George Clooney and Noah Wyle - Candidates for Steve Jobs Biopic

Two actors who made names for themselves playing ‘doctor’ in a popular TV series called ER, George Clooney and Noah Wyle are battling it out to play Steve Jobs in the upcoming biopic by Sony Pictures.

I reported a while back that Sony was interested in seeing a script from Aaron Sorkin, the guy who made the screenplay for “The Social Network”.

Whether or not Sorkin will be writing the film adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s biography of the Apple co-founder, it is now being reported that two actors from ER are being courted to play the role of Steve Jobs - George Clooney and Noah Wyle.

I can see why Clooney would make a good choice for the old Steve Jobs - the man is charismatic and intelligent-looking, he has the appropriate grey hair and he plays with passion, especially when it comes to robbing banks.

Wyle, on the other hand, actually portrayed Jobs once in a 1999 made-for-television film directed by Martyn Burke and based on the book “Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer” by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine.

After seeing the movie, Steve Jobs (then Apple CEO) said Wyle reenacted his young self brilliantly.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Wyle, now 40 years old, got the part for the second time. Some of the reasons I can think of on the spot:

1. he’s got experience playing the role, making the job a lot easier for everyone on the set;
2. we already know he can play the role well;
3. he actually looks a lot like young Steve Jobs, whereas Clooney doesn’t even come close to that, no matter how much makeup they apply (and at least half of the film will be about young Jobs);
4. it makes sense for all those who’ve seen and enjoyed Pirates of Silicon Valley.

But I think the most important aspect is what each actor has to offer in terms of old-Steve Jobs. After all, that’s the sequel.

Chances are Clooney will make a much better case for himself playing old-Jobs. Although Wyle is a more mature actor today, he may still seem too young to convincingly play the role of a 56 year-old man dying of cancer.

So, which one of the two would you like to see playing the role of Steve Jobs? And, by all means, be subjective. After all, we’re talking about movie stars for a change, not hardware and software.