Sony Studios has decided to shelve the production of a movie by Steven Soderbergh, starring Brad Pitt and about the baseball book Moneyball only days before the production was set to begin. Sony has given Soderbergh permission to find another studio.
Let the speculation ensue.
Soderbergh, who directed Traffic and Che, had reportedly turned in a script that was substantially different from the one written by Steven Zaillian.
Zaillian has penned such scripts as Schindler's List, Searching for Bobby Fisher, A Civil Action, American Gangster, Gangs of New York, and Hannibal.
Some have speculated that the reason for the shelving must be related to the current economy, and questions about whether a baseball movie can succeed in foreign markets, even with Pitt as the star.
Yet, that doesn't add-up in my mind, because baseball is now more prevalent as a international game than it had been when movies like Field of Dreams and Bull Durham were released. Especially in Japan, where Sony is headquartered and where the popularity of baseball rivals that of the US.
Personally, I think the answer is an inherent problem with the 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, on the topic of how General Manager Billy Beane has used sabermetrics to build successful rosters for the Oakland Athletics.
The problem is the theme of the book: You cannot teach contact, but power can be acquired. Seemingly innocuous words, but when you consider the Steroid Era, then you might view that differently.
I wrote a three-part series on the Steroid Era and victory in general:
An History of Baseball's Era of Greed: Talkin' Steroids (1 of 3)
An History of Baseball's Era of Greed: A Juicing Man's Game (2 of 3)
An History of Baseball's Era of Greed: An Owner's Coup (3 of 3)
The Truth of Victory and Tangents on Trivial Things
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That is not to insinuate a direct connection between the shelving of the movie and my articles. It is simply to say that I have a different view on why Soderbergh would substantially change the original script for the movie.
It seems to me that you cannot make a movie about Moneyball without raising questions about steroids, especially when you consider that Lewis reported an incident in which Beane once disintegrated a telephone against a wall because an executive drafted a high school player, against the policy of Beane.
Why, you ask?
I think a reasonable person can now question: Was Billy Beane on steroids and was that an act of 'roid rage? Perhaps then, Soderbergh changed the script to reflect issues of steroids and corruption instead of, "The Enlightenment" as one chapter is entitled.
There is also the fact that one of the original juicer's, Lenny Dykstra, was a team-mate with Beane on the Mets.
That, to me, makes me wonder if Dykstra juiced because he thought he could not compete with the naturally talented Beane, or if Beane was in fact, on the juice; and brought that philosophy to Oakland players like 2000 AL MVP Jason Giambi and 2003 AL MVP Miguel Tejada.
My guess is that Soderbergh wanted to depict a darker view of baseball than the cashgivers were comfortable with. My guess is that the movie will be made, eventually, but likely on a smaller budget.
So here's a shameless plug, if Soderbergh is reading this, to film in the city of Spokane, WA. It's economical but has the right look.
For kicks: The Capital City Goofball from The Simpsons is based on Otto the Mascot of the Spokane Indians. The Indians were once the Triple-A team for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And after all, drugs, corruption, and inhumanity are not unfamiliar subjects for Soderbergh and Zaillian.
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