You know that your acting talents are being publicly challenged when news leaks of a new role you're scheduled to play and everyone is so incredulous that they think it's an April Fool's Day prank. Nevertheless, that was how the news was greeted on Sunday when film industry bible Variety reported that Ashton Kutcher was slated to play Steve Jobs in a new film biography.
Considering Kutcher's role as the producer of MTV's Punk'd prank TV show, it seemed even more likely that the actor, not known for playing complicated characters like Jobs, might even be in on the joke. But, according to Variety's Jeff Sneider, the news is very real. Sneider took to Twitter to back up his claims writing, "The timing of the story is unfortunate but this information is CONFIRMED… We discussed holding it until Monday for fear of readers dismissing it as a joke, but felt it was too big a scoop to risk losing. It's TRUE!"
Just a couple of hours later, competing movie news source The Hollywood Reporter published a similar report, seemingly confirming the casting of the new film. The project is reportedly titled Jobs and will be directed by Joshua Michael Stern, who previously helmed the 2008 political drama Swing Vote, starring Kevin Costner. Script and producing duties are said to be handled by Matt Whiteley and Five Star Institute's Mark Hulme, respectively.
The project is unrelated to the popular book by Walter Isaacson, which is attached to another Jobs film in production under the Sony banner. The last person to successfully tackle portraying the co-founder of Apple was Noah Wyle, who played Jobs in the TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley back in 1999. Although Kutcher does bear a striking resemblance to Jobs, the Two and a Half Men star will have his work cut out for him as he attempts to shift his well-known comedic acting profile toward to a role most agree requires a good deal of dramatic intensity.
For his part, Kutcher has yet to confirm his involvement in project, so if it turns out that this was indeed a prank, he not only led his own MTV network astray, but it could go down as one of the better pranks in tech history. And, for those hardcore Jobs fans keeping score, Apple was founded on April 1, 1976, so whether or not the film comes to pass, at least the announcement itself has some rather interesting historical symmetry. In the meantime, it might be wise for Apple watchers to get over their doubts about the casting and get used to Kutcher's visage being associated with their beloved icon.
