Columbia Pictures pulls "Moneyball" movie

June 23, 10:38 AMLA Asian American Movie ExaminerEd Moy

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Brad Pitt

According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter, Columbia has pulled Steven Soderbergh's baseball drama "Moneyball" starring Brad Pitt.

"Pulling the plug this close to production is extremely rare for studios," but sources told THR that Columbia's co-chairman Amy Pascal "wasn't comfortable with the script, which had changed considerably since the movie was greenlit."

THR reports that the decision to pull the film was made Friday, and left many confused, since the picture was crewed up and scheduled to start shooting this week.

The film is based on the book by Michael Lewis about the Oakland A's and GM Billy Beane, who has been known to assemble comeptitive ballclubs despite a limited payroll compared to most major league teams. 

According to THR, Soderbergh wrote the screenplay based on Steven Zaillian's previous drafts, which was adapted from Lewis' nonfiction book

Pitt and comedian Demetri Martin were cast, with other roles to be played by actual baseball players.

Soderbergh also shot interviews with real baseball figures, which were going to be interspersed between the narrative.

THR stated that Pascal had not seen the interviews and some insiders suggested there was a disconnect about the kind of baseball drama the exec and the filmmaker wanted to make. Pascal was leery, the sources told THR, fearing the film lacked emotion.

However, Pascal, who is a big fan of the book, reportedly allowed Soderbergh to shop the project over the weekend to Warner Bros., which once housed Soderbergh's shingle Section Eight, and Paramount, home to Pitt's Plan B.

THR reports that the companies would have to act fast as the production and its staff can only sit idle so long. If no one snags the package, Columbia could take another crack at it, and try to sync up Soderbergh's and the studio's vision.