Ashton Kutcher appeared on The Tonight Show, and talked about his role in the Steve Jobs biopic Jobs, and how he missed a chance to meet the man he would be playing in the film.

Kutcher tells Jay Leno, “I had an opportunity to meet him about six months before he passed away, and I was working that day and couldn’t go. In hindsight, I look back and think I had an opportunity to meet the Leonardo Da Vinci of our generation, and I missed it, and that really affected my decision to take on the role because…it was actually the day that he died that for me..it was almost like…I hear people talk about they knew where they were the day Kennedy died, and for me, I’ll never forget the moment I heard that he died. I pulled my car to the side of the road, and I kind of took a moment.”

He continues, “When I got home, I realized…I sat down at my computer, and started doing some work, and I realized that all the relationships I have in my life are held together by glue that he laid down, and all the work that I do in whatever capacity that I do it and entertainment that I consume…here I have my Apple computer and my iPhone and all these things, and I realized that I had taken him for granted and taken for granted the contribution he actually gave to society, and I actually had a real emotional moment that day…”

Kutcher also spoke with The Verge’s Josh Topolsky for a bit. Here’s that:

Rumor has it that Kutcher is close to signing a deal with Lenovo. More on that here.

Jobs is set to be released on August 16th. Here’s the trailer and poster in case you haven’t seen them yet: