Soderbergh's Fault We Canceled Moneyball: Studio Exec

Since Sony pulled the plug on Steven Soderbergh’s $58 million Moneyball with only 5 days until shooting, the question has persisted: What would cause a studio to shut down a Brad Pitt vehicle it’s already sunk $10 million into? Sony co-chair Amy Pascal finally addresses that question, telling the Los Angeles Times Soderbergh’s new script “wasn’t at all what we'd signed up for.”

“He wanted to make a dramatic reenactment of events with real people playing themselves,” Pascal explains, and cut many humorous or dramatic moments from the original script if they hadn’t actually happened. No other studios have shown interest, and Sony hopes “we can still make this with Brad Pitt,” Pascal says—but that would involve finding a new director approved by Pitt, a well-known Soderbergh fan.
(More Amy Pascal stories.)