Six years before his death, Steve Jobs gave the most memorable speech of his life. He wasn't in his signature black turtleneck, sneakers, and blue jeans announcing a new product at an Apple keynote. He was in a gown, standing before the 2005 Stanford graduating class. Jobs spoke about life, death, failure, success in a speech that has since been viewed millions of times on YouTube.
With the big-budget biopic about Steve Jobs out now, The Hollywood Reporter published a lengthy article detailing the struggles the film faced while in production. In one quote, from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin reveals his few encounters with the Apple CEO, before his death in 2011:
"The writer had never met Jobs, but they had spoken by phone. 'First time, he called me because there was an episode of The West Wing that he particularly liked and he called to say so out of the blue,' Sorkin recalls. 'The second time, he wanted me to come and tour Pixar in the hope that I would write a Pixar film. And the third time, he asked for my help on a Stanford commencement speech.' (Sorkin obliged, free of charge.)"
Now, it's still not clear how much Sorkin helped writing the speech. He's said in the past that he only looked it over after it was written, and all the thoughts came from Jobs.
A few other interesting things to note in this quote: Jobs, a mere mortal just like us, would make random calls to writers of specific TV episodes that he liked. And allow us to imagine a Sorkin-penned Pixar movie. Woody and Buzz walking briskly through Andy's room, furiously babbling about the political hierarchy of their toys. Mr. Potato Head plots to plant a story on the Etch-a-Sketch to hurt Woody's good standing with Sarge and the other soldiers. Cue thunderous music. Yeah, Toy Story would have been way different.
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