One really has to wonder how Michael Lewis feels about the Hollywood treatment his books have been given, or if he's bathing in so much cash he's not even thinking about it.
Lewis is among the best nonfiction book writers alive. His ability to explain vast, complicated topics in plain English has made works such as Liar's Poker, The Blind Side and The Big Short not only bestsellers but game-changers for the industries they covered.
Moneyball made an impact when it was released in 2003. Hard as it is to believe now, "on-base percentage" was not a mainstream baseball term then. Moneyball helped popularize the term and the concept while making Billy Beane a cult hero. Its pages are thick with descriptions of young freethinkers poring over statistics and spreadsheets in windowless back rooms at the Oakland A's offices.
It is not the obvious stuff of big-screen excitement.
The trailers for Moneyball, the movie, have explained away the doubt over how the book would translate. The answer, it turns out, is obvious. Make it a formulaic sports movie, a big-league Bad News Bears, or like Major League, only with management as the hero rather than the villain.
Oh yeah, and have Brad Pitt play Beane.
The same thing was done to Blind Side, a complex book about the relationship between gifted young left tackle Michael Oher and a wealthy family that just happened to have connections to Ole Miss. In the book, Lewis examines the evolution of the quarterback position in the NFL and how it increased the importance of the left tackle.
Disney, in its marketing wisdom, morphed it into the story of a fearless woman fighting for the acceptance of the poor kid who just needed a chance.
Lewis knows what he's doing. So do Columbia and Disney. The books did well, and both movies probably will, too.
Lewis is the best there is at what he does, though. The question is, will movie-goers be able to tell?
PHOTO OF THE DAY
That's right, ladies. All 30 MLB general managers look just like this guy.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I don't want to say I won the trophy. I want to say that my dad has won the trophy."
–Robinson Cano, on winning the Home Run Derby with his father, Jose, pitching to him
TWEET OF THE DAY
As if the Home Run Derby doesn't mess up the players' swings enough.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
Blake Griffin and Kevin Love hit the hardwood during the NBA lockout.
