UPDATE: Tensions along the Hollywood-Cupertino axis eased Saturday when screenwriter Aaron Sorkin issued an apology to Apple CEO Tim Cook:
“You know what, I think that Tim Cook and I probably both went a little too far,” Sorkin told E! News. “And I apologize to Tim Cook. I hope when he sees the movie, he enjoys it as much as I enjoy his products.”
If you’re just catching up, this is where matters stood Friday afternoon:
Tim Cook probably should have screened this season’s two Steve Jobs movies—Alex Gibney’s little documentary and Aaron Sorkin’s big-budget work of fiction—before dismissing them out of hand on national television.
“I haven’t seen them, but the Steve I knew was an amazing human being,” Cook told Stephen Colbert last week. “I think that a lot of people are trying to be opportunistic, and I hate this; it’s not a great part of our world.”
Sorkin probably should have checked his facts—and his inner-Mike Daisey—before snapping back (according to the Hollywood Reporter):
“If you’ve got a factory full of children in China assembling phones for 17 cents an hour, you’ve got a lot of nerve calling someone else opportunistic.”
Really? Children? 17-cents an hour? Even Mike Daisy doesn’t believe that anymore.
Cook may have painted with too broad a brush, but the screenwriter’s response sounds like something one his characters would say. A character trying to stir up a little publicity.
Below: The latest trailer for Sorkin’s Steve Jobs. The opens nationwide on Oct. 9
Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple (AAPL) coverage at coins2day.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.
