Moneyball

Moneyball is a 2011 American biographical sports drama film directed by Bennett Miller and adapted by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. It stars Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright and Chris Pratt. The film is based on the 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane's attempts to assemble a competitive team with half (or even a third) as much money as his rivals. Moneyball follows Beane and his deputy Peter Brand as they scout the major leagues for undervalued talent by taking a sophisticated sabermetric approach to scouting and analyzing players, triggering skepticism and resentment within the baseball community.

Columbia Pictures bought the rights to Lewis's book in 2004, hiring Chervin to write the screenplay. David Frankel was initially set to direct with Zaillian now writing the screenplay, but was soon replaced by Steven Soderbergh, who planned to make the film in a semi-documentary style featuring interviews from real athletes, and having the real players and coaches on the team portray themselves. But before its July 2009 filming start, the film was put in turnaround due to creative differences between Soderbergh and Sony over a last-minute script rewrite. Soderbergh exited, and Miller was hired to direct, with Pitt becoming a producer and Sorkin hired for rewrites. Filming began in July 2010 at various stadiums such as Dodger Stadium and Oakland Coliseum.