Believe it or not, there was a time during Brad Pitt‘s ascent up the Hollywood ladder when he faced accusations of being little more than a pretty face, with his acting abilities frequently called into question. The 56 year-old has more than put those doubts to rest, though, and recently picked up an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor thanks to his latest collaboration with Quentin Tarantino in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in what was his fourth acting nomination in total.
Not only that, but Pitt has also gained a reputation as the producer of high quality movies, winning his first Oscar for backing Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and receiving another nod for Adam McKay’s The Big Short. The only time he’s been nominated for his work both in front and behind of the camera in the same film, however, was 2011’s Moneyball, which is set to hit Netflix next month on October 14th.
Jonah Hill may have stolen most of the headlines with a performance that saw him dispel notions that he was just another big screen comedian, but Pitt quietly delivered some of the best work of his career as Billy Beane in the true-life sports drama. Steven Soderbergh was initially set to direct the movie, but creative differences with the studio led to him exiting and being replaced by Bennett Miller, who delivered an overall excellent film.
Reading a synopsis of Moneyball might make it sound like a dry and talky piece, but the fantastic script makes the constant references to statistical analysis easy to follow, and you don’t need to be a fan of baseball to enjoy the movie, making it well worth a watch when it lands on Netflix next month.
