Coming just two days after the death of Apple co-founder and chairman Steve Jobs, Sony Pictures is reportedly ironing out a deal for the feature rights for the upcoming biography of the innovator, the simply-titled Steve Jobs. The authorized look at Jobs’ life has been penned by Time managing editor (and former CNN chairman) Walter Isaacson. Mark Gordon (Source Code, Saving Private Ryan, Speed) will produce the project. The film will hopefully only further Sony’s recent track record of spinning real-life business-based bios into massive popular and critical hits (a la The Social Network and Moneyball).
Isaacson’s biography of Jobs’ life is surely set to be the definitive piece on the man’s life, comprised of “over 40 interviews with the Apple co-founder and over 100 conversations with friends, family members, colleagues and competitors.” Jobs himself choose Isaacson for the project and gave him his full cooperation. As of mid-August, Jobs had reportedly not read the current draft, so it’s unclear as to how much Jobs had read of the book before his passing. It has been confirmed, however, that Isaacson conducted the last interview Jobs gave before his death, an interview that, on its own, would likely be a hot property. The book was originally supposed to be published in March of next year, before being moved up to November 21, with a final change pushing it to an October 24 publishing date.
Jobs’ early years have already gotten the feature treatment, with Martyn Burke’s 1999 television movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, in which Noah Wyle played Jobs to Anthony Michael Hall’s Bill Gates (in a role that seemed, oddly enough, like a more-serious sequel to Weird Science). Jobs quite liked Wyle’s performance, even having Wyle appear at the Macworld conference the same year the movie aired.
If you’re feeling particularly Jobs-centric today, why don’t you spend some time re-reading our own Cole Abaius’ piece on Jobs’ movie legacy, a fitting tribute to some of the contributions Jobs had just on the entertainment industry? Let’s hope that Sony’s film can round out those remarkable works. [Deadline Palo Alto]