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"Atlas Shrugged" Movie

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I'm highly opposed to the animation idea. ...
I think it depends on how it is executed.

Have you seen the "comic-book" version of "The Fountainhead" that was published years ago? If I remember right, it was serialized, with a few strips of the story appearing in each issue of a newspaper or magazine.

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Since some folks earlier were talking about casting, I'll throw my two cents in. I think Brad Pitt is a great choice for Galt, but as of now I think my personal favorite for the part is Denzel. I see Brad Pitt bringing a little too much lip to the role, i.e. being a smart-a.

Denzel impresses me as being able to pull off the seriousness of the part more authentically, while being as equally able as Pitt to portray a man of high intelligence, strength, and confidence.

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  • 2 weeks later...

While that's good, I think that Liam Neeson is far and away the best suggestion I've ever heard for Rearden. I think he would nail everything that role is all about--smarts, class, and good-looking as far as I can tell (I'm not very good at judging men's attractiveness).

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Guest RationalEgoist

I must say that I have been making this casting game a personal mission for the last two years. This is an extremely difficult undertaking, as each actor must be just so, to truly be able to capture the depth and sense of life of their respective characters.

I believe there are very few actors able to do an outstanding job, and most today are revered for either their looks, or likeability. True talent is truly rare.

~Who can capture the brilliance, fire and solidity of Galt? Personally, I would love to do the role, and I believe I would do it justice. There are a few, who would be able to pull it off, but they are too old or something is just not right. Did I mention I am the most critically meticulous critic there is? lol

I do know that I cannot agree that Brad Pitt play any of the heroes whatsoever. Nor Tom Cruise, as I have heard mention on a few boards. I sense too much smugness and non-subtlety, with these two. The slightest facial movement can convey a hundred differences in thought, intention, and sincerity.

*As far as Francisco, I have come to believe that the best actor for the role would have to be Rupert Everett. Classically trained, dynamic stage and film actor, and being born to money, understands the aristocratic element. He also fits Ms. Rand's description to a tee, including her remarks about Francisco's Classic Roman features, and his perfect English Accent.

*I have to agree that Liam as Hank Rearden is a great choice, if not quite hard and cold enough. I'll have to think this one over awhile.

*Anthony Hopkins as Midas Mulligan

*Colin Firth as Eddie Willers

The problem is, so many actor-types are flighty lack clarity and a crisp sense of life.

More later...

Edited by RationalEgoist
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A movie should NOT attempt to fit in everything from the book, especially in Atlas Shrugged's case. One has to adapt the story to fit the medium.

Indeed, the entirety of Atlas Shrugged is totally unsuitable for a movie. It is not only way too long to be translated directly into a movie, without editing it would not communicate Ayns theme properly.

I would hate t o think if they were foolish enough to try to put Galts speech in there...that would take so long. However, how they do manage this should be interesting. A highly condensed form of it that communicates some of the critical essence of it should be possible...

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  • 1 month later...

I think Christian Bale would be the perfect John Galt. Aside from the fact that he looks the part better than anyone alive, he has been in at least 2 very individualistic movies (Equilibrium and Batman Begins). He was also very good in Empire of the Sun, when he was about 12.

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I have always pictured someone who looks like the model Giselle Bunchen (however you spell her name), to play Dominique or Dagny.

Angelina Jolie carries herself well, but I don't know if I can picture her in either roles; perhaps due to her own political beliefs.

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has anyone thought about making it in trilogy form? kill bill was one movie, but was cut in twain for time constraints, why not do the same?

I don't think that would be a good idea. At what point of the story would you divide the movies? There isn't quite enough suspense to keep people interested for 2-3 years between films. Best bet at this point: miniseries, which was how AR envisioned it.

Edited by Myself
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I don't think that would be a good idea. At what point of the story would you divide the movies? There isn't quite enough suspense to keep people interested for 2-3 years between films. Best bet at this point: miniseries, which was how AR envisioned it.

wasn't AS divided into three books in the novel?

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I think a miniseries would be an excellent idea. Not only is it a good idea, but there are many indications that it would play well enough to get a sizable TV audince.

Many of the most acclaimed series on TV are playing on basic cable, a place where chances can be taken on (what could be see by some as) controversial material, and where Standards & Practices is a bit more lenient.

SciFi did a very daring thing when they aired a new vision of Frank Herbert's Dune in miniseries form. It had already been a feature film (that I love), but it didn't do too well (among other reasons: 1. Terminology primers handed out at the theater; 2. David Lynch). So John Harrison "re-imagined" it, and it became one of the highest-rated TV events of the past decade. The sequel Children of Dune did even better. (I think that they did so well because Harrison stayed very close to the source material.) Battlestar: Galactica did even better, and the series it spawned is gtting spectacular ratings for a basic-cable scifi show.

Given the right director, a screenplay that broadens Atlas' appeal while maintaining the material's integrity, and a capable and lucid cast, a miniseries would work the best ... for me.

And, while I'm rambling ... I disagree with may of the more recent casting choices in this hread. Not that the actors mentioned would be bad in the roles, but my choices would be somewhat younger (for the heros definitely), and perhaps a bit less known than Brad Pitt and Gillian Anderson ... Yeah, Galt and Dagny should be played by recognizable actors that would draw a new audience, but I'd like to see a group of startlingly good Actors[i/]. (Christian Bale - very good choice!) But my list changes with the seasons, so that's my $.02. ;)

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I don't think that would be a good idea. At what point of the story would you divide the movies? There isn't quite enough suspense to keep people interested for 2-3 years between films. Best bet at this point: miniseries, which was how AR envisioned it.

You could divide the movies into the three sections of the book. Non-contradiction, Either-Or, and A is A. I think that's a great idea. The movies could be filmed at the same time, and released like a year after each other. Besides, all the parts end suspensfully. Part I, non-contradiction, ends with Ellis Wyatt quitting and burning his oil fields. Part II, either-or, ends with Dagny crashing in Galt's Gulch. I think you could keep people interested.

Zak

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I agree that the movie could be divided up that way, but it would be best to not name them after the 3 parts of the book. No one would want to see a movie that sounds like its about a syllogism...especially considering most people don't know what a syllogism is.

I also don't think it would hurt to take a little poetic license and throw in some actions scenes, without changing the meaning of course.

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I agree that a miniseries would be best. When I first read Atlas in 1972, my immediate thought was that someone ought to make it into a series of six or eight 90-minute episodes, shown on TV over a period of two weeks or so. Keep in mind that this was five years before the first miniseries (Roots) aired.

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Just read an article that Howard Baldwin (producer of Ray) is planning to produce the Atlas Shrugged movie. Here's a bit of the article and the link.

Based on a reading of the Atlas Shrugged script, producer Baldwin promises that Miss Rand's essential principles—reason, selfishness, capitalism—are integrated in the plot and that, as in the novel, businesswoman Dagny Taggart struggles to operate a transcontinental railroad in a nation run by preachy socialists, while looters and moochers pick at the remains.

Booming with Tinseltown bravado, Baldwin says the movie is going to look stunning—with the epic novel's trains, bridges and skyscrapers, as well as technology invented after the book was published in 1957 (think the Internet and cellular telephones). The story, Baldwin says, takes place at some indeterminate time, and he dubs the role of Dagny as "the greatest character ever written for an actress."

We'll see. It depends on the actress, the direction and other factors. But Baldwin, undecided on whether to film Atlas Shrugged as two separate motion pictures or as a television miniseries, seems sincere. Since we are living in the society Ayn Rand saw coming—persecuted businessmen, blackouts, looting—what she considered the purpose of her art, the projection of man as a heroic being, is needed now more than ever.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/features/?id=1882&p=.htm

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I hope this finally happens. Atlas Shrugged made into a movie has become almost a running joke, it's been talked about for so many years with so many false starts.

At least, these days, unlike even 10 years ago, a cable-TV based miniseries could be seen by a large fraction of America. The Science Fiction channel is one possibility, though among some excellent series (Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis, and the new Battlestar Galactica) they also have some cheesy specially made "B" horror movies that tends to degrade its quality image.

I would not like to see the book broken up into multiple movies, personally - much better to show a miniseries in a daily sequence, that could readily be re-run.

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I've been thinking about an AS movie for a while, and one problem comes to bear - Galt's speech. It's really, really long, and I don't care if James Earl Jones delivers it, it's going to lose my attention at some point.

But, of course, how do you dramatize AS without the speech? It's the final major plot-event that sets up the climax!

Potential solution: Galt's speech narrates the movie, filling in where the dramatic novel events might have to be trimmed, or substituting a bit of character development. The drama of the film is presented as "flashback", until the speech ends and the action has caught up to it. From there, we're in "realtime" until the film ends.

Would this work?

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