It’s almost hard to believe that this project is about to play ball considering all the behind-the-scenes back and forth we’ve heard, but Bennett Miller’s “Moneyball,” starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill is that much closer to opening day.
Written by Aaron Sorkin (based off a draft by Steve Zaillian), two new thespians are in early talks to join the cast including Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright. Hoffman obviously is loyal to Miller, having won his first Best Leading Male Academy Award for his performance in the filmmaker’s 2005 picture, “Capote.”
If you’ve read the rather funny and engaging most recent draft of the script it’s easy to tell who plays who and Variety confirms our immediate suspicions. Wright, should she take the role, would play Pitt’s wife and Hoffman would play Art Howe, the Oakland A’s coach who is constantly at war with the A’s General Manager Billy Beane (Pitt) over coaching and field placement decisions.
It’s a relatively small part for both actors, but they are good supporting roles (and Miller is likely calling in a favor to Hoffman). Jonah Hill plays Paul Podesta, a Harvard Grad statistics nut who rises through the ranks to become Bean’s assistant and helps usher in the analytical principles of sabermetrics much to the chagrin of the entire A’s organization (Podesta and Beane’s relationship in the script is pretty witty and their amusing repartee borders on a buddy picture).
“Moneyball” was a go picture with Steven Soderbergh in the director’s chair, but the plug was pulled three days before shooting in May of 2009 — as to why… a whole book could probably (and hopefully will) be written based on all the behind-the-scenes duplicity and shenanigans which is pretty much the stuff that Hollywood backstabbing lore is made of.
“Moneyball” is scheduled to shoot this July, but even after it was “officially” announced, we continued to hear it was becoming a bumpy road to home plate. At this point, Pitt should probably know if he bails last minute — as he is wont to do — it’s not going to be a good look for him, but that didn’t stop him from abandoning friends last time…