Universal’s drama “Steve Jobs” has been chosen as the Centerpiece of the upcoming 53rd New York Film Festival, it was announced Monday by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Michael Fassbender stars in the film, which Danny Boyle directed from a script by fellow Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin. The duo worked off of Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography of the tempestuous Apple co-founder.
“Steve Jobs” will screen on Saturday, Oct. 3. The NYFF runs from Sept. 25 to Oct. 11.
The film co-stars Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, Michael Stuhlbarg as Andy Hertzfeld, and Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan.
“You hear that a bio of Steve Jobs is being produced, and of course you see multiple possible movies in your head . . . but not this one. Steve Jobs is dramatically concentrated, yet beautifully expansive; it’s extremely sharp; it’s wildly entertaining, and the actors just soar — you can feel their joy as they bite into their material,” said Kent Jones, NYFF director and selection committee chair.
“I am honored that our film has been selected as the Centerpiece of this year’s festival,” said Boyle. “And thrilled and terrified too, unlike the subject of our film, who would have taken the whole thing very much in his stride. Steve Jobs was a thoroughly contradictory and complex character who forged our digital age. He’s the kind of brilliant, flawed character that Shakespeare would have relished writing about, and storytellers of all kinds will be fashioning and re-fashioning the mythology of the digital revolution for generations to come. I hope that festivalgoers enjoy our take.”
With “Steve Jobs,” Sorkin and Boyle create a dynamically character-driven portrait of the co-founder of Apple, weaving the multiple threads of their protagonist’s life into three daringly extended backstage scenes, as Jobs prepares to launch the first Macintosh, the NeXT workstation, and the iMac. The film is a cross-hatched portrait of Jobs, set against the changing fortunes and circumstances of the home computer industry and the ascendancy of branding, of products, and of oneself.
NYFF previously announced Robert Zemeckis’s “The Walk” as the Opening Night selection and Don Cheadle’s “Miles Ahead” as the Closing Night selection.
