Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs biopic, our best hope for a realistic depiction of every pithy walk-and-talk conversation the late Apple founder ever had, has been dropped by Sony. Is it dead or, like Jobs himself, just living under an assumed name in Brazil*?

Sorkin's script has gone through a number of rumored stars and directors. His Social Network collaborator, David Fincher, was originally on board, but only if Christian Bale would play jobs. Then Bale was rumored to be attached, but Fincher dropped out.

A series of rumored Jobses came and went—Bale and Leo DiCaprio turned down the part, and Michael Fassbender stepped in—and Seth Rogen had been cast as Steve Wozniak. After Fincher's exit, Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle decided to try his hand at Scumbag Billionaire.

It's not entirely clear what happened with Sony, but the studio apparently lost patience. Aside from (or possibly related to?) the casting and directing woes, Sorkin's script is rumored to be very demanding.

But the project isn't quite dead yet. Deadline reports Sorkin is very close to a deal with Universal, and Boyle might stay on to direct. The lead is still up the air, but Fassbender was the most recent pick.

Do we really need another Steve Jobs film, though? Ashton Kutcher was so brilliant in the last one.

* This rumor was actually debunked, but how cool would that have been?

[h/t Slashfilm, Photo: AP Images]