Ashton Kutcher will play Steve Jobs in biopic

Ashton Kutcher will play the role of Apple founder Steve Jobs after being cast in his biopic.

Ashton Kutcher, 34, will play the technology pioneer in an indie movie which will simply be titled Jobs.

The move to cast Ashton Kutcher may shock some, as he is best known as a comedic actor.

However, Ashton Kutcher has also featured in drama projects in the past, such as 2004 science fiction thriller The Butterfly Effect, and 2006 coastguard action film The Guardian.

But tackling the role of the iconic Apple CEO will surely be the biggest test yet of his acting ability.

One thing the actor will not have to worry about hours of make-up work, as the pair look uncannily alike.

According to Variety, Joshua Michael Stern will begin shooting the film in May, with Five Star Institute’s Mark Hulme producing and financing.

The latter seems to be a newcomer to the film financing scene, and he is CEO and founder of a Dallas-based mortgage industry group.

It will have a big studio competitor though, as Sony is planning a separate biographical movie.

However it looks this version could be cut and dried before the latter’s effort is complete.

Joshua Michael Stern is set to begin principal photography in May while Ashton Kutcher is on hiatus from CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men.

The fact the news emerged on April 1 is sure to have many wondering about the veracity of the reports, but it appears to be true.

It will surely leave bosses at Sony fuming, as they snapped up the film rights to Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography of Steve Jobs, which was published within weeks of Jobs’ death last October, in Autumn.

Joshua Michael Stern will be shooting from a script by Matt Whiteley.

It will feature the visionary businessman’s rise from a California hippie to co-founder of Apple.

Steve Jobs died in October last year after a battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of just 56.

Ashton Kutcher is something of a technology businessman of his own, and was part of the management team for Ooma, a start-up launched in September 2007.

The service allows users to make phone calls anywhere in the United States with no monthly service fees.

Ashton Kutcher will not be the first actor to play Steve Jobs however.

Noah Wyle played him in the critically acclaimed 1999 television movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, which followed the respective rises of perennial rivals Apple and Microsoft.