Well, it was a nice two weeks. Just over a week ago, rumors that Christian Bale was joining Danny Boyle‘s Steve Jobs biopic were confirmed. Bale was David Fincher‘s original choice to play the famous founder of Apple. The Aaron Sorkin screenplay had been searching for a star when Leonardo DiCaprio came on board with director Danny Boyle. Then, the news came that Bale was actually signing up for the role. Add to that the news that Seth Rogen was in talks to join as co-founder Steve Wozniak and Jessica Chastain was in talks for a part and the movie looked to be well on it’s way.
The Hollywood Reporter says that Christian Bale has pulled out of the project after reflection on the role and realizing he was not the right fit for the part. With Bale having taken on numerous taxing and intense roles, it makes you wonder if his departure really was for those reasons or something else we don’t know about. There has been something of a rush to get the film into production by early 2015, so it is possible that Bale was not a fan of the short time needed to fully invest himself in playing the part.
Sorkin’s script is based off of the late Jobs’ authorized memoir and is said to be divided into three parts, each focused on a major keynote speech surrounding a launch from Apple. With Sorkin’s brilliant work on THE SOCIAL NETWORK, one would assume the screenplay for this biopic was just as good. Hopefully Boyle and company find someone to replace Bale without trying to force the film into a set production schedule.
