The upcoming sports movie ‘Moneyball' tells the story of Billy Beane, the Oakland A's general manager who revolutionized the way that baseball teams function. The film is due out September 23rd and director Bennett Miller provided a full interview with the Huffington Post on Monday.
Beane, the protagonist, entered MLB with lots of expectations as a well-rounded player. He, however, didn't live up to his potential and batted only .219 in six seasons. Miller consulted with the real-life Beane and had this to say about their meetings: "I was interested in telling the story that's going to make a good movie, that respected the essential truth of his character, of who he is, and essentially what happened." Miller states that he tried to cut down on the fiction-fact ratio but did have to make tweaks in order to create a more compelling, Hollywood-esque story.
Beane's character will be played by Brad Pitt on the big screen. On the topic of the popular movie star, Miller comments, "I think that Brad possesses these two dimensions that we're talking about: the charismatic public persona, and also the private, guarded, driven and perhaps more hidden traits of an ambitious character."
The ability to capture the inner turmoil of a failed athlete also dictated Miller's filming process. Miller especially wanted to capture Beane's final triumph as a successful general manager at the end of the movie. As Miller explains, "What's the last moment of the film meant to feel like, what's it meant to deliver? Then you can reverse-engineer from that and approach it from a perspective of, is this serving to build to this?
Though the plot of the movie is based heavily on baseball, Miller states that baseball scenes are few and far between: "To the degree that baseball served the story and could be an expression of the drama, it's in there, but hopefully not a frame more."
The movie will be released in less than two weeks on Sept. 23rd and should provide an interesting perspective on the Beane's compelling journey to redemption. To view Miller's full interview, click here.