Brad Pitt's Next Movie Will Be ... Moneyball?

For my money, Michael Lewis' Moneyball is one of the best sports books ever written. In fact, it's one of my all-time favorites regardless of genre. It's captured the whole "scouts vs. stats" phenomenon perfectly, flummoxing hard-core traditionalists (many of whom mistakenly still believe Billy Beane wrote the book).

But as much as I love the book, I'm a little shocked at the decision to turn it into a movie:

Steve Zaillian has signed on to adapt Michael Lewis' nonfiction bestseller "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game," and David Frankel is attached to direct. Project is being developed as a potential starring vehicle for Brad Pitt.

Book's subject is Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, who assembled a contending baseball club on a shoestring budget by employing a sophisticated computer-based analysis to draft players.

I'm not plugged into the Hollywood scene so the name Zaillian means zilch to me, but apparently he's the brains (writer/director/producer) behind All the King's Men and wrote the screenplays for American Gangster and Gangs of New York -- all three of those movies were excellent, so he's earned the benefit of the doubt.

Once considered baseball heresy, Beane's philosophies have since been adapted by every team in the majors to varying degrees, especially in Boston, where they've fueled two World Series titles in four years. Nevertheless, there are still some hold outs who refuse to read the book. Now that it's being condensed to a two-hour film, there's no excuse for anyone not to educate themselves.

(I do feel sorry for Beane's family and co-workers, though. By all accounts, Beane already has a bit of an ego. If he thought highly of himself for snagging Ricardo Rincon for nothing, can you imagine how insufferable he's become after finding out Brad freaking Pitt was signed to play him in a movie?)

Previously on FanHouse:
There's More Buzz for the Bull Durham Sequel