Director Spike Jonze plays an uncredited cameo in the film as the new husband to Billy's ex-wife, Sharon.
       On 5 May 2004, DV reported that Sony Pictures Entertainment had acquired the rights to Michael Lewis’s bestselling book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (2003) and Stan Chervin was hired to write the screenplay. According to DV, the project was the first deal made by producer Michael De Luca since his move to Sony from DreamWorks and his former partner at New Line Cinema, Rachael Horowitz, was set to collaborate with him in the role of producer.
       As noted in a DV news item on 9 Dec 2011, it took De Luca and Horowitz over six years to complete the film. A 13 Jul 2011 DV article described the film’s evolution, from initial attempts by producer Mike Tollin to develop it at ESPN, to Horowitz’s “discovery” of the book in 2003 and to the challenges she and De Luca faced to maintain support from Sony. An article in New York Magazine on 21 Aug 2011 stated that the involvement of Brad Pitt in 2007 propelled the film into a new league of marketability, leading to personnel changes to accelerate production. Writing duties were transferred from industry newcomer Chervin to Academy Award winner Steven Zaillian. Director David Frankel left the project, making way for Steven Soderbergh, another Academy Award winner who had previous experience working with Pitt in the Ocean’s Eleven series (2001, 2004 and 2007, see entries).
       Just days before principal photography was scheduled to begin on 11 Jun 2009, however, Sony halted production due to their disapproval of Soderbergh’s approach to the story and his revisions of the script. As noted in various contemporary sources, including DV and New York Magazine , Soderbergh intended to incorporate a documentary style in the picture, using interviews with baseball insiders such as Darryl Strawberry and Lenny Dykstra and casting real-life players including Scott Hatteberg to portray themselves. Sony, however, favored a more dramatic narrative, believing that it would appeal to a wider audience.
       According to LAT on 23 Jun 2009, economic concerns also factored into Sony’s decision and noted that the film’s $57 million budget was high for a baseball movie. LAT reported that Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal met with Soderbergh to discuss revisions but they were unable to come to an agreement. Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures were given the option to take over the project, but they both passed due to the difficulty of making a profit from a high-budget sports film. The article reflected on the challenge of marketing a baseball picture to female and foreign audiences. According to Chicago Tribune on 5 Jul 2009, Sony had already invested $10 million into the development of the film when they ended their relationship with Soderbergh. The article also noted there was concern at Sony about Pitt leaving the project because of his “loyalty” to Soderbergh and that the star held the right to refuse any of their suggestions for a replacement.

       With Sony still in possession of the property, DV announced on 10 Jul 2009, that Aaron Sorkin was working on rewrites to the script and Scott Rudin had joined the project as co-producer. De Luca had previously worked with Sorkin and Rudin on The Social Network (2010, see entry). According to New York Magazine , Sorkin shifted the script’s focus to Billy Beane’s personal life, accentuating his relationships with his ex-wife and young daughter and satisfying Sony’s requirement for a more emotional approach to the story. A 2 Jul 2009 NYT article, however, credits writers Stephen Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson with focusing the script on Beane’s personal relationships shortly after Chervin completed the first version.
       Negotiations for Bennet Miller to take over as director were reported in a 7 Dec 2009 HR news item. As noted in New York Magazine , Miller abandoned Soderbergh’s documentary-style approach. He also replaced Soderbergh’s casting choice of comedian Demetri Martin for the second lead role of “Peter Brand” with Jonah Hill.
       According to various contemporary sources, the resulting film is mainly fictional despite its foundation in the real-life story of the Oakland Athletics baseball team general manager, Billy Beane. While Soderbergh intended for the script to be an authentic representation of Lewis’s book and capture the “reality” of Beane’s experiences, as stated in a 2 Jun 2009 LAT article, Miller’s version was received by baseball insiders as caricature. In a 21 Sep 2011 LAT article, former general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Paul DePodesta, on whom the character “Peter Brand” is based, said that he refused to have his name used in the film after reading the script because he “realized it was a piece of fiction.” NYT noted Major League Baseball insiders were unhappy with “some factual liberties” in Zaillian’s script and Soderbergh’s revisions reflected his intention to meet their approval. Vice president of public relations for Major League Baseball, Matthew Bourne, told NYT that they made requests to Sony and Soderbergh to maintain “historical accuracy.”
       According to NYT on 24 Aug 2011, Beane, himself, was reluctant to speak about the film. The article noted that although the movie portrayed Beane’s achievements from 2000 to 2003, specifically in the 2002 baseball season, he was not able to maintain the success of his team. The Oakland Athletics, which Beane is contracted to manage until 2014, was without a winning record for five consecutive seasons. Beane’s talent for identifying undervalued players through empirical data, maximizing his team’s value by acquiring them at low rates, and using statistical metrics to exploit their potential on the field, what NYT termed “market efficiency” and DV on 13 Jul 2011 defined as “moneyball,” has since been co-opted by the league, according to NYT . What was once considered a radical revision of traditional baseball strategies, which measured players’ values mainly through performance statistics, has now become standard, NYT stated, and teams such as the Oakland Athletics are unable to compete.
       As stated in studio production notes from AMPAS library files, the actors were trained in “boot camps” around Los Angeles, California by baseball coordinator Michael Fisher. Fisher noted that training was particularly difficult for actor Chris Pratt in the role of “Scott Hatteberg” because he had to lose thirty pounds and learn to swing a bat with his left hand. The film was shot at five baseball parks, including Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, Stengel Field at Verdugo Park in Glendale and Blair Field at California State University Long Beach. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, home to the Oakland Athletics, was used as the location for the scenes from the 2002 season games.
       According to LAT on 26 Sep 2011, the film was extremely well received by audiences and grossed $20.6 million in its opening weekend. As reported in DV on 1 Dec 2011, Sony re-released Moneyball on 2 Dec 2011 for the holiday season and to position the film as a contender for award nominations.
       In addition to being selected as one of AFI’s Movies of the Year for 2011, Moneyball was nominated for six Academy Awards in the following categories: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Pitt), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Hill), Best Film Editing (Christopher Tellefsen), Best Sound Mixing (Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick), and Best Writing -- Adapted Sceenplay (Screenplay by Zaillian and Sorkin, Story by Chervin). The film also received four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Motion Picture -- Drama, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture --Drama (Pitt), Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Hill) and Best Screenplay-- Motion Picture (Chervin, Sorkin and Zaillian). Pitt and Hill were also nominated for SAG awards and Chervin, Sorkin and Zaillian were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay by the WGA.
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