Back in 1999 TNT aired a made-for-TV movie called Pirates of Silicon Valley, which told the story of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates' ascension to becoming the tech-icons we now know them to be. Part of Jobs' side of the story included his relationship with his high school girlfriend and the birth of his first child Lisa in 1978. This part of Jobs' life will apparently be explored to some extent in the upcoming Joshua Michael Stern indie biopic Jobs, as the role of Chris-Ann Brennan has been cast.
To avoid any confusion before we proceed, Jobs is based on a script by Matt Whiteley, and is set to star Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad as Jobs and Steve Wozniak respectively. This is not to be confused with Sony's promising-looking biopic, Steve Jobs, which will be penned by Aaron Sorkin.
According to Variety, Ahna O'Reilly has been tapped to play Brennan, a Bay Area painter who's Jobs' first girlfriend. The site lists her as the female lead, which could mean Jobs' relationship with Brennan will be featured fairly prominently in the story. O'Reilly's recent credits include a part in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the role of Elizabeth Leefolt in The Help.
Thinking back to Pirates of Silicon Valley, I remember feeling that the TV movie tried to tell too much story in one film. And given the history of Jobs and Gates during the decades when they were helping to revolutionize personal computers, that's to be expected. There was also sort of an unfinished quality about it, as the story makes its way to the present (at the time, the late '90's) before wrapping up. Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall were great in it, but I thought the story itself was underdeveloped. That includes Jobs' relationship with Brennan, which was addressed but not explored nearly as much as it could have been, especially considering Jobs' insistance that Lisa wasn't his daughter. So I'll be curious to see how his relationship with Brennan and the birth of his daughter are developed in Jobs.
