Danny Boyle is to close the London Film Festival for the third time, with his eponymous biopic of the Apple founder, Steve Jobs. The British director has previously had the honour with Slumdog Millionaire in 2008 and 127 hours two years later – both films featuring prominently at the Oscars, four months later.
Based on Walter Isaacson’s biography and adapted for the screen by The Social Network and Moneyball writer Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs features Michael Fassbender in the title role, alongside Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Katherine Waterston, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jeff Daniels and John Ortiz. The film covers the fourteen years from the launch of Macintosh in 1984 to 1998’s release of iMac.
The head of the LFF, Clare Stewart, said Boyle had created an exhilarating and audacious film about a complex, charismatic pioneer. The director himself said he’d had a brilliant time shooting the film in Silicon Valley and “It’s always special to bring work home.”
Boyle, Fassbender and Winslet will attend the film’s European Premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square on 18th October, eleven days after Carey Mulligan opens the festival with Suffragette.
Steve Jobs – coming just two years after another feature about the Apple founder – opens in the UK on 13th November.