Movie News

Columbia Takes Eye Off of the Moneyball

June 22, 2009

Columbia Pictures has dropped the ball on Moneyball, the Steven Soderbergh-directed drama starring Brad Pitt that was supposed to begin production on Monday in Phoenix, says Variety.

On Friday, the studio's Amy Pascal placed the movie into "limited turnaround," giving the filmmaker the chance to set it up at another studio, with Warner Bros. and Paramount the prime targets.

The trade adds that the move came after Pascal read a rewrite that Soderbergh did to Steven Zaillian's script and found it very different from the earlier scripts she championed. Pascal was uncomfortable enough with how the vision had changed that she applied the brakes.

If a new financier doesn't emerge by today, Columbia will re-examine options that include replacing Soderbergh (and hoping Pitt doesn't ankle), delaying the film until Pascal and the filmmaker find themselves in synch on the script or pulling the plug.

The news came just 96 hours before the participants were ready to take the field, following three months of preparation and with camera tests completed and cast and budget in place.

Moneyball is based on the bestselling Michael Lewis book about Billy Beane (Pitt), the former player who resurfaced as the Oakland A's general manager and found success fielding competitive teams for low cost.

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COMMENTS (10)

Posted by:

fmpro

June 22, 2009

Strange. hope they find a solution

Posted by:

fresh

June 22, 2009

Dropping out a day before the start of production is ridiculous. So many people--the crew, the cast--im sure have all turned down work to start this project and now they are all being screwed.

Posted by:

K.M.A.

June 22, 2009

I say give it to Universal and they can set it up at Focus Features as an indie. Soderbergh will have a lot of luck over there not to mention creative control over the final product.

Posted by:

essay

June 22, 2009

Wow, extremely unusual. Wonder what's going on behind the scenes.

Posted by:

matthooper

June 22, 2009

Of course the biggest problem with Moneyball is that after enough time passes it proves to fail. Sure it can be successful for a short period of time. But as time progresses, it's obvious it fails. Look at where Oakland is now. Teams can't win over the long haul with no payroll and no fans.

When Moneyball came out it was still a proven success story. But the times have changed and the system is flawed. it's kind of irrelevant now. If Oakland was still competing for world championships it might still work. They should let this one die.

Posted by:

matthooper

June 22, 2009

A good philosophy shouldn't have a time limit. It's a fact that Moneyball can't work for an extended period of time. Oakland is not good now. You can't be good when you have to trade your best players. You can't replace a great player every time with a potential star. They don't always pan out. Look at every team with a low payroll, they can have limited success, but not over the long haul. Not to mention that constantly trading stars means losing fans. Have you seen Oakland's attendance for the last few years? It's really bad.

Posted by:

Temperance

June 22, 2009

thats hollywood for ya.

Posted by:

joe asylo

June 22, 2009

sound good.

Posted by:

FancierClown

June 22, 2009

Good book, but I've never felt that it translates well cinema.