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Demetri Martin Joins the Cast of Steven Soderbergh's Moneyball

by Alex Billington
April 20, 2009

Demetri Martin, star of his own show "Important Things with Demetri Martin", is starting to make a name for himself in Hollywood. Not only does he star in Ang Lee's upcoming Taking Woodstock, but he has just been cast in Steven Soderbergh's adaptation of Moneyball. Martin joins alongside of Brad Pitt, who is set to play Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, who essentially turned his baseball team into a success by crunching numbers. Also joining the cast of Moneyball are a few real baseball players: former Oakland A's team members David Justice and Scott Hatteberg have signed on to play themselves in this.

Also revealed in the Variety article is a bit more about Soderbergh's style that he's going for with this adaptation. They mention that Daryl Strawberry and Lenny Dykstra are "among those who will be seen on camera being interviewed about their experiences with Beane when he was a phenom drafted by the New York Mets before flaming out and becoming a baseball scout." What it sounds like is that Soderbergh will shoot Moneyball somewhat like Frost/Nixon, to use a recent reference, where actual interviews are used so as to give it a documentary-like feel. Michael Lewis' book is actually a non-fiction book anyway.

Demetri Martin will play Paul De Podesta, a Harvard grad who turned down Wall Street jobs to use his statistical skills to change baseball scouting tactics. His system, known as "Earned Run Value," allowed Beane to evaluate valuable players he could hire at low cost. Billy Beane was also a bright student himself who passed up a chance to attend Stanford and instead took the money to turn pro as a ballplayer. He always regretted a money-motivated decision and found a new purpose in putting together championship-caliber teams without a lot of money. Steve Zaillian is doing a polish on a script written by Stan Chervin.

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