Aaron Sorkin’s much-anticipated Steve Jobs movie is now a Universal Pictures project, after the studio stepped in take over from Sony Pictures which ended its two-year development of the title this month.
The Hollywood Reporter got confirmation of the change from a Universal spokesperson on Monday. The publication reports that Universal paid more than $30 million for the title, but that figure has not been confirmed.
The film, which is based on Walter Isaacson’s much-respect biography of Jobs, will be directed by Danny Boyle and scripted by Sorkin, who was behind unofficial Facebook film The Social Network.
Inglourious Basterds and X-Men star Michael Fassbender is confirmed on the cast for the flick, which will be produced by Scott Rudin — the first director to scoop an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award — and Mark Gordon, whose past credits include The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair.
Sorkin previously hinted that the film would not adopt a ‘cradle to the grave’ approach to documenting the late Apple CEO’s life. The Academy Award winner admitted feeling the pressure; initially he hesitated before taking on the project because the prospect of covering a universally respected figure like Jobs is “a little like writing about the Beatles.”
Previous hints suggested that the film would consist of three 30-minute sets depicting backstage events at key Apple launches. Now that the future of the project looks to be sorted, we won’t have quite so long to wait to find out.