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Back in 2011, a film was released that wowed both audiences and critics alike. Co-scripted by Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List) and The West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin, hot off the success of The Social Network, which was released the year before, and directed by Bennett Miller, the filmmaker behind the likes of true stories Capote and Foxcatcher, Moneyball had everything. Zaillian and Sorkin’s script was based on Michael Lewis’ well-received nonfiction book ‘Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game,’ the film version boasted some pretty decent on-screen too.
Brad Pitt took the lead as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, a coach tasked with assembling a baseball team with limited resource. With star players Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, and Jason Isringhausen all leaving on free transfers, Beane has to come up with the goods with the limited amount of cash that he has for the upcoming 2002 season. Beane enlists the help of Yale graduate Peter Brand who has come up with the perfect formula – a sophisticated sabermetric – to evaluate individual players’ performance by evaluating specific statistics. Beane brings Brand on board as the Oakland A’s official assistant manager for the season and, using the aforementioned sabermetrics, selects his team based on their on-base percentage. The duo brings on board the likes of Chad Bradford (CaseyBond), an orthodox pitcher, outfielder David Justice (Stephen Bishop), and the injured catcher Scott Hatteberg, played by future Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World superstar Chris Pratt.
In an attempt to avoid spoilers, the formula starts to work and the team starts to perform during the course of the season, even though early signs made it all look far from positive. Remember, this was 2002, many years before the rise of online sports statistics and sports betting sites like scr888 and the like. By the end of the season, the ‘A’s’ go on to win 20 games in a row – the longest winning streak in the American League’s history.
Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles was used for some of the shooting and was reportedly dressed up as eight different stadiums for the production, while further shooting took place at Boston Red Sox’s stadium, Fenway Park and, of course, Oakland Stadium.
Moneyball premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, a festival renowned for showcasing potential award-winning movies, and, the following year it was nominated for no less than six Oscars; Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Adapted Screenplay for Zaillian, Sorkin and Stan Chervin (who received a story by credit), Best Lead Actor for Brad Pitt and a deserved Best Supporting Actor nomination for Jonah Hill as Brand, one of the best performances in the actor’s career so far. Sadly everyone walked away empty-handed.
Impressively directed, and wonderfully acted – there’s also Phillip Seymour Hoffman in one of his best roles, and a pre-House Of Cards Robin Wright as Beane’s ex-wife Sharon, Moneyball is fast-paced, engrossing and completely absorbing from start to finish. It’s one of those films that may have passed you by upon its original release, but you really should seek it out as eight years on it still stands up as one of the best sports movies of the decade. It really hits it out of the park. Seek it out.
