Moneyball movie is still .....ON
by DWNG715 on Jul 10, 2009 2:50 PM PDT
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Printhttp://www.variety.com/article/VR1118005824.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
here's a small preview of the article
"Sony is still game on making the baseball pic "Moneyball," tapping Aaron Sorkin to polish an early script by Steve Zaillian.
Brad Pitt is still attached to star in Columbia Pictures' adaptation of Michael Lewis' nonfiction bestseller "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game," but Steven Soderbergh will no longer direct the pic.
Production on "Moneyball" was set to start last month, but studio topper Amy Pascal wound up pulling the plug on the pic just days before lensing was to begin when Soderbergh turned in a new version of the script the studio didn't want to make."
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This is all MLB's fault...
They should have allowed Soderbergh’s fictionalizations and not held the trademark licensing rights hostage.
Then again, creativity is not exactly MLB’s strong point
"Flea Markets aren't just for blind dates anymore!"- The Reverend Billy Lard
Did you read the original script and then any of the snippets that were pubished from Soderbergh's version?
Soderbergh had to have been tripping if he actually thought his script would have made a good movie.
What did that script blog call it?
An “exposition empire” or something? Good times.
by mk on Jul 10, 2009 4:10 PM PDT up reply actions
I liked the original one
But Soderbergh’s was godawful. Whoever claims to be a fan of his work should feel embarrassed.
"Their batters are patient to the point that it's annoying." -Ryan Franklin
by Helloooo 1st on Jul 10, 2009 4:49 PM PDT up reply actions
The original script was EPIC.
And would have made a gloriously awesome film. The Soderbergh version? Needed to be taken out back, Old Yeller style.
I am highly pleased to see Aaron Sorkin take a shot at it, THIS will be a fascinating script to read.
"This must be heaven," he says.
"No. It's Oakland."
Epic?
<img src="http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w165/hockeychik88/111holywowwwwww.jpg"/>
GIVE ME PROSPECTS, OR TO HADES YOU SHALL FOREVER RESIDE!!
Green and Gold Lantern Corps
by oaklandSMASH on Jul 11, 2009 11:53 AM PDT up reply actions
Sorry
I was attempting to post a Troy picture
Green and Gold Lantern Corps
by oaklandSMASH on Jul 11, 2009 11:55 AM PDT up reply actions
how do you folks know so much about the original script and soderberg's version?
links?
FREE KRAUT
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones."
-BB 07/27/05
Both scripts were posted online.
It was linked in DLD or some other post a while back. Creative use of AN’s search function should turn it up.
"Go ahead and overachieve, you scrappy Brett-Favre-colored walk-takers." —Rev Halofan
I want this movie made.
Pls pls pls make it.
"Their Triple-A rotation, led by Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson, could be better than some big-league rotations; Michael Ynoa is the best Latin American prospect of the decade; 2008 draftees Jemile Weeks and Rashun Dixon bring much-needed tools to an advanced group of hitters." - BaseballProspectus.com
I'm wondering if its going to be a flop...even with Brad Pitt
Every A’s fan will see it, maybe teenage girl due to Brad – but I seriously doubt it makes a ton of money
I dont really care if it makes money...
I just want it to be good.
"Their Triple-A rotation, led by Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson, could be better than some big-league rotations; Michael Ynoa is the best Latin American prospect of the decade; 2008 draftees Jemile Weeks and Rashun Dixon bring much-needed tools to an advanced group of hitters." - BaseballProspectus.com
I don't even care if it's good
I just want something to commemorate a team that did a whole lot of awesome but never got any credit because they always flopped in the playoffs.
Outman, fighter of the Hitman, champion of the K, he's a master of scoreless innings and friendship for everyone.
by walk off bunt on Jul 10, 2009 8:08 PM PDT up reply actions
well if they can get everyone who attends a's games, and everyone who watches them on tv
that would mean literally thousands of tickets sold… it could do better than Zyzzyx Road and Delgo combined!
FREE KRAUT
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones."
-BB 07/27/05
The comments on the Variety website
are surprisingly positive now that Aaron Sorkin has been attached to the project. I really want this movie made too!
I wonder how they're going to trade the A's out for the Red Sox or Yankees.
Some motherfcukers are always trying to ice skate uphill - Blade.
Revisionist History
They’re going to focus entirely on the Red Sox and how they traded for Beane. That is, after all, what Red Money Ball was all about.
CuttheMullet, from "The Thread":
"Whenever I’m about to do something, I think "would an idiot do that?" and if they would, I do not do that thing."
Did Youkilis at least get us to the playoffs last year?
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
Please, we didn't get Youk
We got a bag of balls while handing over the big 3.
CuttheMullet, from "The Thread":
"Whenever I’m about to do something, I think "would an idiot do that?" and if they would, I do not do that thing."
Dramatic Ending.
If they wait long enough to get this filming going they will probably be able to have a lot more interesting ending. That is, the new ownership who buys the team attempts to get a new stadium that would theoretically raise the value of the franchise enabling them to sell it a decade later at a significant profit. Unfortunately this plan fails, followed by Beane’s inability to sign any offensive talent outside the steroid era. Couple these two things and the fan alienation, troubling economy, and complete lack of watchable baseball, and the franchise ends up being contracted. I’m sure they could spin it to be the equivalent of the Roman empire collapsing.
Just my $.02, but I figure that might be more interesting than watching the team choke in the playoffs while failing to win 9 consecutive series clenching games.
What about Barry?
"Barry who?" Forst said, and I felt like I was in the middle of a knock-knock joke.
The book is a crock
The whole thesis of the book – that Beane had some magic method to find players on the cheap that others ignore – is a crock. Much of the nucleus of those winning A’s teams – Chavez, Tejada, Giambi, Hudson, Zito, Mulder – was drafted before Beane came around as GM. Hudson and Tejada were diamonds in the rough that were picked up by Alderson. The others were blue chippers.
In the 2002 draft – which is the focus of the book – the A’s and their supposed magic man Beane had their best chance to show their ability to pick talent. They picked 7 out of the first 39 players in the draft. How did they do? Not well at all.
The movie will likely keep to the myth-making of the book. Beane will be elevated to the Einstein of baseball with a sex scene thrown in (I’d rather watch Einstein in a sex scene). The book is fiction. Why people continue to believe that the A’s won because of the use of statistical methods of evaluation is beyond me. Just look at how well those statistical methods have done with picking and trading for talent have done for the last few years.
If people want to believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Billy Beane that’s of course their right. But the facts say something different. They say that sometimes GM’s get lucky with a relatively low round draft pick (Alderson with Hudson) and sometimes trade for a veteran who magically plays wonderfully for a year (Beane with Thomas), but basically those in the know can all identify talent. There are no inefficiencies in the marketplace of players that can be exploited. You pay big money for those who have proven themselves. You hope they stay injury free. You hope your young talent magically matures into future All Stars and then pay them big money to stay.
first time i am hearing about this...
FREE KRAUT
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones."
-BB 07/27/05
I don't think you can deny the inefficiencies in the market
OBP was vastly underrated before the book, and Billy took advantage. Then, OBP magically became overrated.
"True fact: In a global thermonuclear war, the only human who would survive would be David Eckstein" -PT
You need to re-read the book because you failed miserably to get it
Moneyball was about what small market businesses need to do in order to compete against bigger market businesses (regardless of industry). Big business can buy their way into markets, can supply their customers and their employees and every aspect of their company with the best that money can buy (see the Yankees). If things get rough, they can and do overpay to get what they need to turn things around quickly.
Small market businesses don’t have that sort of luxury. If things go wrong, they have to grind it out and build back up. But, if they’re smart, they can find market inefficiencies and undervalued commodities to expedite and potentially bypass that rebuild. Can they or should they count on it, no. Most times, like now, they’re doing things the traditional, agonizingly slow way. But it is possible to take shortcuts and it is what the A’s did over a brief stint. But those shortcuts are both limited in nature and worse (particularly in an industry like baseball), unsustainable (though this wasn’t discussed in the book).
The problem is every smart business does the same thing regardless of size. Baseball is full of smart people and finding that undervalued commodity to exploit is an extremely difficult thing to do and not just because of the book but because of how small the industry is. No one is or should be putting Beane on a pedestal and he sure as hell (ego included) isn’t doing so either. Now, will this movie misrepresent Beane the way the media has done, probably. But the book is not a crock, nor are the ideas behind it. There was nothing “magical” about it. It was just a basic examination of what it takes to succeed in a difficult industry, nothing more.
CuttheMullet, from "The Thread":
"Whenever I’m about to do something, I think "would an idiot do that?" and if they would, I do not do that thing."
No, I don't have to re-read the book
The A’s got lucky for awhile and found a half dozen top notch players despite their small payroll. They couldn’t afford to keep those players so they unloaded all but one, whose body unfortunately fell apart shortly thereafter. That’s the story of the A’s for the last decade or so. It isn’t about exploiting market inefficiencies. The book tries to claim that it is. It’s silliness.
Moneyball spends a lot of time on Scott Hatteberg. He’s essentially the poster boy for the finding a diamond in the rough myth. Hatteberg was painful to watch as a first baseman. He couldn’t throw. Every time he picked up a ground ball and threw to second base was an adventure. He couldn’t hit for power. He couldn’t hit for average. Eventually, the A’s got rid of him. Some diamond in the rough.
Michael Lewis has made a career out of writing by the guideline of “the story is so good who cares if it’s true.” He’s a myth maker. He heightens realities and plays loose with facts. He did it with Wall Street in Liar’s Poker. He did it with the Silicon Valley in The New New Thing. He did it with the A’s in Moneyball. Lewis is a wonderful entertainer as a writer. But there is no insight contained in his books. And there is no real insight in Moneyball. It’s a fine tall tale, nothing more.
It's kind of easy to say now, but...
I’m not even sure why there was a book written about a team that couldn’t get out of the division series. We act like it’s a big deal the A’s won some games for a couple years. What about the Marlins who actually won a World Series? Heck, what guys from the A’s farm system was Beane even responsible for during that era, Mulder and Zito maybe? Now that all of Beane’s draft picks have circulated into the system the team has been in a downward spiral for three years covered up by the mask of rebuilding. It’s like a college football coach who gets exposed for winning with the old coach’s players except it’s easier to observe in football because you don’t have to wait three years to see the results of your recruiting efforts. If anything maybe Michael Lewis should write a followup explaining how the A’s were able to get lucky with free agent signings of guys that were on steroids thus allowing them to dodge the normal declining career path of the average player.
What about Barry?
"Barry who?" Forst said, and I felt like I was in the middle of a knock-knock joke.
you'd rather see einstein in a sex scene
than brad pitt? really?
holdin' it down for the bay from upper westside manhattan
Definitely
Einstein was a genius through and through. He probably had some moves that nobody had ever thought of. I might learn a thing or two.
by rovingralph on Jul 12, 2009 11:49 AM PDT up reply actions
The book was highly entertaining and informative,
but it’s true that a lot of the myth surrounding the book is bullshit.
I felt similarly about Liar’s Poker.
"Go ahead and overachieve, you scrappy Brett-Favre-colored walk-takers." —Rev Halofan
Regardless of the accuracy or loyalty to the book,
Scott Hatteberg on the big screen, and Brad Pitt wearing green and gold? Yes please.
"This must be heaven," he says.
"No. It's Oakland."
Does anyone still have the original script??
Can’t seem to find it online anywhere. Would love to read it.
"I am not pleased with myself."
- Leo Tolstoy, after he masturbated.
by The Most Interesting mAN on Jul 11, 2009 11:55 AM PDT reply actions
The original script
was terrible. TERRIBLE. And completely untrue to the book and actual events. Seriously, does anyone think the BB from that script would make a good GM? Soderbergh’s version was terrible, but in a completely different way. I can’t even imagine what Aaron Sorkin will do to it.
Billy Beane trades Jeremy Giambi under pressure from Christian groups who protest his atheistic remarks, while Paul Depodesta chastises him, “This was a good move for the A’s…but a terrible one for civil rights.”
Btw, I am not trying to needlessly inject politics onto AN…just making fun of Aaron Sorkin’s knack for needlessly injecting politics into…everything.
I have it on good authority that the original script was truly wretched
I was first told so, nearly a year ago, by none other than…Michael Lewis.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
the a’s games in the movie will be called by the cast of Sports Night.
FREE KRAUT
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones."
-BB 07/27/05
I still can't imagine how you turn Moneyball into a movie.
Great book, but it seems terribly un-movie-like.
Then again, I would have said the same thing about Doctor Zhivago or The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, so who knows?
"Go ahead and overachieve, you scrappy Brett-Favre-colored walk-takers." —Rev Halofan
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