Aaron Sorkin game for "Moneyball"

By Steven Zeitchik

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Columbia Pictures is sending Aaron Sorkin to the plate to take a swing at the baseball drama "Moneyball," which is based on Michael Lewis' best-seller about the Oakland A's and their unorthodox approach to evaluating talent.

Sorkin, whose credits include "A Few Good Men" and "The West Wing," has been brought on to do a new draft of the script, drawing on screenwriter Steve Zaillian's earlier take.

Brad Pitt remains on board to star as former prospect and current A's general manager Billy Beane, the book's protagonist. But Steven Soderbergh no longer will write or direct and is not involved in the film.

The project has attracted a series of A-listers since development was jump-started last year. Producers brought on Zaillian ("American Gangster") to write the script and David Frankel ("The Devil Wears Prada") to direct.

Several months after Zaillian turned in his script, the company opted for a new version penned and helmed by Soderbergh. The project was set to go into production last month.

But the plug was pulled just days before it was set to start, because Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and other executives deemed Soderbergh's script too far removed from what they had signed up for.

Columbia eventually decided to make another go of it with "West Wing" creator Sorkin, who will work from the Zaillian script, not the Soderbergh one.

Sorkin has experience writing tales set in the sports world, having created the critically well-received "Sports Night" for ABC a decade ago.

(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)