Michael Fassbender: I studied Ashton Kutcher for Steve Jobs role

Kutcher played the Apple founder in the 2013 film Jobs

Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs (Universal Pictures/YouTube)

There have been two major film adaptions of Steve Jobs’ life since his death in 2011: the first was simply titled Jobs, and featured Ashton Kutcher as the Apple co-founder.

Unfortunately for Kutcher, the 2013 film was not a hit with the critics, with E! Online calling it an “unsatisfying portrait of an icon who deserved better.”

Two years later and Michael Fassbender has taken on the role in the upcoming film Steve Jobs, directed by Danny Boyle. It hasn’t taken him long to poke fun at Kutcher.

When asked what he did to prepare for the project at a press conference at the New York Film Festival, Fassbender smirked and said: “I studied Ashton Kutcher,” according to The Guardian.

This latest adaption has been critically praised, with Variety praising the film, saying: “An enthralling performance by Fassbender fuels this brilliant, infuriating and richly unconventional take on the life of an American visionary.”

The star went on to admit that he knew very little about Jobs before being offered the role: “I’m not very interested in technology. I use it pretty poorly. So everything was new to me, to be honest.”

He added that he met a number of people who knew Jobs, including former Apple CEO John Scrulley, and Macintosh computer co-creators Steve Wozniak and Andy Hertzfeld.

Michael Fassbender plays Apple founder Steve Jobs (Universal Pictures)

“The one thing that stuck with me was how much of an impression he made on these people. Obviously when he was alive, but since he passed away, you could see that he was still very much present in their lives. Even if the relationships were difficult, there was a sadness and a love there for him that I felt was pretty clear.”

Christian Bale was originally intended to play Jobs in the film, which Fassbender also spoke about: “Obviously I don’t look anything like Steve Jobs. That was the first thing I said to Danny. I said: ‘Christian Bale looks a lot more like Steve Jobs than me.’”

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Wozniak has since given his verdict on the film, revealing how he “almost cried” while watching just the trailer. He said he “felt a lot of the real Jobs” throughout.

The film is out 9 October in the US and 13 November in the UK.