Little-known until its debut at SXSW this weekend, Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney’s “Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine” has been picked up by Magnolia Pictures for a North American theatrical release, and CNN Films for television broadcasts, Deadline Hollywood reports today. An earlier story from The Hollywood Reporter claimed that several Apple employees in attendance walked out early, and Apple’s Eddy Cue has used Twitter to denounce the film, calling it “inaccurate and mean-spirited.”
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The Man in the Machine includes interviews with a number of former Apple employees including Jon Rubinstein, Bob Belleville and Daniel Kottke, as well as Jobs’ ex-girlfriend Chrisann Brennan, and even video footage from a 2008 SEC deposition given by Jobs himself. Early reviews have described the documentary as “a riveting and important corrective to the myths Jobs helped to propagate,” and “unsparing portrait of Steve Jobs [that] will prove extremely displeasing to devotees.” A few representative quotes from those reviews follow…
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Gibney offers a more conceptual and critical assessment of his subject’s legacy than did Walter Isaacson’s biography, which was published less than a month after Jobs’s death in October 2011. …On a certain level, “The Man in the Machine” functions as a corrective and a tribute to the many brilliant men and women Jobs surrounded himself with but didn’t necessarily give their due; many here attest to his sharp way with a jab and his monomaniacal need for control, particularly with regard to staff retention.
Alex Needham, The Guardian (4 stars out of 5)
The film points out that Jobs’s genius was in personalising computers – Lisa being the first – but it also reveals that this impulse came from a pretty messed-up place. … Jobs achieved things that the vast majority of us would never dream of. Yet Gibney’s film forensically anatomises the contradictions, the ruthlessness, and the pointlessly crappy behaviour that reveal Apple’s ideals to be a sham, even while the products themselves continue to prove almost irresistible.
It’s a surprisingly nuanced, in-depth and affecting portrait of the man, made in the face of opposition from both Apple and Laurene Powell Jobs. …There are definitely times when Gibney reaches. But Gibney has done a good job with the ex-Apple employees he could get, and it’s fun to hear stories about, say, the raucous night of drinking that followed the successful iPhone unveiling in 2007. On the whole, what emerges is a balanced portrait.
Rather than going for a chronological history of Jobs’ life, Gibney has created a documentary that is about his own dawning awareness of the many facets of Jobs. …Familiar figures from throughout Jobs’ life make appearances… but largely they’re telling stories we’ve heard before: Jobs’ cruel denials over the paternity of his daughter, the insane working hours Apple employees were subjected to, the a-ha moment when Toshiba hard drives made the iPod a reality. What’s different is the focus. It’s an unflinching look at the emotional shrapnel people took when they were part of Jobs’ life, and how some of them — paradoxically — still feel tremendous love and gratitude towards him.
It’s also interesting that a significant portion of the documentary is devoted to the imbroglio between Jobs and Gizmodo following the infamous 2010 sale of a prototype iPhone 4. Former Gawker legal head Gaby Darbyshire, who was involved in the controversy, is notably one of the film’s producers.
@blam @jesusdiaz @jasonchen @nicknotned Movie premieres tomorrow! #SXSW #stevejobsthemaninthemachine #alexgibney pic.twitter.com/S6BTvi0CbV
— Gaby Darbyshire (@gabyd) March 13, 2015
Premiere time… #themaninthemachine #SXSW pic.twitter.com/sjD0XDayUu
— Gaby Darbyshire (@gabyd) March 14, 2015
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine currently does not have a release date, but is expected to debut before the Danny Boyle/Aaron Sorkin/Walter Isaacson film “Steve Jobs,” due October 9, 2015. Boyle’s film will focus on the events surrounding three of Jobs’ famous keynote speeches, starring Michael Fassbender as Jobs.
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Without even seeing it I know where this is going. It’s no secret that the guy could be ruthless, but the focus on ex employees just makes me think “disgruntled ex employees”. Doesn’t provide for a balanced story. You could do the same with the story of anyone’s life if you talked to the right people.
Given the other Jobs bio-pics out there could be reviewed as flattering promotional films for Jobs life, the fact that this film is in the market place at all does attempt to create what you describe as a “balanced story”. Using a single source for such topics will never get you “balance”. Between this film and the others the truth is somewhere in the middle.
There are plenty of people who rightly sing his praises for what he has done despite having never met the him. Like everybody else, he had a past and had issues & whether you like it or not, it is supposed to be a documentary not an advert.
It doesn’t take away from the enormous contribution the guy has made to humankind does it.
Hopefully viewers will balance the comments made about Jobs with some level of reservation. Reading this article what stood out are the people being interviewed: former employees and an ex-girlfriend.
For those fired or quit because of Jobs we shouldn’t expect anything else but a tour de force of bruised egos and scathing accusations. Especially an ex-girlfriend.
Having said that I’ll definitely be in line for this one. Knowing Jobs was a colossal prick won’t end my admiration for him and his effect on the world, which is beyond reproach.
Produced by Gizmodo.
Boy, does that explain a lot.
Gawker/Gizmodo legal head is a producer? Wow, no bias there.
I didn’t have to go beyond the fact that so much of this documentaries sources seem to have been EX-employees. In my experience there is often nothing more petty and condescending than an EX! Not always, but so many times they are EX because they were not up to the task, and need to vent. That doesn’t take away from what is known historically about Job’s acerbic and mercurial personality, but it likely gives a somewhat if not a very distorted picture of the man. I don’t have any interest in seeing it, but I wonder if there is any balance between EX and Current employees.
I don’t think the writer of the Guardian piece is Alex Gibney. Though if it is, he has great restraint in awarding himself only four of five stars.
Since the subject is a movie, what we have here is the Rashomon Effect.
Jobs was so complex, you can find whatever you’re looking for in him. Everybody who ever knew him could speak truthfully, and we’d still have a wide range of viewpoints.
I doubt I would have liked him, but you can say that about a lot of driven executives.Quick minds, sharp tongues, a gift for the theatrical and for deception, a willingness to take the low road for the “higher mission,” the unceasing need to be faster and better, the capacity to see how technology can be used to improve the lives of people, and so forth.
In the end, I don’t care much what Steve Jobs was like. If the movers and the shakers of the world were like me, all the golf courses would be packed. I could never get a tee time.
What matters to me about the life of an artist – and Steve had very much the artistic nature – is what he delivers. I can look at my Macbook Pro or my iPhone or the other gadgets. THAT is Steve Jobs, and I’m fine with that.
Are you fine with Jobs cancelled all of Apple’s philanthropic programmes? Or perhaps refusing to pay paternity for his daughter until a court forced him to?
He was a seriously flawed character. Brilliant in many ways, but deeply unpleasant in others. By contrast look at Bill Gates, who never had Job’s artistic vision, but has now dedicated the rest of his life to helping those less fortunate than him. Could you honestly ever imagine Jobs doing that?
OK look up all my EX friends, girlfriends and wife and have them do a documentary on me. I’m sure I will be flattered.
So, when an image of Jobs that people find upsetting, because he was a ruthless jerk, comes to light, excuses as to why are given… He was a ruthless jerk, and everyone knew it. He even said it in his Isaacson Biography. Why so upset?
To be fair, the stories of “Asshole Steve Jobs” are pretty rampant. He, like most geniuses, are extremely passionate about what they do. Doesn’t change my opinion of him. Acting like “Asshole Steve Jobs” didn’t exist is pretty ridiculous.