Moneyball strikes out

Despite the fact that it was about to start production on Monday in Phoenix, Arizona, Columbia Pictures has halted work on Steven Soderbergh's upcoming major league baseball project Moneyball. The film, which was to star Brad Pitt, has been placed into "limited turnaround" by Columbia Picture's Amy Pascal. According to Variety, this gives Soderbergh a chance to set up the project at another studio. It is currently being shopped to both Warner Brothers and Paramount.

The decision to halt work on Moneyball came after Pascal read the final draft of the screenplay, written by Steve Zaillian with Soderbergh, and found it to be quite different than the original film she once championed. If another studio does not pick up the film by Monday, Columbia Pictures will look at replacing Soderbergh as the director. This could delay filming for quite sometime to come.

Moneyball is based on Michael Lewis' bestseller of the same name, with Pitt signed on to play Billy Beane, the former Major League phenom that undermined his playing career by taking a big paycheck before he was ready. The player resurfaced as Oakland A's general manager and found success fielding competitive teams for low cost, compared to the payrolls of league rivals like the New York Yankees. Soderbergh was set to use real ballplayers as actors. He also shot interviews with ballplayers for vignettes that were to be woven into the film.

Moneyball's fate will be decided on Monday.

Source: MovieWeb
Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

HOME

Raimi talks about Spider-Man 4 and the Lizard

Sam Raimi has been talking to MTV about the new Spider-Man movies. Looks like things are moving forward on them. I just hope they are better than the third one.

“I’m really excited about Spider-Man, and I’m hoping to direct it,” he cautioned. “I don’t have a script yet, but production would start probably by March of 2010, I’m guessing. It sounds like a long time away, but we need a script first, and a lot of pre-production has to take place.”

The filmmaking legend also revealed to us that there is a lot of truth behind rumors that he might shoot the next two “Spider-Man” films at the same time. “That had been talked about,” he said, deferring to the head of his studio. “It’s Amy Pascal’s decision. I don’t think it has been decided yet, and she’s the one that’s really going to make that decision; I’m really curious myself.”

By his own admission, “Spider-Man 3” was an exhaustive film to shoot, but Raimi is confident he can handle the double duty. “It would be a real endurance test, probably only Peter Jackson knows how hard something like that would be,” he marveled, hinting that “4” and “5” would be very closely linked in storyline. “If Tobey and me, and all the producers, like the story for two pictures and Amy wanted to do it, then we would do it. It just hasn’t been written yet.”

Finally, Raimi offered comment on the wishes of fans (and yours truly) to finally let Dylan Baker’s storyline come to fruition. “He’s a great actor, and I think one day The Lizard’s story will be told,” he teased, referring to Baker’s Curt Connors character. “I don’t know if it will be this one or not. I just don’t know. I’m definitely hoping to work with Dylan in the picture. I just don’t know who the villain is yet.”

What do you think of the news? Do you want to see the Lizard as the big bad or someone else? How could they improve upon the third movie?

HOME / FORUM.