Ashton Kutcher may be best known for his goofier comedy roles in That ’70s Show and Two and a Half Men, but the actor takes a rare dramatic turn in new film Jobs as visionary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Kutcher, 35, who bears a strong physical resemblance to a young Jobs with his wavy dark hair, brown eyes and five o’clock shadow, told Reuters that as a fan of Jobs’s work, he was surprised when learning details about the Apple CEO’s life.

“When I read the script, Steve was a guy that I really admired, and he was not always being shown in the best light, and I was a little taken aback. I really admire who he is and what he’s done. I want to in some ways protect the legacy of a guy that I admire,” Kutcher said.

“I also had the challenge of playing a guy who very much is still in the zeitgeist... I had to play the guy that became the guy that everybody remembers,” he added.

Jobs, directed by Joshua Michael Stern and released in US theatres yesterday, outlines 30 defining years of Apple’s co-founder, who revolutionised the way people listen to music with the iPod and home computers with the Apple Macintosh.

Jobs, who helped build Apple Inc. into one of the world’s most recognisable brands, died in 2011 aged 56 after battling pancreatic cancer.

The film chronicles Jobs’s life from the year he dropped out of college in 1973 to the inception of Apple Computer Company with his friend Steve Wozniak three years later and Apple’s subsequent rise to the forefront of the technology industry.

It also touches on aspects of Jobs’s personal life, such as his rocky relationship with ex-girlfriend Chrisann Brennan, played by Ahna O’Reilly, and his initial refusal to accept paternity of their daughter, Lisa.

“We didn’t shy away from being honest about Steve Jobs’s gifts and being honest about his faults,” Kutcher said.

“We tried to tell the story that did justice insomuch as it showed what his contribution was and also didn’t shy away from showing that aspects of Steve Jobs that weren’t so wonderful and beautiful and sexy,” he added.

Kutcher has gained gravitas in Silicon Valley by investing in start-ups, such as social networks Skype and Foursquare with his venture capital fund A-Grade Investments.

He saw similarities between himself and Jobs, both as college dropouts with “an appreciation for art and technology”.

But the actor, who studied Jobs’s mannerisms, diet and gait for the role, said he found challenges in conveying the computing trailblazer’s intellect.

We didn’t shy away from being honest about Steve Jobs’s gifts and being honest about his faults

“Steve Jobs is a lot more intelligent than I am, so playing a guy that’s that brilliant, I was really afraid of undermining his brilliance with my performance,” the actor said.

After Jobs premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah earlier this year, Kutcher received mixed reviews for his performance as the tech innovator.

Variety film critic Justin Chang said that while Kutcher carried a physical resemblance to Jobs, “the illusion never fully seizes to hold”.

The Hollywood Reporter’s reviewer Justin Lowe said Kutcher “goes beyond” the physical resemblance to Jobs to “faithfully recreate... physical mannerisms”.

Kutcher said he did not “care about critics”, and instead found encouraging words with Apple veterans, who had worked closely with Jobs.

“We showed the film to the original Macintosh team. Their review was probably the most valuable one that I listened to.

“A couple of them came up to me and said ‘Thank you for giving us two more hours with Steve’. And that moved me and made me feel good about the work that we’ve done,” the actor said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.