Update: Yahoo has dropped the official trailer, sans the hosts of “Entertainment Tonight.” Check it out below.
It seems like we just reported on the first few scenes from Bennett Miller‘s “Moneyball” — oh wait, we just did — and now here comes the first full trailer courtesy of “Entertainment Tonight“. Based on the eponymous book by Michael Lewis, the film will tell the story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and Paul De Podesta (Jonah Hill), as they try to use an analytical sabermetrics system to reinvent the Oakland A’s (and baseball) in the early ’90s.
The trailer is pretty heavy on the sap, emphasizing how Beane was the laughing stock of baseball, until he wasn’t anymore. Clearly Sony wants to underline the classic, yet overused underdog story so often seen in sports movies (though it worked for last year’s “The Fighter“). We went over the film’s fraught production history in our article this morning, and though the star power looks decent, we’re moving forward cautiously as there’s always something wrong with a movie that’s been turned over this many times.
If nothing else, it looks to be a good showcase for Pitt’s acting, although his turn as a strict father in the ’50s in “The Tree Of Life” will probably end up being better, if not as mainstream. And, according to this trailer, apparently Philip Seymour Hoffman, playing the A’s coach Art Howe, has no lines whatsoever. Sports movies have been pleasantly surprising critics for a few years now with “The Blind Side” being much better than anticipated and “The Fighter” giving an entirely new reputation to the sports drama (not to mention resuscitating David O. Russell‘s career). It’s too early to say, but this could be the mainstream studio Oscar pick to watch come the fall. Check it out below (it starts about 45 seconds in) and let us know what you think of the first trailer. And P.S. Hollywood studios: premiering trailers on ET and having the hosts chatter over top is the worst. [via Teaser Trailer]
