'Steve Jobs': Here's the new trailer – will Michael Fassbender win an Oscar?

A new trailer has arrived for the upcoming film “Steve Jobs,” which stars Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender as the Apple co-founder.

The trailer shows glimpses of Jobs’ work on early Apple computers, aspects of his personal life such as his relationship with his daughter, and his exit from and then return to the company Apple. (Viewers should be aware of brief language.)

The film co-stars Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, and Katherine Waterston.

“Steve Jobs” comes with an impressive roster of names. In addition to starring Fassbender, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in the movie “12 Years a Slave” and also received good reviews for his work in the films “Shame” and “Hunger,” the movie is directed by Danny Boyle, who won a Best Director Oscar for his movie “Slumdog Millionaire” (“Millionaire" won Best Picture as well), and “Steve Jobs” is being adapted from Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography by Aaron Sorkin, creator of the acclaimed TV drama “The West Wing.” Sorkin won an Oscar for his work on the screenplay for the movie “The Social Network.”

Fassbender’s name is already in the mix for those trying to predict the Best Actor Oscar race for this year. If past history is anything to go by, voters may be intrigued because he’s taking on a real person rather than a fictional character. Last year’s Oscar acting winners mostly took on fictional characters, but three of the four acting Oscar winners in 2014 portrayed real people. Other recent winners for taking on the task of playing a real person include Daniel Day-Lewis for “Lincoln,” Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady,” and Colin Firth for “The King’s Speech.”

“It is extremely difficult to see what difference is made and which performance is better than another,” Helen O’Hara of Empire Magazine noted in an interview. “But when an actor plays a real person, you can judge a little better.” A figure like Jobs has mannerisms or an appearance that we recognize from his public appearances. We can judge how well the actor captured the real person. 

Does a Steve Jobs movie sound familiar to you? You’re not wrong – a movie simply titled “Jobs,” starring Ashton Kutcher as the protagonist, was released in 2013. Though Isaacson’s book was released in 2011, it wasn’t a basis for the movie – the film was instead credited solely to screenwriter Matt Whitely, though figures like Jobs' stepmother were reportedly consultants on the movie.

But critics weren’t won over by the 2013 film and so another movie is being released just two years later. What has movie fans paying attention? For "Jobs," the public knows Kutcher, but director Joshua Michael Stern is less well-known to casual moviegoers and “Jobs” was released in August, a traditionally sleepier time for movies. If there were moviegoers who still were curious, the negative reviews probably didn’t help.

By contrast, “Steve Jobs” is coming out in awards-friendly October and in addition to moviegoers knowing Danny Boyle from “Millionaire,” “127 Hours,” and “Trainspotting,” screenwriter Sorkin is famous for having brought another story of a technology revolution to the screen: the film “The Social Network,” which won Sorkin an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

With positive reviews from the Telluride Film Festival, curiosity is growing about the new “Steve Jobs” film. It will come to theaters on Oct. 23.