The Aaron Sorkin-penned biopic Steve Jobs opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, and former Apple CEO John Sculley spoke to The Wall Street Journal about the movie.
Sculley liked the movie, calling it “extraordinary entertainment” and predicting it’ll be as successful as The Social Network.
Sculley says he was “taken” by Jeff Daniels portrayal of him, saying Daniels “accurately summarized a lot of the the things I felt then, and now.” Like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Sculley participated in the development of the film, speaking with both Daniels and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.
Sculley did note that the film took creative licenses with actual events, adding an extra encounter between himself and Jobs after Jobs left Apple, and he noted that he and the board still believed in the Mac after Jobs left. “There was a lot of creative license taken. Many of the actual conversations didn’t exactly happen when they occur in the film.”
Sculley does echo the thoughts of others who say the film doesn’t capture all facets of Jobs’ personality.
“Part of his personality was he was a passionate perfectionist, but there were so many other parts of Steve’s personality that I knew because Steve and I were not only business partners, but we were incredibly close friends for several years,” Sculley says. “I could tell you that the young Steve Jobs that I knew had a great sense of humor. He was on many occasions, when we were together, very warm. He cared a lot about the people he worked with and he was a good person. So, I think those aren’t the aspects that are focused on in this movie.”
“If one tries to come away with a complete picture of who was Steve Jobs, they wouldn’t get it from this movie,” he says.
Steve Jobs opens in New York and Los Angeles on October 9, and expands to additional theaters on October 16, before going into wide release on October 23.
