Aaron Sorkin Blasts Tim Cook for Calling Steve Jobs Films 'Opportunistic'

Earlier this month, Tim Cook sat down for an interview with Stephen Colbert, where discussion turned to Aaron Sorkin's upcoming "Steve Jobs" film and Alex Gibney's "Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine" documentary.

Though Cook has not seen either film, he called Jobs an "amazing human being" and suggested he hated the movies being made about Jobs. "I think a lot of people are trying to be opportunistic and I hate this," he said. "It's not a great part of our world."


Aaron Sorkin gave a scathing response to Tim Cook's comment in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter calling out Apple's Chinese factories and telling the interviewer that he and other top executives on the project had taken pay cuts to get the film made.

"Nobody did this movie to get rich," he said. "Secondly, Tim Cook should really see the movie before he decides what it is."

"Third, 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."

Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs film, which stars Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs and Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, is set to premiere next month. It's already been screened at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, where it received rave reviews and led to buzz about a possible Oscar nomination for Fassbender's performance.

The movie is based on Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography and follows Jobs at three product launches, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the way Steve Jobs interacted with friends, colleagues, and family, including his daughter Lisa. In the past, Tim Cook has said the biography was a "tremendous disservice" to the Steve that he knew because it focused on "small parts of his personality." "The person I read about there is somebody I would never have wanted to work with over all this time," he said.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
A18 Pro Chip

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options that include silver, blue, pink, and yellow. MacRumors...
iPhone Car Key WWDC 2025

Apple Announces 13 Automakers Planning to Offer iPhone Car Keys

Friday June 27, 2025 11:42 am PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. During its WWDC 2025 keynote, Apple said that 13...
maxresdefault

Five Features Coming to AirPods Pro 3

Friday June 27, 2025 10:52 am PDT by
Apple hasn't updated the AirPods Pro since 2022, and the earbuds are due for a refresh. We're counting on a new model this year, and we've seen several hints of new AirPods tucked away in Apple's code. Rumors suggest that Apple has some exciting new features planned that will make it worthwhile to upgrade to the latest model. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Heal...
macbook air spacegray purple

Apple Planning to Launch Low-Cost MacBook Powered By iPhone Chip

Monday June 30, 2025 3:20 am PDT by
Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In an article published on X, Kuo explained that the device will feature a 13-inch display and the A18 Pro chip, making it the first Mac powered by an iPhone chip. The A18 Pro chip debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro last year. To date, all Apple silicon Macs have contained M-series...
anker power bank recall

PSA: Anker Recalls Multiple Power Banks Due to Fire Risk

Friday June 27, 2025 4:16 pm PDT by
Popular accessory maker Anker this month launched two separate recalls for its power banks, some of which may be a fire risk. The first recall affects Anker PowerCore 10000 Power Banks sold between June 1, 2016 and December 31, 2022 in the United States. Anker says that these power banks have a "potential issue" with the battery inside, which can lead to overheating, melting of plastic...
Chase Sapphire Reserve Apple Perk Feature

Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Introduces New Perk for Apple Customers

Wednesday June 25, 2025 2:08 pm PDT by
Chase this week announced a series of new perks for its premium Sapphire Reserve credit card, and one of them is for a pair of Apple services. Specifically, the credit card now offers complimentary annual subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music, a value of up to $250 per year. If you are already paying for Apple TV+ and/or Apple Music directly through Apple, those subscriptions will...
replay all time playlist apple music

Apple Music Debuts All-New Personalized Playlist

Monday June 30, 2025 7:16 am PDT by
As part of its 10-year celebrations of Apple Music, Apple today released an all-new personalized playlist that collates your entire listening history. The playlist, called "Replay All Time," expands on Apple Music's existing Replay features. Previously, users could only see their top songs for each individual calendar year that they've been subscribed to Apple Music, but now, Replay All...

Top Rated Comments

iLoveiTunes Avatar
128 months ago
"Third, 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."

Ouch... that hurts !
Score: 78 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
128 months ago
"Third, 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."
Well that is patently false. Apple has done more than most any other tech company to monitor and reduce the problems inherent to Chinese factories that employ hundreds of thousands of workers. Workers who come there freely from their farms in the country because they can make a lot more money working in the factory for a while and then bring that money back to their home.
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GFLPraxis Avatar
128 months ago
"Third, 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."
Wow, what a childish response.

Also, the people who make these sorts of accusations at Apple are absurd. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony manufacture the Playstation 4, Wii U, and XBox One at the same Foxconn factories. Dell and HP also manufacture their computers there.

Apple is the only one who publishes regular worker safety reports and does inspections and forces Foxconn to improve working conditions. They're by far the most responsible of every company in this list, so singling them out is ridiculous. It's an industry-wide issue that needs to be solved, not something Apple is doing.

The fact that this is Aaron Sorkin's view of the Foxconn situation makes it seem very unlikely to me that this will be an accurate film, if he buys in to media storylines like "the Apple factories".
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Gooberton Avatar
128 months ago
I side with Sorkin whole heartedly. Cook is a hypocrite
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sputnikv Avatar
128 months ago
They are opportunistic. Anything done for money is opportunistic.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
anthonymoody Avatar
128 months ago
Never get into a war of words with Aaron Sorkin!
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)