Ashton Kutcher and JOBS Director Joshua Michael Stern Interview
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Created: Friday, 16 August 2013 08:33
- Published: Friday, 16 August 2013 08:33
- Written by Lupe Haas
Did you know Ashton Kutcher studied biochemical engineering and that he ended up in the hospital after following the Steve Jobs diet for his role in JOBS? Get some more tidbits about the JOBS star and his portrayal of the man behind the Apple empire in a Q&A with Kutcher and director Joshua Michael Stern. JOBS is out on Blu-ray and DVD on November 26, 2013.
Q: Steve Jobs is someone who we know all about for his creations at Apple, but not so much for his personal life. Was there anything that you were surprised to learn about him as you were making this film?
Joshua Michael Stern: As I was interviewing the people on the early Mac team, I was surprised to learn that the man who gave all these keynote speeches, and who we’ve associated with being an elegant speaker, found it difficult to explain things. He had a frustration with explaining things, because he was trying to tell them things that hadn’t existed yet, and there was no point of reference.
He had an image, and he was trying to find the words to articulate something that wasn’t there. So I was fascinated with the young Steve, who had trouble explaining things.
Ashton Kutcher: I think I had a similar experience of understanding Steve. We see this guy who gives these keynotes, and he’s always very collected and business-like. He was so good at explaining and simplifying things. He was the master of the topic sentence; he could take any complicated entity and simplify it.
The thing that I least expected to find was his perspective on education. I found a speech that he gave when he was about 25. He was speaking to a bunch of high school kids who were about to graduate.
Steve got up in front of them and said, “A lot of successful people that I know didn’t go to school and get a degree. They had a broad set of life experiences that enabled them to bring something valuable that people with a standardized education couldn’t bring.”
So he encouraged these kids to go to Paris and try to write poetry, or fall in love with two people at one time, or try LSD, like Walt Disney when he came up with the idea for Fantasia. He suggested that maybe this standard education wasn’t the greatest means to creative solutions, but rather a diverse set of experiences could be the greatest education.
I found it very surprising that that would be his opinion. I think it was an opinion that he carried and reiterated throughout his life, and I think it’s a valuable one.
Q: Biopics usually present people as saints, and in this, Steve Jobs comes across as a true visionary. Ashton, how did you feel about the character and did you ever meet him in real life?
Ashton Kutcher: Well, I never met him. But I have a lot of colleagues and close friends who did. A lot of my friends admired him, and I, too, admire the work that he did.
One of the first things you learn as an actor is to never judge a character. We, as human beings, are flawed. Most of the time, most of the decisions and choices we make, we feel like we’re making the right decision. We feel like we’re behaving in the right way.
So there were some things that Steve Jobs approached in a blunt way. But it was that same blunt choice that allowed him to create the amazing products he created. That same demand for perfection that allowed these teams to create these products that we all take for granted. Those products take that blunt honesty and focus and determination to create. I think that blunt care came out of concern for the consumer and the product he was creating.
Joshua Michael Stern: I’d like to say that when you hear that answer, it captures the reason why a director like myself would cast him. When you’re trying to create a story about a man, the actor needs to come to the table with an understanding of how he wants to inhabit his skin. He has to be able to justify the actions in a way, because one person’s eccentricities are that person’s normalcy.
So he really had an understanding and an empathy from the very beginning. He tried to understand how you have an obsession. Steve’s obsession was the computer, and so much more had to fall to the side.
For me, as a director, when I first met Ashton, he came into this knowing that. I think that was most important. He got it.
Q: Ashton, it was uncanny how you resembled Steve. What was the process of playing him on screen?
Ashton Kutcher: I wanted to honor this guy. Since I knew people who knew him, I had pretty good insight into how he was. Since he’s so well documented, I couldn’t afford to not resemble him. I started by learning everything I could about him. I read books and watched videos and listened to people tell tales. The script was also an extraordinary resource.
Joshua Michael Stern: It was funny, because it wasn’t until way after the fact that when I took my first meeting with Ashton, he was already channeling Steve. He did so much research on Steve and was doing his mannerisms, and was already playing with the physicality.
He went on a fruitarian diet, and ended up having to go to the emergency room right before we started shooting. To immerse yourself in Steve Jobs, it’s an intense thing. So I would call him every once in awhile and ask, “Are you sure you’re okay?” (laughs)
Q: What happened in the emergency room?
Ashton Kutcher: I went on this fruitarian diet. I read the book by Arnold Ehret that Steve read, called Mucusless Diet Healing System, which was his dietary bible. It talked about the value of grape sugar and that was probably the only pure sugar you could have in your body.
I think the guy who wrote that book was pretty misinformed. (laughs) My insulin levels got pretty messed up and my pancreas kind of went into some crazy, the levels were really off and it was painful. I didn’t know what was wrong.
Q: Ashton, what personality traits do you have that are similar to Steve Jobs?
Ashton Kutcher: Well, I have a passion for technology. I went to school to become a biochemical engineer. I also have a passion for art and creativity. I think Steve understood and appreciated both of those things. I also love solving big problems.
Joshua Michael Stern: A lot of the people Ashton deals with are in the tech field and are creating apps. It seems like a lot of what he discusses is how to make life easier, such as with apps and T-shirts to invest in. It’s about how to make life easier and better for everyone, so that we can focus on other things.
Q: Ashton, is there anyone else you’d like to portray on screen?
Ashton Kutcher: I haven’t really thought about it. This character was a great opportunity for me. It was the perfect convergence of my personal interest and my craft. But he was a really complicated person to play. He was an anti, or flawed, hero. It’s fun to play flawed heroes, because they’re real and relatable, and it makes you feel better about your flaws.
JOBS is now in movie theaters.