Last week, Ashton Kutcher took to Quora to explain some of the reasons why he decided to take on the role of Steve Jobs in the upcoming film JOBS, noting his admiration for Jobs, the challenge of the role, and his interest in the convergence of technology and entertainment.
With the film set for wide release on August 16, Kutcher is now beginning to hit the publicity circuit to talk about the film. He appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night, where he discussed how he missed a chance to meet Steve Jobs six months before Jobs’ death and how regret over that decision played a part in his decision to portray Jobs.
Kutcher also sat down with The Verge for a wide-ranging interview including some discussion of his portrayal of Jobs. In the interview, Kutcher describes how he felt almost compelled to take on the role of Jobs out of love for the Apple co-founder. Kutcher felt that if anyone was going to “screw it up”, it should be someone should be someone who cared for Jobs.
To prepare for the role, Kutcher assembled a 15-hour SoundCloud compilation of Jobs’ speaking voice, including both public presentations and more candid recordings that captured his habits outside of public life. “There were two versions of him, and I got this from a lot of friends of his that I talked to,” Kutcher said. “There was the guy who went on stage and presented things, and then there was the guy who was in the boardroom, who was working on a product, who was having an intimate conversation. And I tried to find little snippets of stuff where he wasn’t aware that he was being recorded or speeches that he didn’t think anyone was going to hear, so I could get a little more of who he honestly was.”
The relevant portion of the interview begins roughly 11:30 into the video.
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