Brad Pitt’s "Moneyball" Flick May Not Hit the Big Screen

Technically, to call it "Brad Pitt’s film," is a bit over the top. The movie was to be based on Michael Lewis’ book of the same name, and the concept to make it into a movie was to be a collaborative project led by director Steven Soderbergh. The book itself, and the movie that is presumably still to follow at some point, is about current Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane, himself a former ballplayer. But, we digress in a major way. It’s now "Brad Pitt’s" Moneyball because everyone knows him and Lewis, Soderbergh and Beane are just some guys who do more important things for a living.

It seems now, however, that the film may be no one’s, as Columbia Pictures executive Amy Pascal has put the project into "limited turnaround" after receiving a final draft of the script that was much different from that which she fought for. While production on the film was set to begin yesterday in Phoenix, Arizona, the change on Soderbergh’s end was disturbing enough to Pascal that she basically backed out. The "limited turnaround," as it’s called, will give Soderbergh the opportunity to shop the project with another studio, presumably one of the larger shops like Paramount or Warner Bros.

Should it come to it, Columbia will then re-examine what to do with the film. Options include delaying the filming until Soderbergh and Pascal come to terms, replacing Soderbergh altogether, or simply scrapping the project. There has been a great deal of conjecture as to how in the world "Moneyball" could be made into a movie in the first place, as there is no clear resolution in the book and, though the book is interesting and was well received, it simply does not appear to be a "movie" type of book. Nonetheless, there are many that hope that it goes to the big screen, including Pitt himself, who was hired to play the lead character, Billy Beane.