Steve Jobs Biopic Dropped From Sony, Will Universal Pick It Up?

It's been a bumpy road for Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs biopic: the change of director from David Fincher to Danny Boyle, the change of leading man from Leonardo DiCaprio to Christian Bale to a big question mark, and now apparently a change of studio, as Sony has dropped the project entirely. But right on the heels of that announcement comes news that Universal is likely to save the day.

According to Deadline, Sony made the surprising move to put the Steve Jobs biopic in turnaround, but the trade provided a quick update shortly thereafter, stating that Universal is set to take the project and give it a green light at once. We could hear confirmation of this transition as early as tomorrow.

We've seen a lot of changes take place over the course of the life of this biopic—a lot of close-calls and quick-saves as the Aaron Sorkin-penned project lost David Fincher (who previously adapted Sorkin's script for 'The Social Network) and replaced him with Danny Boyle. Jobs was set to be played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who then dropped out, replaced by Christian Bale, who seemed like a good fit: after all, this sort of immersive, awards-baiting role is right in his wheelhouse. But then Bale, well, bailed, shortly after Seth Rogen came on in the role of Steve Wozniak, and now the role of Steve Jobs is vacant once more. Michael Fassbender is the latest actor being courted to take on the part, although he hasn't yet been confirmed.

Hopefully we'll see the project pick up a bit more steam once it makes the transition over to Universal. As for now, things are looking a bit more troubled than before.