Steven Soderbergh made a four-hour epic about Che Guevara, and a digital film starring a porn star. He is not the kind of guy who struggles to get a movie greenlit. But not only did Sony turn him down when he attempted to make his version of Michael Lewis' book Moneyball, they've now kicked him off the project entirely. Variety is reporting that Brad Pitt will still star in the film, and Sony will still make it, but Sodbergh is no longer on board as director.

Amid rumors that Steven Zaillian's script was what made Sony pull the plug to begin with, the studio has pulled in Aaron Sorkin to rewrite it. Sorkin, remember, made Sports Night before putting his stamp on politics with The West Wing, so presumably he knows what he's talking about here. Sorkin is currently working with David Fincher on the Facebook movie The Social Network, and Fincher, of course, directed Pitt in Benjamin Button. Would the three finally come together on this one?

In recent years Soderbergh has vacillated freely between his experimental and commercial sides, bringing home the bacon with an Ocean's movie and setting himself free on something like The Girlfriend Experience. But apparently Moneyball, an experiment with a real budget, was a step too far. It's depressing to accept that Sony isn't looking to make anything groundbreaking with this, but also nice to think that non-baseball fans might at least be able to sit through this one.