LOS ANGELES -- Universal Pictures isn't thinking different, so much as thinking fast.
The studio announced on Wednesday that the Steve Jobs biopic, written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), will hit theaters on Oct. 9, 2015 -- just eight short months from now. The date suggests the film will premiere at either the Telluride Film Festival or Toronto International Film Festival, with an eye toward awards consideration.
Michael Fassbender, who took the role after dead ringer Christian Bale dropped out, won't have to lose a lot of weight to look like Jobs in the years after 2003, when the Apple cofounder was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. That's because Sorkin's screenplay is set backstage during three separate product launches, the last of which is in 1998.
(If Fassbender does need a little help looking the part, however, there's an app for that.)
Kate Winslet will play former Macintosh marketing chief Joanna Hoffman, while Seth Rogen will play co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Filming is underway for Steve Jobs, which Universal took out of turnaround from Sony. It comes to theaters a little over two years after Jobs, which starred Ashton Kutcher as the Apple cofounder.