Steve Jobs’s personality is mindblowing: the founder of Apple, a visionary and an engineer-artist who regarded computers as art. Many films and essays have sought to fathom who he was and the secret of his success. His story is one of relentless ambition and innovation and an uncompromising pursuit of perfection — traits that defined not just Apple but an entire industry. From his ascendance as a rebellious entrepreneur working in a garage to his spectacular fall from Apple and comeback, Jobs’s life has had enough drama for a Hollywood script. Documentarian and biopic filmmakers have tried to depict various layers of his persona—his genius, intensity, and yes, even flaws—in films that take different approaches to the man who created the iPhone and Mac. Love him or loathe him, there can be little argument that Steve Jobs was one of the most impactful people of the digital age.
Content
- Jobs
- Pirates of Silicon Valley
- Steve Jobs
- The Pixar Story
- Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
- iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World
- Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview
Jobs
IMDb: 6.0/10
2013, Biography, Drama
USA, Switzerland, PG-13
Director: Joshua Michael Stern
Top cast: Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad
Steve works at Atari and is unhappy with his life, his job, and his colleagues. He doesn’t want to stay at a company with no future. Steve dreams of grand achievements and big challenges. He finds such a challenge in the garage of his friend Woz, where there’s a homemade personal computer. He believes this is what humanity needs, even If they aren’t unaware. Later, Steve and Woz found Apple in Jobs’s garage. The journey to their dream is tough. No one wants to fund a startup promising something unknown. 'Jobs', the movie, came out a year and a half after Steve Jobs’s death, though work on the script started while he was still alive. Critics didn’t like Ashton Kutcher’s portrayal, but the movie is still a must-see.
Pirates of Silicon Valley
IMDb: 7.2/10
1999, Biography, Drama, History
USA, Unrated
Director: Martyn Burke
Top cast: Anthony Michael Hall, Noah Wyle, Joey Slotnick
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were both trying at that time to develop the personal computer industry in endless rivalry with one another. Martin Burke’s drama delves into the origins and bitter struggle of two computing giants, Apple and Microsoft. The film is inspired by the book 'Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer', but the screenwriters expand the story beyond its pages. The director didn’t talk to the main figures. Instead, his team did detailed research for seven months, studying newspapers and interviewing witnesses. According to Martin Burke, 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' scenes are purely factual rather than fiction. Steve Wozniak praised the film as the most authentic biopic of his friend.
Steve Jobs
IMDb: 7.2/10
2015, Biography, Drama
USA, UK, Japan, R
Director: Danny Boyle
Top cast: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen
'Steve Jobs' displays a different side of the famous genius. It focuses on three major presentations from 1984, 1988, and 1998. We see Jobs preparing for these events, rushing around, and meeting people from his past. The director highlights the key struggles he faced. 'Steve Jobs' was highly praised by critics. Critics highly praised 'Steve Jobs'. The film won a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin, and Kate Winslet won Best Supporting Actress. Michael Fassbender, who portrayed Jobs, received an Academy Award nomination itself for Best Actor for his intense, layered performance. But Jobs’s associates thought his depiction on film was far too harsh and were offended by such exaggeration.
The Pixar Story
IMDb: 7.7/10
2007, Documentary
USA, G
Director: Leslie Iwerks
Top cast: Stacy Keach, John Lasseter, Brad Bird
Although 'The Pixar Story' is a documentary, it doesn’t focus on Steve Jobs’s life. Instead, it centers on the history of the animation studio. Steve Jobs famously saved Pixar from collapsing, and everything turned out well. This small company continued by creating the world’s first fully computer-animated film, making Jobs even richer due to his ability to see the potential in new developments. The Pixar Story follows the founders' journey from starting from scratch to creating groundbreaking films that changed animation forever, like 'Toy Story', and 'Finding Nemo'. Jobs stated that Pixar is seen by most as an instant triumph, but when you examine it closely, you will find that most instant triumphs actually take a long time.
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
IMDb: 6.9/10
2015, Documentary, Biography
USA, R
Director: Alex Gibney
Top cast: Steve Jobs, Alex Gibney, Steve Wozniak
Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney released a documentary about a tech genius in 2015. He is shown as a complex figure — a businessman, artist, and philosopher. He is also a determined person, a skilled manipulator, a true genius, and even a fanatic. Jobs was obsessed with seeing future possibilities and gathering the right people to make them happen. What others saw as impossible, Jobs considered a remarkable proposal. Gibney went to Apple and asked employees to discuss what they do at work. Their stories are a mix of Stockholm syndrome and rock-star worship. The movie also explores the controversial chapters of Jobs’s family life, including his daughter and his own adoption story.
iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World
IMDb: 6.5/10
2011, Documentary
USA, France, Unrated
Director: Bertrand Deveaud, Lauren Klein, Antoine Robin
Top cast: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak
It’s not just another documentary about a businessman. The creators are not concerned with Steve Jobs’s character or his secrets. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, known as 'MythBusters', take the Discovery Channel through all the ways Apple has changed the world with its innovations. The movie displays how high technology became personal for people. Personal computers evolved from being tools for super-smart introverts to being present in every home. The iPod revolutionized the music industry that changed the interaction between users and musicians. The iPhone removed the need for buttons on smartphones everywhere.
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview
IMDb: 8.0/10
2012, Documentary
USA, Unrated
Director: Paul Sen
Top cast: Robert X. Cringely, Steve Jobs
In 1995, journalist Robert Cringely sat down with Steve Jobs for an interview featured in the documentary series Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires. During that period, Jobs was unaware that he was on the verge of returning to Apple. However, the interview tape vanished, only to turn up again until 2012 when director Paul Sen discovered it in his garage. The documentary was quickly digitized and released for everyone to view. In the interview, Jobs discusses his first computer, his relationship with Wozniak, an illegal building project they were involved in, and why Xerox never became a true giant. He also writes about innovation, business strategy, and the role of passion in building transformative technology. The rediscovered footage is a fascinating time capsule, capturing Jobs’s raw intelligence and vision just a few years before his triumphant return to Apple, where he would once again change the tech world.
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