BillyBeane Tagged Articles at Cinematical
'Moneyball' Still Rolling at Sony, Aaron Sorkin Up to Bat
Filed under: Drama », Sports », Deals », Sony », Celebrities and Controversy », Scripts », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand », Brad Pitt »
If you were absolutely heartbroken at the loss of Sony's Moneyball, cheer up! It's still alive and swinging. Variety reports that the project has been revived with some new talent, though now it's in desperate need of a new director. The good news is that the man in charge of repairing it all is none other than Aaron Sorkin, who is riding high at Sony thanks to The Social Nework. Everyone's favorite screenwriter is taking a crack at Steve Zaillian's original script, and is expected to have it finished by August. Sorkin is steering it back to the film the studio wanted all along: a nice sports film that focuses on Billy Beane, the Oakland A's, underdogs, and statistics. It's also retained the services of Brad Pitt, who is still attached to play Beane.
The bad but not altogether unexpected news is that Steven Soderbergh is off the project. His draft took a more documentary approach that Sony was certain would fail with moviegoers. I guess we'll never know, but I can't really blame Sony for being afraid of an approach that used an animated Bill James character. At least the director has a million other projects he can turn to for comfort. Will it be Making Jack Falcone? Liberace? Cleo? None of the above and out of nowhere? Very possibly.
Soderbergh and Pitt Reteam for Baseball Flick
Filed under: Casting », Deals », Newsstand »
On second thought, maybe we'll hold off on filming that 3D Cleopatra musical starring Catherine Zeta Jones and, instead, film something with a little more commercial appeal that stars, say, Brad Pitt. According to Variety, Steven Soderbergh has decided to put that Cleopatra flick on the backburner in favor of Moneyball, based on the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. David Frankel (Marley & Me) was originally tapped to direct (off a script from Steven Zaillian), but there's no word on what happened there.
Based on a very real story, Pitt -- who worked with Soderbergh on all the Ocean's films -- will star as Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane who, back in 2002, helped his small-market team win over 100 games by using a sophisticated computer analysis system. I'm not entirely sure how cinematic and exciting a film about behind-the-scenes baseball statistics will be, but if you've got Brad Pitt in the lead role, then anything is possible, right? I remember when the Athletics threw together that miracle year, and even though they didn't make it past the first round of the playoffs, it was still exciting to watch this team of nobodies defy the odds -- and I'm sure Soderbergh's film will tap into that classic "from nothing to something" sports storyline.
What do you think -- is this a story worth telling on the big screen?
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