Sony Pictures on verge of signing a deal to produce movie bio on Steve Jobs

Sony Pictures is negotiating to purchase the movie rights to the upcoming Steve Jobs biography. Simply entitled Steve Jobs and written by Walter Isaacsson, Deadline is reporting that Sony is offering $1 million against $3 million for the movie and has tapped Mike Gordon to direct. Sony has done well with movies based on business books and technology including the Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook bio The Social Network and the current first-run hit Moneyball about Oakland A's GM Billy Beane. Trying to put together a winning baseball team team in small market, Beane uses unusual metrics to determine the true potential of players. Both stories pale compared to the mythical true life story about two kids who start-up a small computer company in a garage and turn it into one of the most valuable companies in the history of the globe.

Isacsson's book was originally scheduled to be published on November 21st by Simon and Schuster, but is now being rushed out to meet a deadline of October 24th following Jobs' death late last week. The 448 page book is based on 40 interviews with Jobs and 100 conversations with relatives, friends, co-workers and competitors. While the subject matter had not read the book as of mid-August, he did give his o.k. to finish the project. The book, originally titled iSteve, made it on Amazon's Top 50 books list even before it was finished. It was the author Isaacsson who convinced the publisher to change the title to Steve Jobs.

The career of Steve Jobs has been the subject of one other movie, Pirates Of Silicon Valley which was a semi-comic documentary about Jobs and Microsoft founder Bill Gates and was based on the book Fire In The Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer. The film was shown on TNT back in 1999 with ER star Noah Wyle (Dr. Carter) as Jobs and Brat Packer Anthony Michael Hall as Gates. Jobs was so enthusiastic about Wyle's performance that at MacWorld in 1999, he had Wyle come out dressed like him to start the Keynote speech. Check out the trailer for the film by clicking on the video below.

Finally, we ask you to put on the hat of casting director for the new Steve Jobs biopic. Who would be your choice to play Steve Jobs? You can give us your answer in the comments box below!

source: Deadline via BGR