Talking Your Tech: Actor Matthew Modine likes film

— -- BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Actor Matthew Modine starred in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 Full Metal Jacket as a soldier/journalist and got into his role by roaming the set taking photos on a vintage Rolleiflex twin-lens camera. Now, to celebrate Tuesday's 25th-anniversary DVD/Blu-ray release of the film, Modine is releasing an Apple iPad app of his photos, based on his 2005 Full Metal Jacket Diary book ($14.99). He also has an unrelated children's book app, Punky Dunk ($2.99).

The tech connection continues with the film Jobs, a biopic of the late Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs. Shooting for the movie wrapped up recently. Modine plays John Sculley, the executive brought in by Jobs to run Apple. That decision later led to Jobs' ouster.

We met Modine at a park here on a recent Saturday afternoon.

The iPad 'Metal' app

Modine and former Apple staffer Adam Rackoff raised $27,000 on Kickstarter, a crowd-funding website, to create a visual app from his Full Metal Jacket Diary book. "It's a deeply immersive experience. The book comes to life. I record my narration, do characterizations of the people, have high-res scans of the negatives, so they can be opened up on the iPad."

The Punky Dunk app

"I wanted to take a book and make it interactive. I narrate the voice of Punky, this rascally, naughty cat. There are all kinds of things hidden in the book. A child experiencing the book can play with the cat's whiskers, which are musical notes, touch the bell when it rings, throw water on Punky Dunk. There's goldfish in a fishbowl. It's a way for young children to interact with technology."

His gear

An Apple PowerBook computer, iPad, iPhone and three vintage Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex film cameras.

Analog vs. digital

He still shoots with the Rolleiflexes because he prefers analog to digital. As a director, he's made films with the digital Canon 5D Mark II and 7D SLR cameras. But as an actor, he says he prefers working with film.

"We are analog as people. When you tell a story with a digital camera, it captures things in a different speed and time. Film is more sympathetic. You can get caught doing really bad acting in digital, because it captures in a different way."

Channeling John Sculley in 'Jobs'

The independent movie is one of at least two in the works — not to be confused with Sony's Steve Jobs film, with a script by Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network). In Jobs, Ashton Kutcher (Two and a Half Men) is Jobs to Modine's Sculley.

"I had the opportunity to meet Sculley. He's bright and kind, and hatefully known as the man who fired Jobs. He didn't fire Jobs. The board did." The movie follows Jobs from co-creating the company in his garage to the introduction of the iPod. The film just wrapped production, and will be in theaters this fall. "Because of technology, they're able to make films much quicker today."