For all his brilliance, Steve Jobs was a notoriously intense man — some would say even a huge jerk. He reportedly bullied and belittled others when they failed to meet his high standards. He went beyond the reach of the law in order to achieve his own goals, believing, according to one person, that “normal rules didn’t apply to him.” He created a ubiquitous system capable of tracking people across an entire city. After temporarily ceding control of the company synonymous with his name, he siphoned its resources towards a campaign of terror and vigilante justice, frequently impeding actual police operations. In one of his final projects at that company, he inadvertently created technology that would allow his home city to be taken hostage by a murderous criminal mastermind.
Christian Bale’s Batman is the Steve Jobs performance we’ve been waiting for
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin recently confirmed that equally intense actor Christian Bale will be playing the role of Jobs in an upcoming biopic based on Walter Isaacson’s 2011 biography. An early trailer, revealed by Conan O’Brien, shows that this was absolutely the right choice — Bale brings a gritty, sinister energy that exceeds even Ashton Kutcher’s energetic performance. And while he doesn’t look the part quite as well, he’s really nailed one part of the role that Kutcher did struggle with: Jobs’ trademark gravelly, emotionless voice.
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