“Moneyball” is the third Oscar nomination (and second Best Actor) for Brad Pitt. He was previously nominated in the supporting category for “12 Monkeys,” in 1995, and in the lead for David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” in 2008.
Although he’s been nominated before, Brad Pitt feels his lead actor bid for “Moneyball” is more meaningful to him because of all that he and the filmmakers went through to get the baseball picture to home base. Among other obstacles, Steven Soderbergh, who was attached to direct, was fired just weeks before shooting began.
It’s been a “really nice ride so far and I was really happy to see ‘The Tree of Life’ get in there as well as ‘Moneyball’ because we thought we were all but forgotten,” said Pitt. “This nomination was a little more special because of the uphill battle to get (‘Moneyball’) made. In the past people would have run for the hills when things went wrong but (Sony Pictures chief) Amy Pascal really doubled down and made sure this film happened. So I think this nomination for me carries a little more (significance) than previous ones.”
