Is Moneyball the Next Social Network?

pitt_money_120.jpgStop me if you've heard this one before: A popular non-fiction book -- without any real cinematic leanings -- gets turned into a buzzed-about feature film with the help of Aaron Sorkin, Scott Rudin, Michael De Luca, and Sony Pictures. Nope, not The Social Network -- Moneyball! ESPN writer Jon Weisman (who also writes for Variety) makes the case that the Bennett Miller-directed film could be a sleeper hit next fall along the lines of The Social Network and that other Michael Lewis penned sports-book-turned-movie, The Blind Side. Probably not, but, hey, Brad Pitt is in it! So, maybe? [ESPN]



Comments

  • The Winchester says:

    It can't be. There's nothing "relevant" about it for bloggers to overhype to death before it actually opens.
    Or is there?!?

  • Christopher Rosen says:

    Sabermetrics, FTW!

  • Jon Weisman says:

    If I may, I'm not "formerly" of Variety but very much currently of it.

  • Apologies, Jon! Fixed.

  • CiscoMan says:

    I was certainly one of the folk who thought the story of Facebook would be interesting but unspectacular. That said, one big difference stands out to me: Facebook has never been more popular, while the glow of Billy Beane has dissipated considerably. Even when it was glowing, it wasn't really glowing. Is there a Beatles song that can really round out the feeling of Jeremy Giambi not sliding into home and the A's going home in the first round again?
    However, if there's a montage devoted to "the Most Valuable Tejada," consider my opinion changed.

  • Jon Weisman says:

    I've seen a lot of people falling into the trap of making a faulty analogy. There are these choices:
    Facebook = Baseball
    Creation of Facebook = Inner workings of A's front office
    Mark Zuckerberg = Billy Beane
    You can't, on the other hand, compare Facebook to Billy Beane - that makes no sense. Admittedly, Facebook is a bigger deal for a lot of people than baseball in 2011, but baseball is still a big deal for many - enough to make the success of this movie plausible.

  • Jon Weisman says:

    I've seen a lot of people falling into the trap of making a faulty analogy. There are these choices:
    Facebook = Baseball
    Creation of Facebook = Inner workings of A's front office
    Mark Zuckerberg = Billy Beane
    You can't, on the other hand, compare Facebook to Billy Beane - that makes no sense. Admittedly, Facebook is a bigger deal for a lot of people than baseball in 2011, but baseball is still a big deal for many - enough to make the success of this movie plausible.

  • CiscoMan says:

    I wasn't trying to explicitly compare Facebook to Billy Beane. I was trying to avoid using the word "zeitgeist," but that's basically what I'm getting at: Moneyball and Beane were a major part of the baseball zeitgeist once, but not so much anymore.
    That's not to say Moneyball can't be a good and/or successful film. Only that it doesn't have that "current" cache working in its favor. The Social Network has almost zero bearing on how people use Facebook on a daily basis, but there is a subtextual connection that I think added to the film's allure.