There’s some strange, C.I.A.-type shit and secretiveness happening with the deep-sixed Steven Soderbergh baseball film, “Moneyball,” and it went down clandestinely this weekend.
In fact, the drama behind “Moneyball” is quickly becoming the real story. Script Shadow got a hold of an email, allegedly from someone within first-hand knowledge of what went down behind the scenes, and published it on their site late Sunday evening. And whatever was in the piece, was so hot, it basically had cease and desist lawyer-like action descend on it immediately.
The story went up and then was edited upon request, but then a few hours later the entire post was pulled like it never existed (and it appears to be wiped out from google cache). ScriptShadow is not talking. Judging by folks who read the in question email and the comments section, it’s something about MLB (perhaps not so conspiracy, though not exactly what you think either), script authenticity and interpersonal dramas not for repeat here (not to mention some possible blame gaming). Is that vague and murky enough for you? That’s on purpose, but suffice to say there’s more backstage stuff happening with “Moneyball” that hasn’t been reported in the press and it’s contentious enough to have legal types act super fast — apparently the email was also posted in the comments section of a prominent web blog we all read, but was also pulled within the hour. What’s happening? Various people are doing their best to distance themselves from it. But as a reader notes, “if the legal folks stepped in, then it must be a pretty damned accurate summation of what went down.”
According to a brief mention in a Variety article from last night, Columbia/Sony are still trying to make the film happen with Brad Pitt and Soderbergh, but you gotta wonder just how long this can go on for. What also seems very real is that Sony has already spent more than $10 million on the film so far including the interviews Soderbergh shot and paying for the various script drafts.
Will more info come out? Beats us, but consider this one, not quite dead yet.