Steve Wozniak on new Steve Jobs movie: It’s pure Hollywood fiction

A few ironies are already emerging from the new biopic about greatest entrepreneur of the modern age, the late co-founder of $730bn Apple, Steve Jobs. One is that the screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men; The Social Network; Moneyball) – and the man responsible for Jobs’s brilliant 2005 Stanford Commencement address, among the most viewed speeches on Youtube. After first agreeing to write it and having received information over the months from Jobs, a week out Sorkin admitted he wasn’t able to write it. So only after having been forced into doing it himself, with guidance from his wife Laurene, Jobs wrote the now iconic speech himself. Another irony is the way Jobs’s co-founder Steve Wozniak is portrayed. Easy-going Woz reckons his character’s behaviour in a key part of the movie is pure fiction. Then again, he added, that’s Hollywood. And a little extra drama here and there is what puts the bums in seats. – Alec Hogg

Steve-Wozniak-biznews
The real Steve Wozniak – Go watch our interview with him to understand why he’s not like the character in the new movie.

Anousha Sakoui and Christopher Palmeri

(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak said he doesn’t recognize himself in the new trailer for the coming biopic “Steve Jobs,” but he doesn’t mind — it’s Hollywood.

In the clip released Wednesday, Wozniak, who is played by Seth Rogen, confronts Jobs and accuses his partner of hogging the credit for their creations, and those of others. That never happened, he said.

“I don’t talk that way,” Wozniak said in an e-mailed response to questions. “I would never accuse the graphical interface of being stolen. I never made comments to the effect that I had credit (genius) taken from me.”

His quibbles won’t stop Wozniak from seeing the movie. He said he liked the trailer and it presents a more or less accurate impression of Jobs, who died in 2011. Some parts, he said, made him want to cry. Wozniak said he will watch the Universal Pictures movie, which hits theaters on Oct. 9.

“The lines I heard spoken were not things I would say but carried the right message, at least partly,” he said. “I felt a lot of the real Jobs in the trailer, although a bit exaggerated.”

Universal took over production of the film from Sony Pictures last year, after executives at the Sony Corp. studio battled with its producer over casting and its budget. It is based on the Walter Isaacson biography and written by Aaron Sorkin.

A spokeswoman for Sorkin wasn’t immediately available for comment. Representatives of Universal and producer Scott Rudin declined to comment.

Credit Due

The first full trailer for the film depicts a tyrannical Jobs, played by Michael Fassbender, who disavows his daughter and gets fired while lording over his employees and taking credit for their work.

“What do you do? You’re not an engineer,” Rogen’s character says in the clip. “You’re not a designer. You can’t put a hammer to a nail. I built the circuit board. The graphical interface was stolen. So how come, 10 times in a day, I read Steve Jobs is a genius? What do you do?”

Wozniak said he consulted with Sorkin, who won an Oscar for “The Social Network,” before the Jobs script was written, met the cast briefly and had dinner with Rogen, though he never asked to see the script.

“I do not think that would be appropriate,” Wozniak said, adding he was honored to be portrayed by a popular actor like Rogen. “It is the creative work of the producer and writer and actors and director and others.”

He said the trailer has re-awakened feelings from his time at Apple working with the legendary Jobs, who was 56 when he died. The film tackles Jobs’ less attractive side, including disavowing his daughter Lisa.

“It was hard on me, even being quiet, when Jobs refused to acknowledge his child when the money didn’t matter, and I can almost cry remembering it.”

He said films about Apple rarely depict the real events accurately — even people who were there have different memories — although the overall meaning is often correct.

“Accuracy is second to entertainment in a movie like this.”

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