As Sony’s strife with the cyber-hack continues, one of their projects recently that shuffled to another studio is charging forward. After the studio bailed on their Steve Jobs biopic, Universal swooped in to pick up the pieces. With a script from Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle in the director’s chair, it’s hard to believe this project ever had difficulty locking down its cast during its time with Sony… but Universal aren’t messing around. Per Variety, Oscar-winner Kate Winslet is now in the running for the female lead.
Recent talk had linked Natalie Portman to the role, but due to unknown circumstances, her deal never went through. Now that Winslet is in talks with the studio though, the idea of cameras rolling in the near future doesn’t seem impossible. Should she nail down a deal, the British actress will be starring alongside Michael Fassbender, who nabbed the lead role of the Apple founder when the project was still at Sony.
Seth Rogen is in the passenger seat as Jobs’ right-hand man Steve Wozniak, yet one name still unconfirmed is Jeff Daniels, who is reportedly eyeing up the part of former Apple CEO John Scully. With the studio intending to get the pic into production soon – so Fassbender can be relieved for his duties in X-Men: Apocalypse – it’s likely that Winslet may sign on in the near future.
From what we know of the script thus far, the film will focus on three key events in Apple’s history. Adopting more of a stage-play approach, those core scenes will revolve around Jobs’ experience throughout the launch of three of the company’s seminal products.
In light of their current situation, Sony probably isn’t concerning itself with a film it wanted rid of. But with a cast that’s firming up into an impressive clutch of names, they might be a little sad to have let go of the Steve Jobs biopic.
