Christian Bale Drops Out Of Steve Jobs Biopic

After early discussions to play the Apple founder, Christian Bale has decided to part ways with the Steve Jobs biopic at Sony.

While negotiations were never fully under way, sources tell Variety that Bale had talks with director Danny Boyle about taking on the role, but a deal never came to fruition. The news comes almost two weeks after the biopic’s screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, told Bloomberg that Bale was a lock for the part of Jobs. ““We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range and that’s Chris Bale,” he said. “It’s an extremely difficult part and he’s gonna crush it.”

Sony will now look to find its replacement after Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio both passed on the part. The studio is in discussions with Seth Rogen to play Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Scott Rudin, Mark Gordon and Guymon Casady are producing.

Bale is in negotiations to play Travis McGee in Fox’s “The Deep Blue Goodbye” and can be seen next in Fox’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings.” He is repped by WME.

Christian Bale Confirmed To Play Steve Jobs

Christian Bale will play the late Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs in a biopic based on Walter Isaacson’s biography from director Danny Boyle, as confirmed by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin via Bloomberg.

“We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range and that’s Chris Bale,” Sorkin said, “He didn’t have to audition. Well, there was a meeting.”

Sorkin, known for his fast-paced dialogue in films like The Social Network and The American President, was candid about the verbal gymnastics Bale will have to perform in the biopic, as opposed to the actual gymnastics he displayed as Batman in “The Dark Knight” trilogy.

“He has more words to say in this movie than most people have in three movies combined,” Sorkin said. “There isn’t a scene or a frame that he’s not in. So it’s an extremely difficult part and he is gonna crush it.”

Bale was initially courted for the part back when David Fincher was attached to helm, and made himself available recently after Leonardo DiCaprio dropped out of the role in order to film The Revenant and take time off from acting.

Previously, Ashton Kutcher played Steve Jobs in last year’s JOBS, a film that was a critical and commercial failure when it was finally released in August after its Sundance Film Festival debut.