In an effort to portray the time period of the film accurately, Jobs director Joshua Michael Stern said he had to have a dust buster vacuum digitally removed from a scene.
At a recent New York press conference, Stern talked about how determined he was to stay true to the not-so-distant past in which the film takes place.
“We were so close to what the period was that there was a moment when we were in the garage [where Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple Computers] and there was a mistake in the set dressing,” he said.
“There was a dust buster on the wall and it was behind Woz’s back for the whole time. In about 70 shots,” he added. “And it was about two years early for the dust buster and we went in digitally and we removed every dust buster from that wall just to make sure we were on point.”
Stern also discussed the challenges of a film, especially one with a small budget, to get all of those little details right.
“One of the things I was pretty vehement about is the ’70s typically — and early ’80s, really — isn’t the sexiest period, especially the early ’80s as it is immortalized in film. But when we lived it, it was really sexy,” he said.
“In fact, the late ’70s and early ’80s were the disco [period.] People really felt empowered. But, looking back on it, we sort of are horrified,” he continued. “I said, we need to be aware of this period, but let’s try to recreate it as we remember it, not as we see the photos when they amplify everything like the huge collars and enormous glasses.”
Ashton Kutcher, who portrays late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in the film, recently said that the most difficult part about the role was learning how to portray such a divisive figure .
“He was a polarizing character. He had a 95 percent approval rating from his employees but he would berate somebody for doing something wrong,” Kutcher said. “I wanted to tell that story honestly in a way that both sides said, ‘Yeah, that was Steve.’”
Steve Jobs died of complications from pancreatic cancer on October 5, 2011. He was 56.
Jobs hits US theaters August 16.
