Boardwalk Empire alum Michael Stuhlbarg has signed on to a highly promising follow-up project today, with word that he’s set to portray a journalist in Universal’s Danny Boyle-directed, Aaron Sorkin-scripted Steve Jobs movie.
The project has been making headlines a lot lately. First, Michael Fassbender was locked into place to portray the late Apple founder. Then, the project lost its funding when Sony unexpectedly put it into turnaround (though Universal was quick to swoop in). More recently, Jeff Daniels landed the supporting role of former Apple CEO John Sculley, and leaked emails from Sony called the script, which adapts William Isaacson’s Steve Jobs, “brilliant” and “masterful.”
The film will take part in three distinct acts, following Jobs during three stressful, high-profile product launches including the first Macintosh in 1984 and Apple’s 2001 debut of the iPod. It has been described as more like a play than a typical Hollywood biopic, which is perhaps one of the reasons why Sony eventually decided to give it up.
In addition to Fassbender and Stuhlbarg, the film stars Seth Rogen as Jobs’ Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Producers are searching for a leading lady to portray former Mac marketing chief Joanna Hoffman. They originally wanted Natalie Portman, but the Black Swan Oscar winner passed on the part.
This won’t be Stuhlbarg’s first awards contender. The actor previously earned a Golden Globe nomination for the Coen Brothers’ dark comedy A Serious Man, and he’s had smaller roles in films like Hugo, Hitchcock, Blue Jasmine and Lincoln. Anyone who saw him on Boardwalk Empire can attest to his incredible talent, so it will be great to see what he does with the role of a journalist in this exceedingly ambitious and intriguing project.
