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Aaron Sorkin game for 'Moneyball'
Columbia taps scribe for baseball drama

By Steven Zeitchik

July 9, 2009

Columbia is sending Aaron Sorkin to the plate to take a new cut at "Moneyball."

The writer has been brought on to do a draft of the baseball drama, drawing on
Steve Zaillian's earlier take. The studio wants to move forward quickly with the
new iteration, with Sorkin set to turn in his version as soon as next month.

Brad Pitt remains on board to star, but Steven Soderbergh no longer will write
or direct and is not involved in the film.

Michael De Luca and Rachael Horovitz are producing "Moneyball," based on Michael
Lewis' best-seller about the Oakland A's and their unorthodox approach to
evaluating talent.

The project has attracted a series of A-listers since development was
jump-started last year.

After the project gestated for about four years, producers last year brought on
Zaillian to pen the script and David Frankel ("The Devil Wears Prada") to
direct. Pitt also was attached to star as former prospect and current A's GM
Billy Beane, the book's protagonist.

Several months after Zaillian turned in his script, the company opted for a new
version penned and helmed by Soderbergh. The project was set to go into
production last month.

But the plug was pulled just days before it was set to start, after Soderbergh
turned in a script that Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and
other execs deemed too different from what they signed up for. The studio put
the project into limited turnaround, giving filmmakers a chance to peddle it to
other studios.

In the end, however, Columbia decided to make another go of it with "The West
Wing" creator Sorkin, who will work from the Zaillian script, not the Soderbergh
one.

Sorkin has a close relationship with Sony. The A-list scribe recently completed
"The Social Network" -- known as the Facebook movie -- for the studio, which is
said to be pleased with it. Sorkin also penned Columbia's 1992 hit "A Few Good
Men."

The scribe also has experience writing tales set in the sports world, creating
the critically well-received "Sports Night" for ABC a decade ago.