Steve Jobs Stars as FDR in Internal Apple Commercial

An internal spin-off of Apple's Super Bowl commercial "1984" has been released as an exclusive to Network World. In "1944," Steve Jobs himself stars as FDR.

The commercial was filmed to showcase the WWII battle of "good vs. IBM" and is reported to have cost $50,000 to produce for an internal sales force meeting for the company in 1984.

Watch this short clip of from the nine-minute film:

Here's some background on the content of the film from Network World's Paul McNamara:

Anyone who's seen the TV commercial no doubt recognized in this film the reprised role of the female hammer thrower, although I'm not sure if it's actually Anya Major from "1984." And, if you recall, Apple's famous ad ended with a narrator intoning: "On January 24^th, Apple Computer will release Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984.' " As you just saw, this film begins: "On January 24, 1984, Apple Computer introduced Macintosh. And we saw why 1984 was like ... 1944."

If you don't know the Macintosh commercial McNamara references (or need a refresher), see it here:

In addition to Jobs and some professional actors, Network World points out former vice president of marketing Mike Murray plays The General.

Network World reports former Apple employee Craig Elliott, who is now the CEO of Pertino Networks, said he had "never seen the film anywhere else" and didn't know of any other place it would have been circulated. McNamara writes he too couldn't find it anywhere else on the Web, which is not to say it's not out there somewhere. He does acknowledge that two bits of "1944" appeared in a photo tribute to Jobs for his 30th birthday.

Watch the full commercial:

McNamara has pulled together the dialogue of the short. Read it here.

[H/T Buzzfeed]