Ashton Kutcher to play Steve Jobs

Ashton Kutcher will play Steve Jobs (inset) in a movie about the late Apple co-founder from his early days as a "wayward hippie" up through to his technology ventures, according to show business publication Variety.

The independent film Jobs is based on a script by Matt Whiteley and will be directed by Joshua Michael Stern (Swing Vote).

A separate movie project about Jobs, based on the 2011 biography by Walter Isaacson, is being developed at Sony Pictures Studios.

Kutcher, who replaced Charlie Sheen on the long-running television sitcom Two and a Half Men, is scheduled to shoot the movie during that TV series' production hiatus.

Kutcher's big-screen credits include Valentine's Day, What Happens in Vegas and The Butterfly Effect.