Is Brad Pitt Headed for Boston?

While our beloved Fenway Park may not see any playoff action this year, it will have the chance, once again, to play a cameo role in another Hollywood movie.  This Monday, October 4 through Wednesday, October 6 Fenway Park will be the set for Bennett Miller’s Moneyball. Based on Michael Lewis’ best-selling book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, the story chronicles Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane’s use of computer generated analysis to draft players on a low budget and turn that team into a playoff contending team.

The big news in Boston is the actor playing Billy Beane is Hollywood’s heartthrob Brad Pitt.  There is a big buzz on whether or not brad Pitt will be in Beantown for the shooting.  Less disputed are the arrival of Pitt’s co-stars Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Chris Pratt, who are expected to be at the filming. Hoffman plays A’s manager Art Howe and Pratt, who you may know from TV’s Parks & Recreation, is cast as A’s first baseman Scott Hattebag. Jonah Hill is also in the film, but o word as of yet if he will be Boston bound next week or not.

In other Boston film news, scouts are said to be scouring the city streets for the spring filming of Adaline, starring Katherine Heigl and directed by Andy Tennant.

In theaters now are two films shot in the Boston area: The Social Network and The Town. The Social Network, which debuted in theaters October 1st, chronicles the rise of Facebook and its creator Mark Zuckerberg.  The film is based on the book by Ben Mezrich. Zuckerberg was a Harvard student when the Facebook concept bloomed, already tying him to the area.  Besides Harvard Square, some of the filming also took place at Somerville’s The Thirsty Scholar. Jesse Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg and Justin Timberlake plays Zuckerberg’s mentor and Napster creator, Northeastern’s Sean Parker.

The Town is directed and stars Cambridge’s own Ben Affleck, chronicling Boston as the bank robbing capital of the country, a claim many Boston experts dispute. Many people spotted Affleck and his crew in around Boston last spring filming.  The film debuted at #1, a great bump for the Boston filming community.