Earlier this month, we learned that Ashton Kutcher was poised to play the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in an indie biopic. The news made sense for some reasons (the physical similarities), but came as a bit of a surprise for other reasons (he’s Ashton Kutcher). At the time we didn’t really know much about the project beyond the fact that Joshua Michael Stern (Swing Vote) is directing, and the film, going by the terrible working title Jobs: Get Inspired, will chronicle the innovator’s life “from a wayward hippie to co-founder of Apple.”

Now producer Mark Hulme has spilled a few details about the project, including how they feel about Sony’s competing Jobs biopic and why they think Kutcher is their man to play the lead role. Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

During an interview with Neowin (via /Film), Hulme revealed that Jobs will primarily focus on the early years of Apple, “its founding and the up and down years: 1971-2000.” They’re pulling from a variety of sources for their research, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, former Apple CEOs John Skully and Mike Markkula, and early Apple employee Daniel Kottke are all characters that will factor into the film. As for the casting of Kutcher, Hulme had this to say:

“Since our film covers the early years of Apple, when Jobs was in his 20′s, we needed an actor who could carry not only the youthfulness of Jobs at the time but also the psychological complexity. Because of that, and Ashton’s physical similarities to Jobs, he’s perfect for our film… When Ashton read the script he was immediately attracted to the project. He is a Steve Jobs and Apple fan, and is technologically savvy, as well, so he recognized the historical importance of Steve Jobs and the potential of the project. He is very excited to have the role.”

Hulme revealed that they began researching and writing the screenplay immediately after Jobs’ retirement was announced as a result of the enormous impact the news had on Hulme’s staff. As such, they’re much further ahead than Sony’s competing project:

“Sony is a highly respected company, and Isaacson’s book is a great read. But our project was in development even before the release of Isaacson’s book and our movie will be out well before their movie.”

The plan is to release the film during the fourth quarter of this year, and distribution deals are currently in the works. I’m not exactly wild about Kutcher playing Jobs, but I’d love nothing more than to be pleasantly surprised by a wonderful performance. Luckily we don’t have to wait very long to find out how Jobs: Get Inspired comes together given how quickly things are moving forward.

沪江娱乐快讯：时隔6个多月，苹果公司创始人史蒂夫·乔布斯逝世的消息已经寂然，但对这位科技界巨头轶闻趣记的重现还在热闹之中。此前我们曾报道索尼买下《乔布斯传》的改编版权，并准备运作一部大制作。而与此同时，另一部名为《乔布斯》(Jobs)的传记片也在悄然运作。

最新消息称，这部确认由约书亚·迈克尔·斯坦恩（《关键投票》）执导，凭《好汉两个半》在美剧圈风生水起的艾什顿·库彻加盟，暂定名为《乔布斯：获得灵感》（《Jobs: Get Inspired》）的传记片即将于5月开拍，并预计在今年第四季度上映。

该传记片将记录乔布斯1971-2000，即16-45岁之间的工作和生活，目前制片人马克·胡尔默已经在确认项目的执行细节，他表示并不担心和索尼公司改编作品的竞争，因为后者预计在一两年后才能推出。

而因与青年乔布斯形似而被选中的艾什顿·库彻称，他本人是一位“果粉”，而且对技术的东西并不陌生。自己一拿到剧本就开始对这么项目着迷，并感受到还原真实乔布斯的重任，希望他的表现能令人满意。