Can a great man be a good man?|Oct. 09, 2015|UK|122 Min.|R
Genre: Biography;Drama;History
Description: In 1984, just an hour before the unveiling of the Apple Macintosh 128K at the Flint Center, its voice demo malfunctioned. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, urgently demanded engineer Andy Hertzfeld to resolve the issue, threatening to publicly credit him in the presentation if he failed. Hertzfeld eventually proposed using the Macintosh 512K prototype to simulate the demo.
Jobs later vented to marketing executive Joanna Hoffman about a Time magazine article that revealed his paternity dispute with his ex-girlfriend, Chrisann Brennan. He denied being the father of Brennan’s five-year-old daughter, Lisa. Brennan confronted Jobs with Lisa, expressing frustration over his denials and lack of financial support despite his wealth. Jobs, however, bonded with Lisa over her MacPaint artwork and agreed to provide more financial assistance and a house. Meanwhile, Steve Wozniak, Apple’s other co-founder, urged Jobs to acknowledge the Apple II team during his presentation, but Jobs dismissed the idea, viewing the Apple II as outdated.
By 1988, after the Macintosh’s apparent failure, Jobs had established a new company, NeXT. Before the NexT Computer launch at the War Memorial Opera House, he spent time with 9-year-old Lisa, though his relationship with Brennan remained tense. He accused her of irresponsible behavior and using Lisa to extract money from him. Wozniak appeared and predicted that NeXT would also fail. Jobs confronted him about his public criticism, defending his role in computing history as a conductor guiding “musicians” like Wozniak.
Apple CEO John Sculley questioned why the public believed he had fired Jobs. In reality, Jobs was forced out by the Apple board, which prioritized updating the Apple II over the Macintosh’s underwhelming sales. Despite Sculley’s warnings, Jobs challenged the board to a decisive vote on his position. Later, Hoffman and Jobs discussed NeXT’s unclear direction, and she realized Jobs had designed the computer to lure Apple into acquiring the company and reinstating him.
Cast director: Danny Boyle
Cast actor: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg, Katherine Waterston, Perla Haney-Jardine, Ripley Sobo, Makenzie Moss, Sarah Snook
Original name: Steve Jobs