Ashton Kutcher explains to Quora how he prepared for Steve Jobs role
Over on Quora, actor Ashton Kutcher recently left a detailed answer for a user who asked the question "How did Ashton Kutcher prepare for his role as Steve Jobs in the new movie Jobs?" His answer on the site (in which Kutcher is an investor) was actually quite revealing, not only about how an actor prepares for a role, but also pointing out some personality quirks of Steve Jobs.
Kutcher started his preparation by reading the script, watching documentaries and interviews, collecting YouTube content and listening to SoundCloud files of Jobs:
I then started to dissect the nuances of his behavior, the walk, the fact that he has an almost imperceptible lisp, his accent that was a combination of northern California and Wisconsin, the way he paused before answer, and nodded in understanding, the way he bowed in namaste when receiving praise, and stared with contempt when in conflict.
Other Jobs details and mannerisms were pointed out by Kutcher: "How he counted with his fingers (pinky finger first), how he used the word 'aaaaand' and 'noooow' to think about what he was going to say next."
Kutcher went on to say that he even read many of the books that influenced Jobs throughout his life, ate foods that Jobs fixated on (carrot juice, grapes, popcorn), researched his favorite artists and studied the entrepreneurs that Jobs admired the most, before meeting with many of the friends and colleagues of Jobs.
The jury is still out on how well Kutcher portrays Jobs in the soon-to-be-released movie, but his final words seem to show an amazing amount of respect for the late Apple CEO:
But in the end one of the greatest tells of the man were his creations. They were elegant, intelligent, thoughtful, precise, artistic, bold, visionary, complicated, efficient, fun, entertaining, powerful, imperfect and beautiful on the inside and out.... Just like Steve.
Jobs opens nationwide on August 16.
