Plans For A Moneyball Adaptation Got Underway Not Long After Michael Lewis’ Book Was Published In 2003
Moviegoers were introduced to Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and the rest of the staff and players of the Oakland Athletics when Moneyball opened in theaters in September 2011, but work on the film began long before that. In June 2003, Michael Lewis published his nonfiction book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, which covered everything from the Athletics’ farm system and how Beane changed the way prospective players are scouted to finding ways to make the most of a small-market team’s limited payroll.
In 2004, Sony Pictures optioned the book, per Variety, and assigned Stan Chervin to pen the script, though that screenplay and the course of the movie would go through several changes before baseball movie fans would see Moneyball. At one point, David Frankel was attached to direct, but the Marley and Me director would bow out with Steven Soderbergh taking his place, though he would never start shooting.
