobs: Ashton Kutcher Responds to Steve Wozniak's Criticism of Film (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter.
  31. ^ Wozniak, Steve (August 16, 2013). "Jobs, Reviewed by Steve Wozniak". Gizmodo.
  32. ^ a b Toor, Amar (August 17, 2013). "Steve Wozniak says 'there were a lot of things wrong' with Jobs movie". The Verge.
  33. ^ Chris Espinosa@Twitter. August 16, 2013.
  34. ^ Vink, John (October 1, 2013). "The Cast of Jobs". John Wants Answers. KMVT 15.
  35. ^ Jobs Soundtrack
  36. ^ "''JOBS'': Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Amazon.com. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  37. ^ "Peace Train". Yusufislam.com. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  38. ^ a b "The Brymers Anthology". Thebrymers.sharepoint.com. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  39. ^ a b "20-Oct-2013 Dick Lee interview on Outsight Radio Hours". Archive.org. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  40. ^ "Parish Hall". Cduniverse.com. October 11, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  41. ^ "You Can Do (Whatever)". Yusufislam.com. Retrieved April 14, 2014.

External links

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