Sorkin: Steve Jobs biopic to be 3 real-time scenes from backstage at Mac, NeXT, iPod launches

Today at the Hero Summit, an invitation-only “theatrical-journalism event’ being covered by The Daily Beast, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin made some comments about the upcoming Steve Jobs movie based on his official biography by Walter Isaacson.

According to the interview from Hero Summit, the movie will take place as three 30-minute scenes that take place in real-time. Each of the scenes will be set backstage at an Apple product announcement. Of course, the movie is still in the early stages of development, so this could definitely change, but the possibility is intriguing.

Which products will be featured? The original Mac, NeXT and the iPod.

Presenting the movie as scenes from back stage at product events raises some interesting questions. The drama would likely be high at each of these events as well. All of the Apple lieutenants like Schiller, Forstall and more would be in attendance obviously, so he could explore their relationships with Jobs. Sorkin’s habit of focusing on the relationships between characters through patter and repartee should be well served by a focused scenario with heightened emotions. There will no doubt be many walk-and-talk segments.

Here’s the interview, the Jobs bits are just past the 21 minute point:

He says that he is meeting with a bunch of people who were around Jobs in life-like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. “These people…revere him despite of the fact that he made all of them cry at one point. But he made all of them better.” Sorkin also re-iterated other things we’ve heard before, including the fact that Jobs had asked him to write a Pixar movie, saying that “once you make them talk they won’t be inanimate anymore.”

Sorkin hopes to end the movie with the text of the ‘here’s to the crazy ones‘ ad.

On penning Jobs’ story, Sorkin said that there’s “no point in writing about someone unless they’re flawed.”

Back in May, Sorkin spoke at the All Things D conference about taking on the biopic. “It’s very difficult to shake the cradle-to-grave structure of a biography,” said Sorkin. ”Instead I’m going to identify the point of friction and focus on that.”

“It’s a little like writing about the Beatles. There are so many people out there that know so much about him and that revere him. I just saw a minefield of disappointment.”

Sorkin is writing the screenplay for the movie, which will be produced by Sony Pictures. Sorkin wrote the screenplay for The Social Network, an Academy Award-winning film about the genesis of Facebook.

Thanks Viticci.

Image Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images