Is George Clooney Playing Steve Jobs in Unnamed Biopic?

However, Clooney, 50, is not the only actor in the running. According to an unconfirmed report by Britain's Now magazine, Noah Wyle (a former co-star of Clooney's on the long-running medical drama ER) is also vying for the coveted role.

Clooney, 50, is not the only actor in the running. Noah Wyle (a former co-star of Clooney's on the long-running medical drama “ER”) is also vying for the coveted role. Photo: Reuters

The magazine also reported that filming of the biopic, which will be made by Sony Pictures, is likely to start next year, which indicates that decisions on the cast need to be confirmed, sooner than later.

Sony bought the movie rights to Walter Isaacson's biography on Jobs, according to a Los Angeles Times report. The report also stated that Social Network writer Aaron Sorkin was among a short list of screenwriters considered.

Of course, all these speculations could prove to be false. If they are true, however, then the competition between Clooney and Wyle may prove intense. While Clooney is the bigger name (with a number of remarkable performances in films like From Dusk Till Dawn, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Syriana, Wyle already has experience of playing Steve Jobs.

Wyle played the role of young Jobs in the 1999 television biography Pirates of Silicon Valley, which was based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. The book dramatized the rise of the personal computer and also dealt with the rivalry between Jobs' Apple Inc. and Bill Gates' Microsoft Corp. The latter's character was played by Michael Anthony Hall. Wyle was even invited by Jobs to the 1999 Macworld convention, where he also mimicked the Apple co-founder.

Ever since news of Sony's purchase was made public, a number of names have been bandied about, for the roles of the younger and older Jobs. The top contenders for the late Apple Chief Executive Officer's role include Robert Downey, Jr., Ashton Kutcher, Christopher Walken, Sasha Baron Cohen, Gerard Butler, Liam Neeson, Ryan Reynolds, Christian Bale, Daniel Radcliff, Ben Stiller, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Malkovich, Ryan Gosling and even Steve Buscemi, the Christian Post reported.

Watch the trailer of Pirates of Silicon Valley here: