The three sequences in the film were filmed on 16mm, 35mm, and digital to illustrate the advancement in Apple's technology across the sixteen years of Jobs' life depicted.
The three-act film was shot in sequence. The actors spent four weeks on each act, rehearsing for two weeks and then filming for two weeks. Kate Winslet said that by act three, Michael Fassbender didn't even have his script at the rehearsals, as he had memorized all one hundred eighty pages.
Michael Fassbender said in an interview that Christian Bale, who exited the project in November 2014, would have been perfect to play Steve Jobs. "I thought to myself: Christian Bale is perfect, why isn't he doing it?" Fassbender told The Hollywood Reporter while promoting the film in London. "I actually called him up and told him that myself."
Seth Rogen met with Steve Wozniak extensively to understand him. Rogen also researched Wozniak's keynotes and speeches online. Rogen cited watching an old eighties video on repeat, featuring Wozniak giving a tour of the Apple museum at their headquarters, as part of his research. Rogen later admitted that he had no idea who Steve Wozniak was prior to working on this movie.
Kate Winslet found out about the movie from her make-up artist while working on Haute couture (2015). The make-up artist just got hired for this movie, and told Winslet. Winslet said that she was intrigued by a movie written by Aaron Sorkin, directed by Danny Boyle, and starring Michael Fassbender, that she asked for more details about the female part. She later sent a picture of herself with a black wig, and then she got the script, and met with Boyle, which resulted in winning the part.
Aaron Sorkin: During the first act of the film, when Jobs and Woz are arguing in the courtyard about the two versus eight ports on their way to the launch of the Mac, Sorkin is the taller of the two gentlemen walking by in the background.