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One Baseball Personality Says His Portrayal in the Acclaimed ‘Moneyball’ Is So Degrading That It’s ‘Character Assassination’

Sep 30, 2011  •  Post A Comment

Brad Pitt’s latest film "Moneyball" is a hit with critics and movie goers alike, but at least one baseball personality portrayed in the film is pissed, reports the Oakland Tribune’s Inside Bay Area website.

The film is about the Oakland A’s baseball team, and Pitt plays Billy Beane, the team’s general manager.

During the timeframe the movie covers, the manager of the A’s was Art Howe.

According to the article, "Howe saw the movie over the  [Sept. 24, 2011] weekend and was extremely displeased with how his character — played by Philip Seymour Hoffman — was portrayed as being overly aggressive and combative with Beane. ‘I’m very disappointed, very disappointed,’ Howe said by phone Monday from his Texas home. ‘I look at it as character assassination.’ "

The story continues, "Howe is set up as a sort of villain in the movie, as he’s shown pressing Beane about a new contract in one scene and clashing with Beane throughout the movie over who should play first base, Carlos Pena or Scott Hatteberg. ‘It wasn’t even close to my personality,’ Howe said. ‘They just went out of their way to degrade me.’ "

The article adds, "In an interview with SiriusXM radio, Howe also said he was never consulted for his viewpoints in the making of the movie."

"Moneyball," based on Michael Lewis’ bestseller, was written for the screen by two Academy Award-winning writers, Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian. Sorkin won his Oscar for writing "The Social Network," and Zaillian won his Oscar for writing "Schindler’s List."

2 Comments

  1. What a whiner! This anonymous clown should be happy someone is paying attention to him. And Hoffman, being a great actor, did him up right.

  2. No Ardee, you’re the clown. Art wasn’t a bad manager and has a resume much deeper than yours. He was contacted by the original director who wanted him to play himself but when the film was handed off to the new director Art’s involvement was nixed. Most of us would probably be annoyed at how we are portrayed without our input and we know that’s how Hollywood works. Obviously you’d be estatic by being portrayed by Hoffman. Art’s not happy, he voiced his opinion and you take the cheap shot. Feel free to man up and see Art in person so you can voice your opinion. And then duck…then we’ll see who’s really the whiner here.

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