Two major movies about Apple co-founder Steve Jobs would be shown this autumn. Even if it has been four years since he died of pancreatic cancer, the production of two films and an opera are indicators of the public's fascination with the creator of the iPhone.
The movies analyze the life and career of Jobs. The documentary by filmmaker Alex Gibney is a re-assessment of Jobs, the perfectionist, "who revolutionized the way people communicate but whose treatment of friends, family and co-workers was sometimes rife with contradiction," reports Straitstimes.
Titled "Steve Jobs: The Man In The Machine," the docu for Magnolia Pictures presents a contrast of Jobs - who once wanted to be a Buddhist monk - with a businessman did not initially recognize his first child and led a company that paid crumbs to Chinese workers who produced the iPhones which reaped for the Cupertino-based firm billions of dollars in profit.
In his commentary on his subject, Gibney said, "He has the focus of a monk, but none of the empathy."
Gibney said the film would explain why many people cried when Jobs died in 2011. However, while the interviews talked of Jobs's values, the filmmaker still wants to know from the Apple co-founder what his values are.
"There's a darker side to Steve Jobs that we can't forget about. The values of his company I think sometimes were ruthless and sometimes as cruel as he could be as a person, and it's important that as we reckon with these powerful companies, that we take that into account," Variety quotes the director.
For the docu, which would be shown on Sept. 4, Gibney used archived footage of interviews with newsmen, former friend and Apple workers. Laurene, the widow of Jobs, and current Apple officials did not cooperate in the production of the docu.
The film had an intimate screening on Thursday at Crosby Street Hotel in New York wherein Gibney compared Jobs to James Brown in being a great performer.
The second film will be released in the U.S. in October and in Singapore in January. It stars Michael Fassbender as Jobs.