We’re not going to recount the long, twisty history of “Moneyball” — we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, there is a crackerjack book or in depth Peter Biskind-styled Vanity Fair sized story here just waiting to be written — but a year after Steven Soderbergh’s version was canned at the very last minute the Bennett Miller (“Capote”) directed film is finally in front of cameras.
Given it’s a movie about baseball, and is filming in an actual ballpark, it’s no surprise that set photos have leaked at the rate usually reserved for boring tentpoles (zomg, a picture of car that might be Transformer!). Among the photos to find their way to the web so far have been shots of Philip Seymour Hoffman as Oakland A’s manager Art Howe and Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill as club GM and assistant GM respectively Billy Beane and Paul De Podesta. Actually, scratch that last bit.
Fanhouse is reporting that De Podesta feels his representation in the film is “fictitious and only loosely based on him” and has requested his name be removed from the film. Say goodbye to Paul De Podesta, say hello to Peter Brand. It’s a bit of bummer considering the film has been striving to use real life player names, and gone the extra mile to get other details right including converting the Oakland A’s ballpark back to what it looked like in 2002, complete with outfield signs and advertising that would’ve been there eight years ago. But ultimately, it’s a minor change and really one that only the most die hard of baseball enthusiasts should actually really care about.
Among the other bits of intriguing information revealed by Fanhouse is that Miller asked A’s radio play-by-play man Ken Korach to recreate the Opening Day 2002 broadcast on the fly, without a script, giving him and fellow broadcasters Greg Papa and Glen Kuiper a few topics to discuss and allowing them to go from there. It also appears that Chris Pratt (“Parks & Recreation”) may play a more central role to the film than we first thought. Playing first baseman Scott Hatteberg, he soon became proof of Beane’s statistical theories that OBP (on base percentage) was just as important as a player’s batting average or RBIs (runs batted in). Hatteberg also capped the A’s remarkable 20-game win streak that summer by blasting the game winning home run in the final game of that run. That final game will apparently comprise twelve minutes of the finished film and has taken four all-night sessions of shooting to get in the can.
It certainly sounds like Miller and company aren’t slouching and the level of detail they seem committed to sounds impressive. But again, this is a movie about baseball stats so it remains to be seen if a compelling narrative can be wrested from the material.
“Moneyball” will theaters in 2011.
Unsurprising. If you were a trim, decent-looking guy like DePodesta, would you want to be played by Jonah Hill and have everyone think you were morbidly obese when they hear your name?
I just want to let Jonah Hill know I did not make the above comment.
Paul DePodesta was the A's Assistant General Manager, not a "coach" as stated in the headline.
I am a diehard A's fan who lived that incredible 2002 season and lived through one night of Moneyball filming. Really looking forward to the film!
We knew this. check all our old reports. Just an error, sorry about that.
What the fuck is OBA?
Absolutely – I figured it was just an oversight by whomever wrote the headline.
It's obvious the reason why he doesn't want to be represented in the film is because he doesn't want people to think he's fat like Jonah Hill. LMAO!
Sorry, that's OBP (on base percentage). And there's a reason we stopped being interested in baseball forever ago. Because useless you're a stats head, most boring game ever.
I just want to let Paul DePodesta know that I did not make the above comment.
I can see why Kevin hates baseball. Based on his tastes in film, he's not what they call a real "thinker."
goddamn. jonah hill is an ugly fuck.
Also, during this 2002 A's Play-off were nightly Bay Area news reports about an Oakland A's 1974 World Series trophy for sale on ebay.
Does anyone in this film mention the A's three consecutive World Series, 1972, 1973 & 1974, in addition to making it to the 1971 and 1975 Play-offs?
Now, those were great years in Oakland!
If you think it's questionable whether a compelling narrative can be wrested from the material, you've obviously not read the book.
I thought it was a good movie….