After early discussions to play the Apple founder, Christian Bale has decided to part ways with the Steve Jobs biopic at Sony.

While negotiations were never fully under way, sources tell Variety that Bale had talks with director Danny Boyle about taking on the role, but a deal never came to fruition. The news comes almost two weeks after the biopic’s screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, told Bloomberg that Bale was a lock for the part of Jobs. ““We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range and that’s Chris Bale,” he said. “It’s an extremely difficult part and he’s gonna crush it.”

Sony will now look to find its replacement after Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio both passed on the part. The studio is in discussions with Seth Rogen to play Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Scott Rudin, Mark Gordon and Guymon Casady are producing.

Bale is in negotiations to play Travis McGee in Fox’s “The Deep Blue Goodbye” and can be seen next in Fox’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings.” He is repped by WME.