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Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle explore genius and flaws of Steve Jobs

The writer and director join "CBS This Morning" to discuss the movie and challenges they encountered with the Jobs family and friends
Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle on the making of "Steve Jobs" 07:11

Just days after the fourth anniversary of Steve Job's death, a new movie is out about the genius behind the world's most valuable company.

Based on Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography, "Steve Jobs," screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director Danny Boyle, both Oscars winners, teamed up to explore the iconic moments of success as well as the deeper flaws of the Apple co-founder, played by Michael Fassbender.

The filmmakers said they wanted to avoid making a "biopic" that listed his "greatest hits" that were already familiar to the audience.

"This isn't really an invention story about inventing the Mac, about inventing the iPhone, or inventing the iPad," Sorkin told "CBS This Morning" Thursday.

Instead, the entire movie focuses on three pivotal events in Job's career: the product launch of the Macintosh in 1984, the launch of the NeXT computer in 1988, and the introduction of the iMac in 1998.

"It is based on facts, but it is our version of this extraordinary man," Boyle added. Despite not having the individual engineering, designing and programming skills, Boyle said Jobs was a "synthesizer" who was able to identify the right people and bring them to fulfill his central vision.

"He asked them to believe in something that we have no conception of -- a friendly computer. It was terrifying to us, and now we take them to bed with us, they're in our pockets, they're the last thing we look at before we sleep," Boyle said.

But the highly anticipated movie has also generated plenty of buzz among critics who say the portrayal is too negative. "Steve Jobs" delves more into his personal life, revealing his flaws and tumultuous relationships with his colleagues and his daughter, Lisa, whose paternity he renounced for years.

Current Apple CEO Tim Cook and Jobs's widowed wife, Lauren Powell Jobs, reportedly tried to block the movie from being made.

But Sorkin and Boyle said the conflicts were what made it interesting, and they wanted to portray Jobs as the "brilliant and very complicated man" that he was.

"When you make your mind about something, you have to keep faith in it. And this had--when I read it--this felt true," Boyle added.

Speaking of both Cook and Powell's negative reactions to the film, Sorkin said, "I think they're underestimating the audience in terms of being able to tell what's a painting and what's a photograph, what's art and what's journalism. ... I'm saying we're doing a painting, not a photograph. We're not doing journalism or a documentary."

Meanwhile, Apple co-founder and long-time friend Steve Wozniak, who did see the film, said it was authentic.

"He wasn't very impressed with our trailer ... but thank God he liked the film," said Boyle.

The movie features a cast of big Hollywood names, including Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels. It will be released in theaters Friday, Oct. 9.

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