Just about three weeks ago, Hollywood was shocked to hear that Sony had decided to drop the Aaron Sorkin-written Steve Jobs movie. Of course, that news was preceded by back-and-forth casting changes and the studio winding up with a director they didn’t want. Now, thanks to the Sony hack, we are learning exactly what kind of chaos lead to the decision.

To set up the scene, back on Nov. 20, the Hollywood trades began reporting that Sony dropped the film without an explanation available. It just didn’t make sense at the time, despite the fact that Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio dropped out of the lead role. The studio didn’t even get the director it initially wanted, David Fincher, but with Danny Boyle onboard, it looked like it would finally get made. After all, with a Sorkin script, the film should be somewhat good.

Last night, Gawker posted email exchanges between Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin, who was behind the studio’s hit The Social Network. These emails reveal the players of the situation, which actually includes Angelina Jolie.

It turns out that Jolie wasn’t happy that Sony wanted Social Network director David Fincher to make Steve Jobs. Jolie wanted Fincher to make her long-gestating Cleopatra movie, which has been in the works since 2010, and was worried that Jobs wouldn’t allow him to do it. Pascal wanted Rudin to call Jolie, but Rudin didn’t want anything to do with that. “YOU BETTER SHUT ANGIE DOWN BEFORE SHE MAKES IT VERY HARD FOR DAVID TO DO JOBS,” Rudin wrote to Pascal in one message.

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Another email between Pascal and a Sony employee showed that she wanted Fincher on Jobs because it was a sure hit, while Cleopatra wasn’t. “He's perfect for Jobs and we don't even know what Cleo is, only what we want it to be. That's the same situation as Girl. A disaster,” she writers, referring to Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

In that same email, Pascal wrote, “Setting aside Rudin for a minute, Eric is mad about Fincher because he knows that after all this money and time we don't have a draft that could actually land a director. That's on him alone. So he's hiding behind outrage when he knows full well Fincher could get picked off by a good script at any studio. That's the truth.”

As TheWrap notes, the “Eric” in that message is probably Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button writer Eric Roth.

In his exchanges with Pascal, Rudin claims that Jolie is star-struck by Jolie, who he says is more of a celebrity. He thinks that Cleopatra would be a major flop.

“She's a camp event and a celebrity and that's all and the last thing anybody needs is to make a giant bomb with her that any fool could see coming,” Rudin wrote. “We will end up being the laughing stock of our industry and we will deserve it, which is so clearly where this is headed that I cannot believe we are still wasting our time with it.”

Ars Technica posted other emails from Sorkin, which showed that he wanted current director Danny Boyle to consider Tom Cruise for the Jobs role.

Another interesting email came from agency WME’s Robert Newman to DiCaprio. “Just as you must surely feel great pride in helping bring Marty his Oscar on “the departed”, everyone involved in this production desperately wants to help bring you the Academy award you so richly deserve,” that message reads.

There’s also another email that shows how Annapurna’s Megan Ellison wanted to cofinance the project since her father was friends with the real Jobs. Rudin didn’t like that idea either.

The film is now over at Universal, with Michael Fassbender set to play Jobs.

image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com