GITS has been around long enough now so that some of the projects stuck in Development Hell are actually emerging into the light. An interesting one is the movie Moneyball. I covered some of its more interesting moments in development here:
“I’ve wanted to work with Steven forever, because he’s simply a great filmmaker,” Pascal told me today. “But the draft he turned in wasn’t at all what we’d signed up for. He wanted to make a dramatic reenactment of events with real people playing themselves. I’d still work with Steven in a minute, but in terms of this project, he wanted to do the film in a different way than we did.”
That’s Sony chief Amy Pascal in comments to Patrick Goldstein about the crash-and-burn of “Moneyball” in the Big Picture yesterday. The “Steven” in question is Steven Soderbergh. As was posted here last Friday, some strange stuff went down re this project:
So, to recap, Zaillian’s original script was so good that it made Sony want — nay — need to spend $57 million on a film about baseball statistics, even though such a movie would have limited appeal overseas (and anyone else wary of sitting through a movie about baseball statistics). Then, a week before shooting was to begin — with cameras and catering vans already on their way! — Soderbergh himself turned in a revised version that was so odious it made Amy Pascal completely reverse her earlier decision, likely forfeiting the $10 million Sony had already spent on preproduction. So how bad must Soderbergh’s new draft have been? Surely it’s worth somebody’s $57 million to find out, right?
And here:
It’s an interesting example of what happens when a studio “get pregnant.” What that means is the further along the studio gets with a project — specifically re dollars spent — the more likely they are to have to actually produce it. Sony reportedly already has spent nearly $15M on Moneyball — and that represents being very pregnant.
So they blanched at Soderbergh’s draft, found out that Brad Pitt would still be interested in the project of Soderbergh departed, put in a call to Aaron Sorkin’s reps, found out he’d be interested in writing the script per Sony’s wishes, and last but not least looked at how much money they’d already invested in the project, leaving them this choice: Eat $15M or roll the dice with A-level talent actor and writer to see if they could at least recoup their investment and at best hit a home run.
And now here we are a few years later and voila — a trailer for Moneyball appears:
This version is a straight ahead underdog sports movie, nothing unconventional about it whatsoever, and seemingly far removed from Sodebergh’s draft.
For more on that, you can check out Mystery Man’s posts on the project in which he actually compares the Soderbergh draft to the Zaillian draft of the script.
[And speaking of Mystery Man, any more conspiracy theories floating around out there?]
What do you think of the trailer? Hit movie? Not so much?
BTW the credited screenwriters are Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, story by Stan Chervin.
The movie is slated for a fall release.
Looks pretty underwhelming. Can you provide a link to the Mystry Man script analysis?
mooderino: I edited the OP to include a link to MMOF's analysis of the scripts.
Cheers. having read what the scripts were about and the aim of the story in genral I'd like to change my previous assessment of the movie as I was being way too optimistic.
Hit. I'm not even a baseball fan and I'm down right interested.
The thing that interests me as a huge fan of baseball, the book, and most of the people involved in this movie is that Billy Beane's (Brad Pitt) then-lieutenant Paul DePodesta made them change his name because they were differing so much from him. DePodesta played both baseball and football at Harvard and worked as a scout with the Indians before working for the A's. In this he's portrayed as new to baseball work and… well, Jonah Hill.
Other tidbit: I used to read scripts for the director Bennett Miller. He is wildly, wildly smart and used to have a whole checklist of very difficult questions you should be able to answer before pitching him anything. He may not write scripts, but he gets 'em.
Oh, and now that I know you're a Mets fan, it's worth noting that DePodesta now works for the Mets under Sandy Alderson, who hired Beane in the first place.
Hey Amos,
It would be great if you could share some of those difficult questions from Miller's checklist…or at least the kinds of questions. That kind of stuff can be very useful to GITS readers who aspire to one day be in a meeting.
I'm interested in "Moneyball" for a variety of reasons, mostly because I'm fascinated by Billy Beane. He has discovered soccer and is a huge fanatic, as I understand it convincing A's owner Lew Wolff to buy the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS. So Beane is attempting to do with them what he has been doing with the Athletics.
@Amos: I was thrilled to see the Mets hire Alderson, but I doubt even he can lift the curse they're currently under. I peg it back to building the current stadium as an homage to Ebbets Filed with hardly any reference architecturally to the Polo Grounds or Shea Stadium. Stupid choice. However being a Mets fan, I can live comfortably with the miracle of '69 and the thrill of '86. Besides while I still love baseball, I am totally nuts about soccer, so that's where most of my sports energy goes.
The Zailian draft of the script is pretty fantastic.
I have no interest in baseball, but I'm interested in anything Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin worked on.
I read the Sorkin draft of this and it was great! It felt like a spiritual sequel of sorts to The Social Network, a movie about stats and number crunchers that really soars emotionally at points.
At it's heart it's a character piece about a flawed protagonist, much like SN's Zuckerburg, who follows an unlikely path to success against all odds. I would encourage everybody to check this movie out when it opens, especially if you were a fan of SN, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Januaryfire,
It's been a couple years, plus I don't want to post all of his document here, but I'll give a look for it tomorrow.
I'm not a baseball fan. I don't dislike the sport, I just don't care one way or the other. And I'm not familiar with any of the characters or the real story behind this film. My views on this are based solely on the trailer.
If this trailer is any indication of what the film will be like then they're in trouble. It's a mess. It's trying to sell many different movies here and none of the elements are coming together. What are we supposed to follow here, one man's struggle to build a great team? Is it a slick sports comedy? That's what the opening music and the attempted humor is trying for.
Is it a film about betting or the mathematics/theory of baseball? Is Jonah Hill supposed to be some young genius that will change the game? Is he supposed to be the funny sidekick? Then be funny for godssakes! Having shots of Jonah Hill just standing and staring worked in Superbad and Cyrus but here it feels completely out of place. I was waiting for Brad Pitt to say “Get off the set, you're in the wrong movie!”
Then it changes to a drama with shots of the daughter and that emotional music so the whole thing is invoking “Friday Night Lights” or “The Natural”. That should be the entire trailer! Play up the emotion and show one man's journey as he takes on the establishment. The underdog! The struggling dad! The triumph of the human spirit!
Maybe it's just me 'cause I don't know the backstory, but I'm confused. I hope the movie is better than this trailer. Seriously, what are they thinking?
Michael Lewis is one of the greatest nonfiction writers out there. His first book, Liar's Poker, should be required reading for people who know how to read.
Moneyball is one heck of a book and Billy Beane is one hell of a character. I wonder if Lewis is surprised that someone wanted it for the screen.
The Blind Side was another movie adapted from a book of his and that did pretty nicely.
I was back and forth about this for a while.
I read the book by Michael Lewis. Loved it.
Read part of Soderberg's awful draft last year. Turned me off.
They filmed in Oakland about a year ago and my friend is an extra. Got me interested just to support her by watching it on DVD because I thought Steve S. was still attached.
Found out Brad Pitt was playing Billy Bean so I thought Billy got lucky.
Found out Jonah Hill was playing a fictional DePodesta and felt sorry for DePodesta. Maybe VOD.
Saw that Aaron Sorkin is credited as one of the screenwriters. Now I'm interested again.
I'm a baseball fan. I'm not an A's fan, but a fan of the world series champs from the other side of the bay. Yeah Black and Orange!
BTW I have a statistics degree!
So yea.. I'm going to see it in the theaters now.
It looks pretty good to me, not a hit but maybe not a complete miss either. But who knows?