If an endlessly compelling, Oscar-caliber movie can be made about the founding of facebook, then why can't a movie about baseball statistics be dramatically involving and even inspiring, especially when one of the writer is Aaron Sorkin, who won his first Academy Award for his The Social Network screenplay? Oh, and the other writer is Schindler's List Oscar winner Steve Zaillian? For Moneyball, that high profile combination is buoyed the presence of Brad Pitt, playing real-life Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, who championed a new statistical system for evaluating ballplayers and assembling rosters.
The UK trailer for the film, which is inspired by a true story, sticks to the tried-and-true formula established by the first and second domestic trailers, but throws in some new footage and drops a reference to Fabio. But seriously, it's a damn fine piece of trailer-making, just like its predecessors, and it might even just make the film appealing to the cricket-loving Brits. Maybe.
It's here for you enjoyment thanks to MSN Movies UK, where it premiered just today.
Does anyone else think it's funny that the line, "Welcome to Oakland" is said over an image of San Francisco and the western span of the Bay Bridge, on the other side of the bay from Oakland?
The screenplay by Zaillian and Sorkin is adapted from the non-fiction bestseller of the same name by Michael Lewis, who also wrote Liar's Poker, The Big Short, and The Blind Side. The film is directed by Bennet Miller, who earned awards season accolades with Capote in 2005, but who I will always remember the director of the wonderful black-and-white documentary The Cruise. For Moneyball, his cast includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright, Kathryn Morris, and Chris Pratt, who holds it down weekly as Andy on Parks and Recreation.
