Columbia pulls plug on Brad Pitt’s Moneyball

I bet Steven Soderbergh had a HECK  of a weekend. It must be crazy nerve-wracking to have a studio balk at a movie project just days away from the start of filming.

That’s what happened with “Moneyball” a baseball drama being directed by Soderbergh and starring Brad Pitt (pictured, at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May 2009).

The cast and crew were prepped to start shooting this week, but Columbia pulled the plug; co-chair Amy Pascal says she wasn’t comfortable with the script, which has changed a lot since the project was greenlit.

You have to wonder just what major changes were made to the script that Columbia would shut it down. The screenplay, adapted from Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book, follows the Oakland Athletics and their general manager Billy Beane, who assembled a contending ballclub despite a payroll much lower than most teams.

Pitt and comedian Demetri Martin had been cast, with other roles going to actual baseball players David Justice, Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra and others. 

So what will happen now? Over the weekend, Soderbergh shopped the project to Warner Bros. and Paramount. If neither bites, it could go back to Columbia with some major overhauls.

Image: INF