Though he wasn't the first director to be attached to "Moneyball," Bennett Miller came aboard the movie prepared to not just rehash what prior filmmakers had considered doing with this true story. Unsurprisingly for the director behind challenging arthouse fare like "Capote" or "Foxcatcher," Miller — inspired by the words of Brad Pitt — had hopes of smuggling something thought-provoking into an appealing package.
"I wasn't interested in making a sports movie, just recycling tropes and convention," said Miller to The Hollywood Reporter. "Then I'd just be a gun for hire, working for the studio. But the question was, How do you avoid that? Brad said it will be a Trojan horse. We will give them the gift of a Hollywood movie starring Brad Pitt that's going to be real entertainment, but inside it is some cargo that is not really accepted in a vintage way, something that they don't anticipate." In talking to CinemaBlend, Miller elaborated, "A guy trying to put together a baseball team that's going to win on a low budget, it's a nice structure and it's the stuff that you can make a movie about ... [but] what it's all about ... is a guy who's trying to remedy something from his past, that he has his own personal, private reasons that are driving him and make him desperate to accomplish something." This creative vision got Miller out on the field and ready to direct "Moneyball."
