The next Steve Jobs biopic

Leonardo DiCaprio has become a movie star god in the recent years, having delivered an array of blockbuster and brilliant performances in films like Django Unchained, The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street. But, to the dismay of cinema-lovers everywhere, he is yet to win that coveted and much-deserved Academy Award for his work.

But the possibility of Leonardo playing Steve Jobs in the latest biopic about the Apple Inc. co-founder could very well put him in the running for his work finally being recognized. Although the film has not begun shooting yet, if he is in the cast, there’s no doubt Leonardo will turn out a mesmerizing performance as usual. In the last 13 months alone, he's been associated with nine films. 

The last film revolving around the life of Steve Jobs was released last year, titled Jobs, directed by Joshua Michael Stern and starring Ashton Kutcher and Dermot Mulroney. The film wasn’t a major success or even critically acclaimed. The latest biopic with Leonardo possibly (and hopefully) in the role of Jobs will be directed by ace-filmmaker Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) after he took over from David Fincher who reportedly wanted Christian Bale in the lead. Boyle also won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2009 for Slumdog Millionaire, which became a worldwide phenomenon.

Aaron Sorkin, who won the Oscar for Best Writing for an adapted screenplay for The Social Network, will be penning the script for the film, roughly entitled “Steve Jobs”, based on the Walter Isaacson biography of the same name. Sony acquired the rights to the biography following the Apple mogul’s death in 2011.

If Leonardo is cast in this role, it will be the first time in almost 14 years that he will be working with Boyle, after they collaborated on The Beach in 2000. A release date has not been announced for the film yet but we will definitely be waiting with baited breath, if Leonardo is cast, for another captivating performance. And it would be a mistake not to cast him, because it seems as if everything he touches turns to gold at the box office.

The 2014 Academy Awards – The triumphs and the utter disappointments

After weeks, and even months, of premonitions and predictions – and many, many hopes – about who the takers will be at this year’s Oscars, the results are finally out after the ceremony took place last night, Sunday 2 March, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. There were a few obvious winners but there were also one or two surprises that have no doubt left many cinema-goers extremely perturbed.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment was Leonardo DiCaprio not winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Wolf of Wall Street. He had the weight of the world’s hopes on his shoulders and we all thought that his gripping and astute performance – one of the many in his career – would finally earn him that award. But unfortunately, it wasn’t Leonardo’s time yet.

12 Years a Slave winning the Oscar for Best Picture has made history. Director Steve McQueen has become the first black director to get the top film honours in 86 years of Oscar history. This film was a firm favourite and definitely deserves the honour. And space thriller Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock, from Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, racked up five Oscars for technical achievements like visual effects and cinematography as well as Best Direction.

These were some of the main highlights of the awards function:

Best Picture – 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor in a Leading Role – Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Leading Role – Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

Best Animated Feature – Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)

Best Cinematography – Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)

Best Costume Design – The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)

Best Directing – Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron)

Best Documentary Feature – 20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)

Best Adapted Screenplay – 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)

Best Original Screenplay – Her (Spike Jonze)

It’s been a great and significant year at the movies. And hopefully next year will be as good, or even better. And hopefully, Leonardo gets that Oscar that the world is waiting for to be his too.

Leonardo DiCaprio – Hollywood’s Golden Boy

Since the world took serious notice of Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic in 1997 – as he played the carefree yet insightful Jack Dawson who delivered witty and endearing dialogues while charming the young, well-to-do Rose played by Kate Winslet – we have been mesmerized not only by his good-looks that have destined him to be a movie star, but also his undeniable talent that has secured him as one of the best movie stars of our time.

Leonardo, born in 1974 to a mother of German descent and a father of Italian and German descent, is said to have gotten his name by kicking for the first time while his pregnant mother was looking at a Leonardo da Vinci painting in Italy – almost as if his artistic instinct and intuition is intrinsic to his very nature.

Leonardo’s place in Hollywood was secured by his acute and sharp portrayal of Johnny Depp’s mentally handicapped brother in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. Some of the most acclaimed and celebrated movies of the past few years have starred Leonardo in prominent roles; Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, The Departed, and Inception just to name a few. But it’s been his latest work in Django Unchained, The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street that has made Leonardo Hollywood’s “golden boy”.

One of his greatest works to date has been his depiction of Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, which left nothing to be desired by way of Leonardo’s infallible characterisation. He understands the attention to detail that goes into the craft of acting and his dramatic versatility and perception is what sets him apart from other actors – that and the fact that he never seems to age and still strongly resembles the youthful Romeo he played in Romeo +  Juliet almost 18 years ago.

He’s also just won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in The Wolf of Wall Street, which came as no surprise. Leonardo manages to evoke such depth into his character, Jordan Belfort, a wealthy stockbroker who spirals down from his American dream, that he reminds us of what cinema is meant to be – breathtakingly beautiful and poignant.

But apart from his wildfire success and supreme creative capabilities, Leonardo seems like a genuinely good guy too. With his fervent activism in environmental issues and his philanthropy, he seems to want to leave more of a legacy than just being a great actor. Perhaps he’ll also leave behind a legacy of unabashedly loving leggy blondes – more often than not, Victoria’s Secret angels; Erin Heatherton, Giselle Bundchen, Bar Rafeali, and Toni Garrn as his current girlfriend, just to name a few. But maybe it’s the charisma and allure of all that wrapped into the package of Leonardo that makes him a true star.

The Green Light

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. 

It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... 

And one fine morning-- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby