The last time we updated you on Moneyball, it had the brakes put on it just days before filming was set to begin. Sony exec Amy Pascal had shut the project down when director Steven Soderbergh turned in his own rewrite of the script at the last minute that was a radical departure from the greenlit draft Steven Zaillian had penned. In a rare move, Sony allowed the filmmakers the weekend to find a new studio home, but Paramount, Warner Bros., and later Fox all passed on it. New details have since emerged on what exactly happened and where the project now stands.

The L.A. Times talked with Pascal, and she revealed that the draft Soderbergh had turned in was simply too close to reality, stiffly straightforward and lacking the dramatic and comedic flairs Zaillian’s version had. Part of the reason for these changes was to appease the MLB, who would only grant licensing rights if some of the factual liberties Zaillian had taken were removed. Soderbergh’s subsequent rewrite ended up being a drastic change, though, removing anything that didn’t happen in real life from the script and adding a heavy dose of real-life interviews. Pascal felt this version differed far too much from the film Sony wanted to make, despite Soderbergh’s reassurance that he would find a way to capture the drama and humor of the story even if it wasn’t on the page. Paired with the fact that baseball films are notoriously hard to sell to a worldwide audience, the plug was pulled on the project. The bottom line was that while Soderbergh was a great talent and his vision may have made an intriguing art film, it couldn’t justify the $57 million price tag the movie was carrying.

The New York Times has now reported that Soderbergh is officially off of the project. Sony is hanging on to the Zaillian draft and trying to find a new director that can convince Brad Pitt to stay onboard. Pitt has an extensive history with Soderbergh, though, and it’s unclear if he’s willing to stay attached to the film without him. Given the precarious state the project now finds itself in, I think it’s safe to say it could be dead in the water, or at least shelved indefinitely. If anything, this is just another sign of the times. Studios are increasingly unwilling to roll the dice on movies, even ones with A-list talent like Pitt attached. Art films have particularly suffered, and the demise of studio specialty arms illustrate just how dire the situation has become.

Sony’s next step will be to find a director who can not only hang on to Pitt, but find a compromise between the Zaillian script and the changes the MLB wants. It looks like a tough road ahead, but for the sake of what at least sounded like a really cool picture, I hope they work something out.

Tags: Amy Pascal, Brad Pitt, Moneyball, Steven Soderbergh, Steven Zaillian