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

In the oh-no-not-another-remake department, “The Karate Kid” remake is a go at Columbia, with Jaden Smith in the title role. That’s Jaden, pictured, along with his dad, Will Smith, at the Los Angeles premiere of “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” on Oct. 26, 2008. Look at that face!

Rumors have been circulating for a while, but a note landed in my inbox today confirming the casting of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s offspring. Jaden co-starred along with his dad in “The Pursuit of Happyness” (which I loved).

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Maybe Kirsten Dunst needs a serious project to help balance out “Spider-Man” 4 and 5. She’s making a documentary about how the nation votes, working with filmmaker Jacob Soboroff on the project.

Both Dunst and Soboroff are directing and producing the film, which explores why American voter participation lags behind turnout in other countries. Soboroff is the director of Why Tuesday?, a nonprofit organization that researches ways to increase voter turnout.

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When I heard that Steve Carell was attached to a project called “The Beaver,” I thought, wow! that’s cool! They’re bringing “Leave it to Beaver” back to life in the modern world!

Not so. It’s actually a movie project about a guy who walks around with a beaver puppet on his hand, treating it like a human creature with human feelings. Those who’ve seen the script by Kyle Killen say it’s whimsical, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Lars and the Real Girl” springs to mind.

I can definitely see Steve Carell in something like that. It takes somebody with great timing to pull off a movie about a puppet.

Image: Newscom