now, to do a screen test for playing Nico.

THAT would be interesting.  Who cares about Moe freaking Berg.  I read that book, and while it was interesting at first, Berg just was a really, really sad man.  Not exactly feature film material.  Besides, Clooney already did Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (with Kaufman as screenwriter) about the former talk show host who moonlighted as a spy.  Kinda treading the same water.  At least there was some basis for that movie, Berg (while doing a small amount of work pre WWII for the intelligence community) just basically became a nomad traveling around the country, staying with random people while telling them hush-hush style "I'm just in town for a few days, can't say why" to give himself an aura.

I think Clooney as Beane could work.  I always hated Clooney, but lately he's done some stellar work - and he's a definate power player.  If anyone could get that movie made, it would be him.  Besides, what would the flick really be about?  Would it have MLB-sponsored footage of the real games, spliced into the movie?  That would be cool, instead of staging any games with hack actors (eg. Shoeless Joe batting on the wrong side of the plate).  I suppose Zito could probably play himself.

Seriously, though, Kaufman would, at the least, write a compelling script.

We will all look forward to this movie and then HATE it.

i think it'll almost certianly suck, no matter what.  

for example, how are they going to do the moneyball draft?  depo speaking some random name 99% of the audience has never heard of into the speakerphone, and the a's front office types getting all excited?  "we got teahen!"  

the average moviegoer just won't get that, so they'll have to change everything so it's more exciting.

...is definitely capable of not being smarmy...

then I'm convinced there's no book that's off limits for silver screen adaptation.  I mean, will DePo get beat up by cutthroat gangs of scouts in an alley near the Coliseum?  Will one of the subplots, like the ups and downs of Hatteberg or Chad Bradford, or of course that certain fat catcher/fringe prospect from Alabama, be skewed into the prevailing theme of the film?  Will the writing of the 1985 Baseball Abstract be re-enacted in thrilling fashion?  Will Sandy Alderson be shown wearing combat boots as he yells at some minor league manager that he's fired if his team doesn't start to take more walks?  Will they then focus on the dramatic transition of a minor league squad from brain-dead high school hitters (channeling Larry Krueger there) to disciplined professionals with Boggs-like (or was it Will Clark) 20-13 vision?  Will...yeah I could go on, but I just can't see how one of the most compelling books I've read can be done justice as a film.  When they say the movie's never as good as the book, they're not lying.  The book lets you imagine what you want to imagine, lets you get away with convenient misinterpretations for entertainment's sake, basically can become what you want it to become, for better or worse...(though such fanciful distortions should not then pose as truth, you can't delude yourself that much, like most baseball insiders did).  (I just split up a four dot "hesitation-mark + period punctuation" there, unprecedented...anyway....)  Movies do one of two things: if they're compelling enough, then they shatter your illusions derived from reading and leave you with a feeling of disgust, or if they're not effective, then they just leave you bored and dismissive.  Lose-lose, needless to say.  The only reason I can count Fight Club among the few movies I could sit through is because I hadn't read the Palahniuk novel before I saw it.

I really think that the only way they could pull this off is if it's presented as if Billy Beane wrote a first-person account for the script--in other words, what Joe Morgan will assume about the movie if it does indeed get released.  

With popcorn and nachos and $4 cokes???   Finally something Joe Morgan can sink his teeth into.

for Billy Bean

what the heck is the plot of this movie anyways?  Last shot is them losing in the division series for the 475th time in a row, and blah blah blah?  If they could show the A's win it all and close to "we are the champions" or something it would be cool

Vince can play Swisher. Drama can play Chad Bradford and Turtle could play Jeremy Brown.  Do I hear Ari Gold for Billy Beane watching the Game?

He's been in the Major League.