'Moneyball' Doesn't Strike Out After All

It looks like Columbia Pictures was able to get over Steven Soderbergh's draft of "Moneyball" afterall. The Trades are reporting that Bennett Miller has been given the coaching reigns over "Moneyball" with Brad Pitt still attached to star. Pitt will be portraying baseball stats guru Billy Beane who is the general manger of Major League Baseball's Oakland A's. The film will show the rise of Beane and detail how he applied revolutionary statistical analysis to field a competitive baseball team in Oakland even as others questioned his methods as non-traditional.

Steven Sodenbergh was a few days from rolling film on the project when the the rug was ripped from underneath his feet by studio head Amy Pascal. The studio was already having their doubts about the project but Sodenberghs rewrite of the script sealed his fate. Pascal wasn't happy with the direction Sodenberg was taking the project and wasn't ready to back his vision. It remains to be seen if the Miller will be using the early drafts written by Stan Chervin or later drafts penned by Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Miller reportedly beat out director Marc Webb for the race to take on directing duties for the film which is based off of Michael Lewis' hit novel of the same name.