Daniel Kaluuya’s Production Company Was Inspired By ‘Moneyball’
Daniel Kaluuya isn’t just an award-winning A-list celebrity. The British actor is also a savvy businessman who runs his own production company, which he admits was inspired by the Brad Pitt hit, Moneyball.
‘Moneyball’ is a 2011 sports drama
Based on Michael Lewis’s non-fiction book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Moneyball tells the true story of general manager Billy Beane and his strategy to make the Oakland Athletics 2002 season more competitive. The 2011 film stars Pitt as Beane and Jonah Hill as the team’s assistant general manager Peter Brand.
In the movie, Beane and Brand grapple with managing a bare-bones budget for the team. So they abandon traditional methods and utilize a sabermetric strategy to analyze and recruit players.
Daniel Kaluuya says ‘Moneyball’ inspired his production company
In 2019, Kaluuya started his own production company called 59%. And in a recent appearance on Hot Ones, he told host Sean Evans the company name was inspired by the win rate in Moneyball.
“59%, that’s based off Moneyball,” Kaluuya said. “Because I’m obsessed about that film, and I’m obsessed about that book. And that’s the win rate of that team, that one was 59 percent.”
The actor also noted that Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson inspires him. And he praised the soccer team manager’s approach to success and failure.
“How he responds to losses is always what spoke to me,” he explained. “He used the loss as an asset.”
Kaluuya noted that he now measures his successes similarly. And he always takes time to analyze and reflect when things don’t go his way.
“I’ve got to look at myself and study, and get myself up,” Kaluuya suggested. “And that’s an opportunity to study up, to kind of get your skills and craft to a certain level, so then you can sustain the level you’re trying to reach — that you’re going to reach.”
Daniel Kaluuya has exciting new projects in the works at 59%
In 2019, Paramount Players signed a first-look deal with 59%. And the deal paved the way for the unique types of projects Kaluuya hopes to make. “Over the years, I’ve been blessed to make work that speaks to audiences I identify with whilst pushing the envelope on what’s possible,” he said at the time, according to Deadline.
“59% will be the home to continue that in a producorial capacity, to bridge the gap between the next wave of storytellers and studios,” he continued. “I’m excited that in Paramount Players, I have found a partner that shares the same drive and belief to make cinema that is honest, reflective, inclusive, and authored.”
In the time since, Kaluuya has been busy working on new productions for 59%. He’ll make his screenwriting debut with The Kitchen for Netflix. The dystopian film, set in 2044 London, tells the story of a bleak future, where the rich and poor are divided more than ever. It stars Kane Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman and will be directed by co-creator Kibwe Tavares. The Kitchen is slated for a 2023 release.
