BALE WON’T PLAY STEVE JOBS; CITES "CONFLICTING FEELINGS"

Christian Bale has bailed on Sony’s planned biopic of Steve Jobs, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The trade publication said that Bale had "conflicting feelings" about portraying Jobs and decided that he was "not right for the part after much deliberation." The report did not describe the nature of Bale’s "conflicting feelings" or why he had concluded that he was not right for the part. Only last month Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, The West Wing), who has written the screenplay for the movie based on Walter Isaacson’s bestselling 2011 biography, had said during an interview on Bloomberg TV, "We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range and that’s Chris Bale." The movie was expected to begin production early next year, but a delay now seems probable. The film has already had a choppy history. First, there was the release of another Jobs biopic with Ashton Kutcher in the title role. That movie flopped, opening with just $6.7 million and winding up with $16.1 million. Sorkin’s movie originally was to star Leonardo DiCaprio as Jobs, but DiCaprio also pulled out. David Fincher (Gone Girl, The Social Network) had been set to direct the movie, but he also withdrew, reportedly over a pay dispute. He was replaced by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire). In a (distantly) related matter, CBS reported that a memorial to Steve Jobs in the shape of an oversized Apple iPhone was removed from the university campus in St. Petersburg following Apple chief Tim Cook’s acknowledgement that he is gay.