Yesterday, in news that was promised to be true and not an April Fool’s prank, it was announced that Ashton Kutcher — of Ashton Kutcher fame — will be playing the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs in an indie biopic. Okay, so, going by only the side-by-side pictures alone (pic from Mashable, who were brainy enough to choose pictures from both men’s bearded phases), it’s not that insane of an idea. But then when you recall that Ashton Kutcher is not known for his acting, let alone playing, um, geniuses, this throws things into a different perspective. Let’s talk about this, shall we?
The news was broken yesterday by Variety’s Jeff Sneider on Twitter, and he swore up and down that this story was real. True as it may be, this particular biopic is not the bigger-budget one from Sony, which is based on Walter Isaacson biography of Jobs and has not yet cast its lead role. (That production has also mentioned the possibility of Aaron Sorkin writing the screenplay, which would be a beautiful happening, indeed.)
But this movie is not that movie — This movie, entitled Jobs, is being written by Matt Whiteley and directed by Joshua Michael Stern, best known for the movie Swing Vote. Production will begin next month, when Kutcher is released from his contract at Two and a Half Men.
So, yeah — Ashton Kutcher. Rather than completely write him off, surely he must have done something during an audition or meeting to prove he could take on the role of someone who has only recently passed away and left behind a vast legacy of creative technological innovations. He is generally known for the following things, even if they are things that are not all that recent: marrying/divorcing Demi Moore, playing goofy but handsome morons, playing one-dimensional handsome dudes in romantic comedies, getting tons and tons of people to follow him on Twitter, and Punk’d, which is enjoying a renaissance. Ask a normal person on the street, and they will not be able to tell you how this man has remained insanely famous since leaving That ’70s Show. But clearly, he’s been doing something right, so who are we to criticize him?
Though Variety points out that Kutcher did get decent reviews for his serious turns in David Mackenzie‘s Spread and Emilio Estevez‘s Bobby. So, maybe the Kutch has just been slumming it because he could get away with it, and there’s been a real actor hiding in there this whole time, just waiting to get out!
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