USA: Ashton Kutcher talks about the challenges of portraying Steve Jobs in his new film "Jobs"

Record ID: 221123

  • Title: USA: Ashton Kutcher talks about the challenges of portraying Steve Jobs in his new film "Jobs"
  • Date: 8th August 2013
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 07, 2013) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASHTON KUTCHER, ACTOR, SAYING: "It wasn't his job to be nice, it was his job to make people better. And so I think it was a lot like a football coach that is sometimes really tough on his players, but at the end of the day they win the championship. An
  • Embargoed: 23rd August 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General,People
  • Reuters ID: LVABFXHVTT23INB4V6705JL41LH9
  • Story Text: The life and career of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs hits the big screen with Ashton Kutcher at the helm in the new film "Jobs."
    The actor along with co-star Josh Gad, who plays Steve 'Woz" Wozniak, walked the red carpet to celebrate the movie's New York opening.
    "Jobs" is a biographical look at the career rise of Jobs from wayward hippie to charismatic inventor and entrepreneur.
    While Kutcher is proud to promote the film, he admitted that the process can sometimes be awkward and intrusive.
    "Red carpets are a little loud. You're talking with strangers and you're having a conversation and sometimes they ask personal questions that aren't that fun. But the process of sharing something that you're proud of - I love that," he told Reuters.
    Over the last few years Kutcher has established himself as an innovator in the tech industry, and has invested in multiple tech companies.
    His love for the field and respect for Steve Jobs added an extra layer of stress during filming.
    "I think it's always harder to play someone that you admire. You have an initial tendency to want to hide their flaws. I also had the added pressure of having a lot of friends that knew him and loved him and admired him and worked for him. And so I also wanted to make them proud," he explained.
    The film chronicles 30 years of Jobs' life and features the much talked about 'tough' side Jobs.
    "It wasn't his job to be nice, it was his job to make people better. And so I think it was a lot like a football coach that is sometimes really tough on his players, but at the end of the day they win the championship. And you know, some of Steve's flaws were some of his greatest gifts. And when he used them appropriately they created extraordinary results," said Kutcher.
    A separate movie project about Jobs, based on the 2011 biography by Walter Isaacson, is currently being developed at Sony Pictures Studios.
    For Gad, that production prevented him from being able to speak with "Woz" directly.
    "I reached out, unfortunately I didn't get an opportunity to - Steve Wozniak is working on another Jobs film, of which I imagine there will be many because the man was so remarkable. So I didn't get to speak to him so it was incumbent of me to do all this work. I literally poured through, I would estimate over 200 hours of footage, recordings. Read as much literature as I could from his own autobiography, 'I Woz' to the Isaacson book. And I tried to compile all the pieces to the puzzle that I could. Put them together and then kind of let it go," he said.
    The film will be released in the U.S. on August 16th in the midst of a batch of summer action flicks. Director Joshua Michael Stern is hoping that the story doesn't get lost.
    "You know, they're not making dramas anymore. They're not making movies about people, small films. Yet, even though it's about an icon, it's just about a guy. So I really hope it breaks through and people see it. It's an important film too. I think that the message is amazing."
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