Amy Pascal Explains Demise Of Soderbergh & Pitt's 'Moneyball'

Los Angeles Times:

It's never an easy decision when a studio head has to pull the plug on a big movie, as Amy Pascal did last week when she shut down "Moneyball," a $58-million Steven Soderbergh film that was set to star Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the maverick general manager of the Oakland A's who almost singlehandedly reinvented the way baseball scouts and develops young talent.

The movie, based on the bestselling book by Michael Lewis, wasn't just in pre-production. It was literally five days away from filming when Soderbergh turned in a new version of the script that Pascal and her Sony team found unacceptable. The decision was so abrupt that the film's producer, Michael DeLuca, got the call about it while on his honeymoon in Paris.

Read the whole story: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[DonnaInMichigan]

Well the world is saved from yet another Brad Pitt atrocity on the big screen.

There is a God.

[svejkist]

I call homophobia.

[middleoftheroad]

First: What is DeLuca doing in Paris 5 days before a $57million picture is about to shoot, with a director doing major re-writes.­..He obviously had no control on the talent. This is what is wrong with Hollywood.­..charmed people who don't do their jobs. You would think he would be all over this trying to prove himslef again.

Second: Why would Sony give a guy like Soderbergh $57million to do a comedy they expect to be main stream?
Earth to Hollywood.­..The Ocean pics were NOT THAT GREAT! The second being a total mess.

Third: Peter Berg is a great idea.

[writerjohnny]

As the story actually reveals he was on his honeymoon and the Ocean series netted over 100 million so your example of why Soderbergh wasn't the right guy is proven wrong. More to the point last minute script rewrites happen all the time for a variety of reasons but mostly as a story line negotiation ploy. This plug is definitely not permanently pulled.

[kapalabhati]

If a story is posted at 8:22 a.m., and there are no comments by noon, should it still be a "top" story?

[Crass Innuendo]

If it bumps Michael Jackson or Jon & Kate stories, I'll take it.