The Untold Truth Of Moneyball

Released to movie theaters in September 2011, "Moneyball" isn't your typical sports movie. It isn't entirely about the players on the field, but rather a manager by the name of Billy Beane. Chronicling his insistence on using a new process that relied on numbers to assemble a winning baseball team, "Moneyball" is still a classic underdog sports movie that can prove captivating to viewers of all stripes rather than just baseball devotees. Among the many highly positive reviews the production scored, Rafer Guzman of Newsday summarized the unique charms of "Moneyball" by observing how "the film reveals deep affection for America's pastime while also acknowledging its cold, bottom-line realities. That's not the shower-of-sparks magic you normally see in a baseball movie, but a magic all its own."

While all the praise may have ensured that "Moneyball" is an acclaimed entry in the modern pantheon of sports movie titles, there are still plenty of aspects of this movie that aren't as well-known by the general public. These include its chaotic production, which entailed losing multiple directors and constantly scraping together a workable budget for the project. To dig into the untold truth of "Moneyball" is to comprehend the impossible journey it took to get to the silver screen and further appreciate that this movie even exists.

Through the endless production problems of "Moneyball," one constant fixture of the endeavor was Brad Pitt. Even as directors came and went, Pitt stayed on as the lead actor tasked with portraying baseball manager Billy Beane. There's a reason Pitt endured in the face of all of these challenges, and that simply came down to his own deep affection for the story "Moneyball" was chronicling.

"I first picked up the book by Michael Lewis and was taken with these guys who out of necessity had to challenge conventional wisdom of their industry," Pitt told NPR. "We deal with the Oakland A's in 2002, and they are a team who had a payroll of $38 million to platoon a team, and they're playing against teams that have $120 million with another $100 million in reserves. And there is — there was no way to have an equal fight. And so what these guys had to do was re-question baseball, baseball knowledge. They had to take everything apart and start over again." Speaking with CBS News, Pitt also noted his affection for "Moneyball" was because it "was a story of an obsessive character and I was obsessive about getting it to the screen. It was this idea of value and our self worth and how it is often tabulated by a failure."

Many unmade movies are axed long before they get close to starting principal photography, but some unfortunate features get so close to getting made that it seems like a cruel trick. If they were just inches away from getting off the ground, why not just let these poor movies start filming? Such a tragic fate befell Steven Soderbergh's take on "Moneyball," which had locations, a script, and lead actors Brad Pitt and Demetri Martin all ready to go only for Sony/Columbia Pictures to pull the plug just days before shooting would have started.

The Guardian reported that this drastic move was made due to Soderbergh doing a final polish of the script that led studio executives to dub this iteration of "Moneyball" as too "arty" for its mid-budget price tag. With Soderbergh refusing to make the film more "mainstream," Sony called "Moneyball" off. While the studio allowed the producers of "Moneyball" to try and revive the feature elsewhere, it was confirmed that the likes of Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures had all passed on bringing "Moneyball" back from extinction. Like the mood of any inspirational sports movie at the end of its second act, the production of "Moneyball" seemed to be hopeless.

With "Moneyball" no longer a Steven Soderbergh film, the project needed new creative management. It wasn't long before Sony turned to a key creative artist involved in "The Social Network," a then-recent and highly acclaimed drama for the studio. "I was hired for three weeks and then again for another three weeks, and that turned into a year and a half," recalled "Network" screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to The Hollywood Reporter. "I wanted Brad to do most of the talking. He'd speak generally about his love of character-driven movies from the '70s."

As for how Bennett Miller got attached to the project, that was thanks to an actor who wasn't on the "Moneyball" call sheet. "My dear friend Catherine Keener said, 'You've got to talk to Bennett Miller,'" Brad Pitt said. With Keener's recommendation, a call went out to Miller. "I got a call ... asking if I was interested in baseball," Miller noted. "I said I used to be. He said, 'If you're interested in taking a look at this thing, Brad would be interested in talking to you about it.'" After some coercing, Miller signed on to helm "Moneyball." A movie that previously had no behind-the-scenes talent now had some significant directorial and screenwriting prowess on its side.

Before he was headlining Marvel and "Jurassic World" movies, Chris Pratt's biggest film role was portraying Scott Hatteberg in "Moneyball." Initially, though, Pratt was deemed ill-suited for the role by the project's producers, solely based on his physical appearance rather than his acting skills.

"My agent called me and said, 'Chris, they really thought you were good, but they think you're too fat,'" Pratt recalled to MovieLine via The Huffington Post. "I was like, 'F***, really? That sucks. OK, well, I can lose weight. Did you tell them I could lose weight?' 'Yeah, we told them. They haven't offered it to anyone else. There's no guarantee, but...' It was another three months before I found out I got the role, but in that three months I think I dropped 30 pounds. I was bound and determined to become Scott Hatteberg whether they cast me or not." Going that route, Pratt not only secured the role of Hatteberg but he also defined the physique he'd use in his later action blockbuster movie roles. 

As for other physical-based challenges Pratt faced in doing the part, there was also just looking like a convincing baseball player. "I think the hardest thing was the mechanics of the baseball swing, and doing it left-handed versus right-handed," Pratt explained to AZ Snake Pit. "It was all difficult physically, but it was just so fun that it didn't seem that hard."

"Moneyball" was a significant movie for many of its participants, but it was especially important for Jonah Hill. His first foray into dramatic acting, "Moneyball" shifted the trajectory of his career and set the stage for Hill to not only act in other heavier fare but even direct dramas like "Mid-90s." Not surprisingly, Hill managed to walk away from "Moneyball" with some significant takeaways that influenced his subsequent career moves.

""I learned a tremendous amount from Brad, not specifically about acting on 'Moneyball,' but by watching him produce and watching his commitment to this movie throughout so many incarnations, and just his advice about making interesting choices as an actor. That's really been the most inspiring thing Brad's done for me, besides allowing me to play this part," Hill said to The Hollywood Reporter in September 2011. "All the movie lessons I learned are really life lessons that you can put to anything even if they are scary to people." Hearing about the lessons he took from Pitt, it's apparent that, even when it was initially released, Hill realized that "Moneyball" was going to be an impactful moment in his career.

Not surprisingly, "Moneyball" didn't exactly hit a home run at the box office. After all, this was a talky movie for grown-ups about the math behind assembling the ultimate underdog baseball team. Was this really going to appeal to the general public as a must-see movie in theaters? Thankfully for those who financed the film, "Moneyball" actually turned into a solid moneymaker and a notable reinforcement of how Brad Pitt's star power could help a project that didn't necessarily have "hit" stamped on it.

Opening to $19.5 million domestically, "Moneyball" was a decent performer but not an exceptional one. Notably, the ensuing word-of-mouth that this project generated was enough to ensure that it never dipped more than 40% from weekend to weekend for the first month of its release. Eventually, "Moneyball" managed to hit a $75.6 million North American total while it grossed another $35.6 million internationally for $111.2 million global total, more than double its $50 million budget. "Moneyball" was no challenger to the biggest blockbusters of 2011, but as an autumn drama aimed at adults, "Moneyball" left everything it could out on the field.