Three scenes. Each lasting 30 minutes. Each playing out in real time, amounting to a complete 90-minute movie.
That’s how Aaron Sorkin plans to structure his biopic of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, according to a Tweet posted on The Daily Beast that credits the award-winning screenwriter. Each scene reportedly will take place backstage before Jobs spoke to crowds (and, really, the world) at the highly-publicized Apple product launches. These events turned Jobs into even more of a household name, and a biopic that only focused on the marketing events … well, it’s kind of genius.
“That’s the movie. #hero12,” the Tweet summarizes. And that’s OK with me. It sounds far more interesting than the formulaic and dry approach currently on display in Lincoln (which has been done to death in previous biopics, as well). Jobs was an innovator who deserves an innovative look into his accomplished life.
And while I’d completely wince if this irregular structure were being employed by another screenwriter, Sorkin has earned the right to experiment thanks to emotional and insightful scripts for Moneyball, The Social Network and A Few Good Men, to name just a few.
Now Sorkin needs to find a proper director with which to collaborate on this Jobs biopic, because Ashton Kutcher has been hard at work on a rival Jobs biopic with director Joshua Michael Stern, and that’s going to reach audiences long before Sony’s version sees the light of day. Still, one way for Sorkin to distance his work from a competitor is to make one move with only three scenes, each played out in real time.
