"Moneyball" is set to be released in a little over two weeks, but A’s GM Billy Beane “has said barely a word about it,” according to a front-page piece by Mark Emmons of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. Beane has taken “few interviews” about the film, which lionized his "revolutionary approach to building small-budget teams into baseball contenders." Beane's silence has led to speculation that he is "uncomfortable being cast as a genius at a time when the standings tell such a different story." But he said that his “source of unease is something else entirely.” Beane: "The hard thing for me has been figuring out how to walk this fine line. If I embrace all this movie stuff, it looks like I'm really digging it. But if I put my hand up and say, 'No,' I look like I'm distancing myself from it. There's no playbook for this." A's Owner Lew Wolff said, "Billy is not the kind of guy who is looking for fame, at least the Hollywood kind. But I think he's handled this beautifully by not making too much of it. I know he likes the movie a lot, but he hasn't gone Hollywood by a long shot." Some A’s officials “saw a private screening last week, and their reviews were positive.” A's Equipment Manager Steve Vucinich said, "They gussied it up some. But that's Hollywood, and that's OK. For the most part, it was pretty true" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 9/8).
RUNNING UP THAT HLL: How excited is Sony for the release of “Moneyball?” So excited that it forgot to proofread its bus ad and misspelled actor Jonah Hill’s last name. WMG Chair & CEO Casey Wasserman posted this photo on Twitter along with the text, “Apparently in an effort to be in the spirit of the film, Sony saves money by not paying for the I in Hill...” (THE DAILY).
