Pirates of Silicon Valley

Plot

Steve Jobs is speaking with director Ridley Scott about the creation of the 1984 advertisement for Apple Computer, which introduced the first Macintosh. Jobs is trying to convey his idea that "We're creating a completely new consciousness." Scott is more concerned with the technical aspects of the advertisement.

Next in 1997 with Jobs, returning to Apple, and announcing a new deal with Microsoft at the 1997 Macworld Expo. His partner, Steve "Woz" Wozniak, is introduced as one of the two central narrators of the story. Wozniak notes to the audience the resemblance between Big Brother and the image of Bill Gates on the screen behind Jobs during this announcement. Asking how they "got from there to here", the film turns to flashbacks of his youth with Jobs, prior to the forming of Apple.

The earliest flashback is in 1971 and takes place on the U.C. Berkeley campus during the period of the student anti-war movements. Teenagers Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are shown caught on the campus during a riot between students and police. They flee and after finding safety, Jobs states to Wozniak, "Those guys think they're revolutionaries. They're not revolutionaries, we are." Wozniak then comments that "Steve was never like you or me. He always saw things differently. Even when I was in Berkeley, I would see something and just see kilobytes or circuit boards while he'd see karma or the meaning of the universe."

Using a similar structure, the film next turns to a young Bill Gates at Harvard University, in the early 1970s, with classmate Steve Ballmer, and Gates's high school friend Paul Allen. As with Wozniak in the earlier segment, Ballmer narrates Gates's story, particularly the moment when Gates discovers the existence of Ed Roberts's MITS Altair causing him to drop out of Harvard. Gates's and Allen's early work with MITS is juxtaposed against the involvement of Jobs and Wozniak with the "Homebrew Computer Club". Jobs and Woz develop Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs's family home, with the help of Daniel and Elizabeth. Eventually, Mike Markkula invests in the company which allows it to expand and move forward. In 1977, Jobs, Woz, and Markkula demo the Apple II at the West Coast Computer Faire. This event is followed by the development of the IBM PC with the help of Gates and Microsoft in 1981.

The film follows Jobs's relationship with his high school girlfriend and early Apple employee, Arlene (a pseudonym for Chrisann Brennan), and the difficulties he had with acknowledging his parental legitimacy of their daughter, Lisa. Around the time she was born, Jobs unveiled his next computer, which he named Lisa. The Lisa was followed in 1984 by the Macintosh, both having been inspired by the Xerox Alto.

During the October 1983 Apple keynote address, Jobs shows a preview of the 1984 Macintosh commercial. During which he also finds out that Microsoft secured a licensing deal in Japan to deploy PCs with Microsoft apps, including the upcoming Windows 1.0. Jobs and Gates then have a bitter falling out. Jobs claimed that Gates completely ripped off of Apple's design and went behind their backs to secure a deal against their partnership. Gates responds by saying that they were within their contractual rights to do so, that Apple had done the same thing to Xerox, and rather that it was analogous to both of them stealing from a rich neighbor who left their door unlocked. The main body of the film finally concludes with a 30th birthday toast in 1985 to Steve Jobs shortly before he was forced out of Apple by CEO John Sculley.

The film ends in 1997, with the return of 42-year-old Jobs to Apple (after its acquisition of NeXT Computer) and with his announcement at the MacWorld Expo of an alliance between Apple and Microsoft. It also indicates that Jobs is now married, has children, and has reconciled with Lisa.

Cast

• Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs
• Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates
• Joey Slotnick as Steve Wozniak
• John DiMaggio as Steve Ballmer
• Josh Hopkins as Paul Allen
• Gailard Sartain as Ed Roberts
• Jeffrey Nordling as Mike Markkula
• Allan Royal as John Sculley
• J. G. Hertzler as Ridley Scott
• Gema Zamprogna as "Arlene" (a pseudonym for Chrisann Brennan)
• Brooke Radding as Lisa Brennan-Jobs
• Wayne Pere as Captain Crunch
• Brian Lester as Charles Simonyi
• Gerald McCullouch as Rod Brock
• Marcus Giamatti as Daniel Kottke
• Melissa McBride as Elizabeth Holmes

Production

Development

Burke notes that when he was shown the first draft of the screenplay, which is based upon Freiberger and Swaine's Fire in the Valley, "It was all about how the '286 computer' became the '386' and so on ... I was bored by it."{{cite web |access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=December 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222144017/http://www.cultofmac.com/301225/90s-tv-movie-became-steve-jobs-film-beat/ |url-status=live

Casting

Burke sought Noah Wyle for the part of Jobs. Wyle originally turned down the role, but changed his mind after Burke had him watch the 1996 documentary, Triumph of the Nerds. He also noted that Triumph of the Nerds led him to be "taken by [Jobs's] presence, his confidence, smugness, smartness, ego, and his story's trajectory. He seemed to be the most Shakespearean figure in American culture in the last 50 years I could think of – the rise of, the fall of, and the return of. The truest definition of a tragic hero—but you get the 'bonus round' that F. Scott Fitzgerald said didn't exist. Jobs has had one hell of a second act." Burke later credited Wyle for the success of the film stating that, "whatever was in the air, [Wyle] just absorbed it ... he became Jobs. It was a remarkable transformation. We had a photo of Steve Jobs at about 28 years old, from the cover of Fortune magazine. We did a mockup with Noah and it was almost impossible to tell them apart." Burke also credits Joey Slotnick's interpretation of Steve Wozniak with Wozniak's enthusiasm for the film; Wozniak was so impressed that he flew to Los Angeles to have lunch with Slotnick. Burke notes that, "Steve Wozniak made several speeches in which he said that the film accurately portrays how things actually happened ... To me that was better than any awards or nominations the film could get."

Anthony Michael Hall, who was cast as Bill Gates, commented on his interest in the role, stating that he, "really fought for this part because I knew it would be the role of a lifetime ... it was a thrill and a daunting challenge to play someone of his stature and brilliance."

Filming

Pirates of Silicon Valley was originally scheduled to be shot in Toronto, with more than $1 million in sets. However, when Wyle was unable to receive a long enough release from ER to shoot in Canada, the film temporarily shut down. Filming began again later in Los Angeles. During the filming, the cast broke down into PC and Mac factions, arguing over the merits of each platform. Burke states that he began the film as a PC user and ended a Mac user.

Themes

Young Steve Jobs participated in aspects of the 1960s counterculture. Actor Noah Wyle, who portrays Jobs, stated in an interview with CNN, "These kids grew up 30 miles south of the [University of California] Berkeley campus, which was ripe with revolution ... and they couldn't have cared less about the politics going on. They were in the garage tinkering with their electronics and starting a revolution that was a thousand times greater than anything that was going on the college campuses, politically."{{cite web |access-date=2008-05-08 |archive-date=September 25, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090925204951/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/TV/9906/18/pirates.silicon/ |url-status=dead

Music

The soundtrack consists of classic rock, disco, and new wave from the 1960s, 1970s, and early-mid 1980s.{{cite web |access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=October 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025222747/https://open.spotify.com/playlist/78WhJLxgMW0pwWPFEbGNRf |url-status=live

In the DVD edition, the piano song that is playing in the scene when Steve Jobs accuses Bill Gates of stealing Apple's ideas is not on the soundtrack. That omission sparked a search that lasted a few years until it was eventually found to be "Soliloquy" by English composer Tony Hymas. The song was originally published in the 1980 collection "The Piano Album", correctly fitting the movie events timeline. The original TV aired and VHS had music that differed from the DVD.

Reception

Critical response

Mac]], to the Apple II) and places (Homebrew Computer Club was at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) ... The personal drives portrayed in the movie were amazingly accurate. So were the key personalities, but not some others ... Mike was portrayed in the movie in a very inaccurate and unfair way, making it look like he was financially shrewd. Actually, he was intellectually open and contributing and, more than anyone else, he ran and structured the company in the early days, while Steve floated around getting his feet wet at running a company and learning to be a top executive.

|access-date=March 3, 2020 |author-link=Steve Wozniak |archive-date=March 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303094956/http://www.woz.org/letters/youve-remained-person/ |url-status=live

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on nine reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10.{{cite web |access-date=2017-08-09 |archive-date=April 23, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423050114/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pirates_of_silicon_valley/ |url-status=live Ray Richmond of Variety states that it is "a brilliant piece of filmmaking" and "a wildly entertaining geek tragedy with the stylistic feel of true art." John Leonard of New York Magazine, refers to it as "a hoot".{{cite magazine |access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=April 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415165739/http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/tv/reviews/231/ |url-status=live Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette argues that the film is "a fascinating drama filled with Shakespearean twists and betrayals as viewers come to know the geniuses who transformed not only the way we communicate, but the way we live."{{cite news |access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111635/http://old.post-gazette.com/tv/19990620owen5.asp |url-status=live Brian J. Dillard of AllMovie argues that "thanks to inspired casting and strong writing, this well-oiled TV biopic managed to transform the unglamorous genesis of the personal-computer industry into solid entertainment precisely at the moment when dot-com mania was sweeping the nation."{{cite web |access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=May 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517051058/http://www.allmovie.com/movie/pirates-of-silicon-valley-v180308/review |url-status=live Mike Lipton of People, found the film to be "engagingly irreverent" and "a real-life Revenge of the Nerds [that] stands cheekily on its own."{{cite magazine |access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=October 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022125652/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20128499,00.html |url-status=live

Historical accuracy

Macworld]], Steve Jobs went shopping and] bought me a matching pair of blue jeans and a black turtleneck sweater and matching round eyeglasses. He'd written a sketch for us to perform the next day at Macworld. I'd put my hands together in a kind of Jobs-like silent-prayer pose and then launch into his keynote. And then a few minutes into the address he'd come storming onto the stage and say, 'Wyle, you don't have me at all! What the hell are you doing? First I pick up my slide-clicker and then I put my hands together.' He'd say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, Noah Wyle!; And then he'd kick me off the stage and take over, introducing the latest piece of Apple technology. And that's exactly how we did it. The first few rows, I think, could obviously tell it wasn't him, but most others didn't know at all. And there was this growing ripple of laughter throughout the auditorium when people got what was happening. I honestly had had no idea what to expect: I thought the whole thing might be an ambush—that he'd get me to his event and that what he said we were going to do in fact wasn't what we were going to do, and I would somehow be humiliated. But he stayed on script and was very kind to me.

|access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714173226/http://fortune.com/2011/10/07/noah-wyle-on-playing-steve-jobs/ |url-status=live

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Steve Wozniak all responded to the film. Jobs told a journalist that the television movie was "brutal" and "mean-spirited": "But as an actor, Noah Wyle definitely had done his homework on me in terms of my mannerisms and my quirks. So I called him the next day, just to tell him I thought he did a nice job." After Pirates of Silicon Valley had aired, he phoned Wyle and told him that while he "hated" both the film and the screenplay, he liked Wyle's performance, noting "you do look like me." Jobs then invited Wyle to the 1999 Macworld convention to play a prank on the audience. Wyle agreed and initially appeared as Jobs, until Jobs walked onto the stage and let the audience in on the joke. Ken Segall recalled Jobs being "thrilled" when Wyle was first cast and he later wrote the on-stage dialogue for Wyle and Jobs. He recounted that Jobs denied ever asking a prospective employee about their virginity, as depicted in the film. In contrast, Jobs avoided meeting the director Martyn Burke, who later said that "Steve wanted nothing to do with me." In a 2013 Ask Me Anything session with Reddit, Gates responded to a question about his portrayal in the film by stating that it was "reasonably accurate".{{cite web |access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=March 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312131241/http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/11/3977432/bill-gates-reddit-ama-80-inch-windows-8-tablet |url-status=live

Wozniak had a positive response to the film and discussed it in detail with fans on his official website.{{cite web |access-date=March 3, 2020 |author1-link=Steve Wozniak |access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=June 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619192132/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/nydn-features/titans-computing-article-1.824882 |url-status=live |access-date=2015-05-28 |archive-date=May 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529073231/http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-steve-wozniak-ashton-kutcher-jobs-tnt-pirates-of-silicon-valley-2015-5 |url-status=live

A college friend of Jobs and early Apple employee Daniel Kottke also liked the film. He noted in an interview that it was "a great movie. Noah Wyle was just uncannily close to Jobs. Just unbelievable. I found myself thinking it was actually Steve on the screen." He also states that in the film there were "all these scenes of the garage where it's like half a dozen people working, busily carrying things back and forth, and oscilloscopes" when he [Kottke] "was really the only person who worked in the garage. Woz would show up once a week with his latest to test it out, and Steve Jobs was on the phone a lot in the kitchen."{{cite news |access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=December 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222025821/http://insights.dice.com/2013/08/16/early-apple-employees-talk-memories-of-steve-jobs-new-movie-2/ |url-status=live

Two individuals have responded to the film's interpretation of the 1979 visit of Jobs and his team to the Xerox PARC research center, which influenced the development of both the Lisa and Macintosh computers. PARC's director, John Seely Brown stated in a 2006 interview that the scene in which Gates and Jobs argue about the role of Xerox is not entirely accurate. He said that Jobs was invited by PARC to view their technology in exchange for the ability to buy pre-IPO Apple stock.{{cite web |access-date=2015-12-12 |archive-date=December 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222093812/http://www.studio360.org/story/106728-john-seely-brown/ |url-status=live

Accolades

References

References

1. Freiberger, Paul. "Meet Paul Freiberger".
2. Richmond, Ray. (1999-06-16). "Review: 'Pirates of Silicon Valley'".
3. (1999). "Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs". Official website.
4. (1999). "Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates". Official website.
5. (1999). "Official website: Q&a With Martyn Burke". Official Website.
6. "Soliloquy".
7. (1980). "Piano Album".
8. "» The Revolution According to Steve Jobs".
9. "Noah Wyle and Steve Jobs' moment of truth « Observatory". kensegall.com.
10. (2000-01-19). "PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA ANNOUNCES NOMINATIONS FOR GOLDEN LAUREL AWARDS". [[Producers Guild of America]].