It may have taken nearly three years for Sony’s Aaron Sorkin-penned Steve Jobs biopic to lock down anything resembling a formal cast, but now that both director Danny Boyle and star Christian Bale are officially on board, this thing is humming right along like a particularly robust Macintosh 128K. TheWrap reports that Boyle’s currently untitled film (too bad Jobs was already taken, because damn that’s a snappy title) has now set its sights on another star: Seth Rogen, who is reportedly in contention to play Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. (While TheWrap shares that he’s currently being “eyed” for the part, Variety weighs in with a much more hearty confirmation by sources.)
Sorkin’s script (which pulls from Walter Isaacson’s official biography of Jobs) has long been billed as an untraditional take, and will chronicle three key events in the making of both Apple as a company and Jobs as a visionary: the individual launches of the original Macintosh computer (1984), the NeXTcube (1990), and the original iPod (2001). Wozniak was with the company until 1987—and the guy is credited with designing both the Apple I and the Apple II—so his inclusion in the film is quite essential. There’s just no Apple with no Woz.
Although Rogen is most readily identified for his comedic outings, he has tried his hand at more dramatic fare in recent years, including a heartbreaking turn in Take This Waltz (Michelle Williams, you monster) and his supporting role in the cancer dramedy 50/50. Boyle’s film does, however, mark a major step forward for Rogen’s dramatic work, and will likely involve his getting screamed at a whole bunch by Bale’s Jobs—a tough demand for even the most hardened of thespians. Wozniak has previously been played on the big screen in various Apple-centric films, most notably by Josh Gad in Jobs and Joey Slotnick in Pirates Of Silicon Valley.
TheWrap also reports that Jessica Chastain is in the running for an unspecified role in the film—perhaps Chrisann Brennan, the mother of Jobs’ first child? Maybe his wife Laurene Powell? Or even a key Apple employee, like fearsome former PR director Katie Cotton?—though her involvement has not yet been confirmed. If you’re reading this on a Mac right now, you’ve got Woz to thank for that. (Sorry, PC people.)