Jonah Hill Pitches Moneyball

If you've followed its rocky development, yet another casting rumor concerning Moneyball seems almost like a non-story. When the film was first announced several years back, the baseball drama was intended as a collaboration between Steven Soderbergh and Brad Pitt. The story, centering on the business of the sport via the Oakland A's general manager, Billy Beane, seemed just ripe enough with athletic intrigue that it could represent yet another Soderbergh classic. But then Soderbergh departed the project, leaving a vacancy that Captoe director Bennet Miller was called in to fill.

While Brad Pitt remained attached, Paramount favorite Aaron Sorkin was brought in to rework Steve Zaillian's original script even as Soderbergh's somewhat oddball addition to the cast, comedian Demetri Martin, stepped away from the project. Today, JoBlo reports that Jonah Hill will now fill the role of Paul Depodesta:

"DePodesta, currently part of the San Diego Padres front-office, was in 1999 an assistant to Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (to be played by Brad Pitt) who together implemented the analytical principles of sabermetrics that helped the A's build a competitive team on the cheap."

Now, I know virtually nothing about sports, so none of what I just wrote makes any sense to me, but I'm a fan of Brad Pitt, and as far as writers go, you can't get much better than Aaron Sorkin. Add to that my interest in seeing Jonah Hill tackle a more dramatic role - especially in light of early praise for his upcoming film Cyrus - and I'm definitely interested to learn more.