“Moneyball” Needs Director, Power-Hitting Left Fielder, and Number Two Starter

Brad Pitt needs a director. 

(Oh, I’m sorry, it’s the Mets who need the LF and pitcher. Sorry “Moneyball” producers. Don’t get confused.)

The Hollywood Reporter says that the long-suffering Brad Pitt-led adaptation of Michael Lewis’s book “Moneyball” is now beginning to look for a new director. Bennett Miller (”Capote”) and Marc Webb (”(500) Days of Summer”) are some of the names being tossed around to helm the true life story of Oakland As GM Billy Beane, and his efforts to put a contending team on the field while operating on a shoestring budget.

Steven Soderbergh originally developed the project with Pitt, who is to play Beane. But a few days before production was supposed to start last summer, Columbia shut down the film. They were unhappy with a late rewrite Soderbergh did of the script. Soderbergh left the project soon after and Aaron Sorkin was brought in to work on the script. And now, apparently, they’re ready to attach a director to the film.

(Got that so far? Okay!)

So enter Miller and Webb. Webb is very hot right now due to the success of “(500 Days).” I don’t know enough about him to be able to tell if he’d be a good fit. I think Miller is a sports fan…well, I mean, I know he grew up in Westchester with Philip Seymour Hoffman, and you see him at baseball games in New York all the time, so from that I’m extrapolating that maybe Miller likes baseball. Is it necessary to be a baseball fan to make this movie? No. Sometimes it helps to bring in someone with a completely fresh eye. But I like Miller and have a feeling he’d be a good choice. The only problem, though, is that he’s developed a reputation for taking years to start a project, and “Moneyball” is ready now. Presumably Pitt doesn’t have an open window to make this movie forever. So it may come down to finding someone who’s ready to go pretty quickly.

Or maybe “Moneyball” is just one of those movies that gets talked about a lot and never happens.

By the way, the film version of “Moneyball” author Lewis’s “The Blind Side” is coming to theaters near you in the next few weeks. At least something went smoothly.