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Don't expect Aaron Sorkin's 'Steve Jobs' movie to be entirely realistic

Aaron Sorkin's upcoming "Steve Jobs" movie, which is already attracting Oscar buzz, is anything but a factual account of the Apple co-founder's life.

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While the press has called Sorkin's screenplay a "biopic" of Steve Jobs countless times, Sorkin himself has been adamant that didn't try to make a movie that honors the historical details of Jobs's life.

Steve Jobs Fassbender
Michael Fassbender plays Steve Jobs in Sorkin's new movie, which is not a biopic. Universal Studios

Sorkin used Walter Isaacson's bestselling biography of Jobs as source material for his research, but he did not approach the script in the same way that Isaacson wrote his book.

"Walter's biography had to be about what happened," Sorkin, who won an Oscar for "The Social Network," told Wired in an interview. "It had to be a piece of journalism. When I write something, there is actually a requirement to be subjective; it's really the difference between a photograph and a painting."

Sorkin's movie is structured in three acts, with each act centered around Jobs backstage before a major product announcement. It sounds like a far cry from a traditional biopic, which usually traces the main character's highs and lows of life from as early as childhood.

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Andy Hertzfeld, a member of the original Macintosh team who helped consult on the movie, echoed Sorkin's sentiment in an interview with Recode.

"The purpose of the film is to entertain, inspire and move the audience, not to portray reality," Hertzfeld said. "It is cavalier about the facts but aspires to explore and expose the deeper truths behind Steve's unusual personality and behavior, and it often but not always succeeds at that."

Regardless of its historical accuracy, Sorkin's movie is sure to polarize audiences. It premieres in theaters on October 9, and Tech Insider will have a full review soon.

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