Without a Ouija board and faith that seances actually work, we're never going to hear what the real Steve Jobs thinks of his own latest biopic, Steve Jobs. As for the rest of the people portrayed in the hit new movie, which was written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Danny Boyle, plus other relevant individuals, here are some interesting reactions, some positive and some negative:

 

Steve ("Woz") Wozniak, cofounder of Apple
(played by Seth Rogen in Steve Jobs) 
 

"I was shocked and amazed at how good it was in the sense of professional filmmaking," Wozniak, a consultant on the movie, told the BBC. "The acting was just so realistic. In some prior movies, I saw [the actors] simulating Steve Jobs, but they didn't really make me feel like I was in his head understanding what was going on inside of him -- his personality. This movie absolutely accomplishes that, and it's due to great acting, which obviously comes from great directing."

"I thought he did an excellent job," he added about Rogen's performance as him, and he defends whatever inaccuracies there are. "In many places in the movie I'm portrayed saying things that are negative directly to Steve Jobs. Anybody who knows me will tell you I just don't say negative things to people, and could not have said them, and didn't ... Things that were in existence in the real world were put into my mouth. So, I may not have said those things. I may not have been talking to Steve at those events. But they were 'in the air,' so you have to put them in someone's mouth to make a movie."

 

John Sculley, former Apple CEO
(played by Jeff Daniels in Steve Jobs) 

"It's a perfectionist product. Everything about it: the acting, the directing, the screenplay," Sculley told CNN about why Jobs himself would like the movie. "But, I also think Steve Jobs would be a little bit hurt because many people who never knew the young Steve Jobs could go away from this movie and think, 'well I know Steve Jobs.' Well guess what? You don't. Because that is not the complete Steve Jobs."

As for what he liked about the movie, Sculley, who also consulted on the production, said at least one section gave him shivers and that Sorkin's script is not exactly faithful to any actual words spoken but it "represented the kind of dialogue that said 'yes, that's that person.'" On Daniels' portrayal of him he added, "I couldn't believe how... he actually captured how I was feeling going through some of the most intense scenes."

 

Andy Hertzfeld, member of the original Apple Macintosh development team
(played by Michael Stuhlbarg in Steve Jobs) 
 

"I think it’s a fine movie, brilliantly written and performed and full of humor and feeling," Hertzfeld, another consultant on the movie, said based on his viewing of an unfinished version, in an interview with Re/code. He also defended the inaccuracies: "It deviates from reality everywhere — almost nothing in it is like it really happened — but ultimately that doesn’t matter that much. The purpose of the film is to entertain, inspire and move the audience, not to portray reality. It is cavalier about the facts but aspires to explore and expose the deeper truths behind Steve’s unusual personality and behavior, and it often but not always succeeds at that."

"Michael’s performance was excellent," he added, of Stuhlbarg's portrayal, "but I am probably the worst person in the world to judge it, since I hardly get to observe myself — it feels strange to me, kind of like the first time I heard my voice played back on a tape recorder. I couldn’t help but cringe at times, especially when they apparently put him in a fat suit for the third act."

 

Andy Cunningham, former PR agent for Apple and NeXT
(played by Sarah Snook in Steve Jobs)

"The new Steve Jobs film masterfully captures the complex character that was Steve Jobs," Cunningham wrote for Mashable, in a review of the movie. "Choosing to tell this story through a confined number of relationships over an extended period of time across three events is brilliant and enables the exposure of the full Steve Jobs -- emotions and all. It is actually the emotional side of this movie that makes the insanely great life story of Steve Jobs come alive." 

 

Tim Cook, current Apple CEO

"I think that a lot of people are trying to be opportunistic and I hate that," stated Cook, who hadn't yet seen the movie, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. "It’s not a great part of our world." Responding to claims about Steve Jobs being an unflattering portrait he said, "The Steve I knew was an amazing human being. He’s someone that you wanted to do your best work for... he was a joy to work with."

 

Sir Jonathan (Jony) Ive, Chief Design Officer for Apple

"This is a primal fear of mine, and this touches quite deep for me, in that how you are defined, and how you are portrayed, can be hijacked by people with agendas that are very different than your close family and from your friends,” said the legendary designer of the iPod, iPhone, iMac and Apple Watch during a panel discussion with J.J. Abrams and Brian Grazer hosted by Vanity Fair. Ive hasn't actually seen it for himself, though, and it seems like he never will.

“There are sons and daughters and widows and very close friends who are completely bemused and completely upset, and yet again, we’re celebrating, we’re remembering Steve’s life, and at the same time, beautifully choreographed is the release of a movie, and I don’t recognize the person at all," he continued. "And I’m sorry to sound a bit grumpy about it, but I just find it ever so sad because he had his triumphs and his tragedies like us all, and like most of us, he’s having his identity described, defined by a whole bunch of other people. And I think that’s a bit of a struggle personally.”  

 

Josh Gad, who played Steve Wozniak in Jobs 

This Twitter exchange seems to close the book on which Steve Jobs biopic is the better: