Fassbender commited himself to capture the essence of Steve Jobs, not his physical appearance

Universal’s “Steve Jobs” biography will now open only in New York and Los Angeles on October 9th. That was originally the date of the national release of the film. Instead, after the limited opening on Friday, the movie will open in more North American markets on October 16th before its national launch on October 23rd.

With the film already garnering mention as a potential “Best Picture” nominee for the Academy Awards, it is interesting that unlike the earlier “Jobs,” which failed artistically and at the box office, the star of the new film doesn’t resemble its subject at all. Jobs star Ashton Kutcher sent photos to social media, showing how he looked eerily close to the late Apple co-founder in certain images.

Michael Fassbender knew from the start that he doesn’t resemble Jobs as much as Christian Bale does. The latter was one of the stars that at one time was linked to the movie, before dropping out of the project. Director Danny Boyle told Fassbender that his job was to catch the essence of the man. To do so, he met with the real-life people who were portrayed in the film such as Steve Wozniak, John Sculley, Joanna Hoffman and Andy Hertzfeld.

Fassbender did wear brown contacts to match the color of Jobs’ eyes, and by the end of the movie he donned the black turtleneck sweater, jeans and New Balance sneakers that made up the ‘uniform’ of the Apple co-founder later in his life.

Seth Rogen, who played Steve Wozniak, added that he was glad to hear that the Woz was happy with the film. Still, he pointed out that Wozniak was not his boss. “My job, first and foremost, was making my boss, who was Danny (Boyle) happy. Woz wasn’t paying me.” Rogen added that if had been told by the director to ignore the things he learned about the Apple co-founder in order to improve the artistic vision of the film, he eagerly would have done so. “I don’t want to get fired, and Woz can’t fire me,” Rogen said.

The film has three acts, each one taking place just before an Apple product is announced.