Hoo Boy! ‘Atlas Shrugged’ finally makes it to the screen

[n2doc]

By Lewis Beale, Friday, April 8, 11:01 AM
Fifty-four years after it was published, with sales of the book at 6.5 million copies and counting, Ayn Rand’s 1,000-page magnum opus “Atlas Shrugged” is finally coming to the screen. The $10 million production, part one of a projected trilogy, featuring a no-name cast (Taylor Schilling? Grant Bowler?) and financed entirely by John Aglialoro, a Philadelphia businessman, will be released on April 15.


“Hollywood executives are a bit risk-averse,” says Aglialoro, attempting to explain why the film version has been so long in coming. “To do ‘Return of the Werewolf 3,’ that’s a safe bet, but if I take a new idea, even if it’s a bestseller, I’m not going to be able to make money out of this.”

“The project has always been extremely difficult,” adds Ed Snider, owner of the Philadelphia Flyers. Snider owned the rights to the book in the 1980s and is one of the film’s executive producers. “People are initially interested,” he says, “but . . . something like this is more difficult.”

That’s an understatement. Rand’s novel, set in the near future, tells how American society collapses after its thinkers, industrialists and scientists go on strike and refuse to participate in a world they feel has become increasingly socialistic. The novel’s heroine, Dagny Taggart, tries to save the country from a catastrophe, but the book ends with an apocalypse. And the mysterious John Galt, who has organized the strike, tells, in a 70-page speech, how he will construct a society based on individual achievement and self-interest — the core tenets of Rand’s objectivist philosophy, which champions laissez-faire capitalism.


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http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/atlas-shrugged-finally-makes-it-to-the-screen/2011/03/31/AFTdJh1C_story.html

Probably will have to distribute free dvd's in newspapers in order to get anyone to watch it

[Buzz Clik]

1. The good news: the faux libertarians will no longer be able use "Who is John Gault" as a secret code

[Orrex]

14. They probably will.

How many people are going to see this shit-fest, other than hardcore Libertarian delusionists?

[WinkyDink]

2. Thank goodness the Flyers never got a tax-break from Philly or PA.

[Countdown_3_2_1]

3. Wow. a whole 10 million to produce? Didn't they make Blair Witch for that much?

10 mil is an indy project. Probably made without union input.

Guess I'll be passing on this one.

[Occulus]

24. A film version of Bioshock needs to be made, as a foil for this

Bioshock (a PC/console game) deconstructed Randian Objectivism in truly brilliant fashion. They stopped making the movie because it was projected to cost upward of 160 million.

[ixion]

4. I saw the trailer for this a few weeks back...here's a link to the trailer

It looks over-produced and quite lame.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x553188

[Syrinx]

7. I saw the trailer too

It resembled a soap opera in production values and wit.

[regnaD kciN]

23. You obviously haven't read the book...

It resembled a soap opera in production values and wit.

That would qualify it as a faithful adaptation.

[Syrinx]

28. I never claimed otherwise

And I admit never having read the book, though I do own a copy of Rand's "The Virtue Of Selfishness," that I bought at a library fund-raising sale some twenty years ago. I haven't read that either.

I am a fan of the band Rush, which I think is unfairly tainted by Neil Peart's youthful infatuation with her wackadoodle "philosophy."

And I'm still amazed by some of the Firesign Theatre's work too!

I called myself "George Tirebiter" on some BBS's in the early nineties.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

22. I saw the clip. At first I thought it was a skit to parody the actual film.

[HereSince1628]

5. Which will bring about a remake of Citizen Kane?

With an alternative title, the Cremation of Rosebud.

[Atman]

6. I think plenty of people will watch...and the do the tv circuit touting it a factual...

...and a roadmap for America. Of course, they might have some trouble getting the thinkers and scientists on board. But I'm sure the industrialists will get behind it.

[Syrinx]

8. it might be a hit

The same people that made Mad Mel's "Christian" opus a bonanza...

[ET Awful]

9. This will be about as successful as that other movie from an author who peddled his moronic ideology

through sci-fi and action fiction, yup, L. Ron Hubbard.

Except this one has less star power and even more likelihood of flopping.

[sendero]

10. Too bad in the real world..

.. it is the "thinkers" that have fucked everything up.

[zeemike]

11. No it will be a "hit"

And all the faithful that believe in the one true ideology will flock to see it and claim it to be a work of art as much as "Gone with the wind"
Those kind of people have no sense of art.
Don't worry he will make money off of it.

[Tesha]

15. They'll go watch it in weekly midnight showings.

And they'll know all the lines and repeat them along
with the actors. And bring props. (What props will this
movie need? Me, I'd bring toilet paper, but I suspect
that doesn't factor-in in the devotees' minds.)

Tesha

[Stevenmarc]

12. Look like some people are going to learn a lesson in Free Market economics

[mwb970]

13. mwb970 shrugs.

:shrug:

[MatthewStLouis]

16. I can't wait till it's out on DVD...

then I can have some fairy tale coasters to match the fairy tale book I use for toilet paper.

[Jmaxfie1]

17. OPENING SCENE REVEALED!!!!!!!

Here is the opening scene of the movie.

Ann Randesque women: "Struggle is the father of all things. It is not by the principles of humanity that man lives or is able to preserve himself above the animal world, but solely by means of the most brutal struggle."

Other Guy: "Hey wait, That is a direct quote from Hitler."

Ann Randesque women: "What is your point?"

[Jmaxfie1]

18. Hitler appalled!!

"In a recent interview by our paper, Adolf Hitler has expressed shock and outrage that a Jew would appropriate his Party Program. He has, however, expressed a hope that Mrs. Rand can convert a good many Aryans to the cause before she is exterminated."

[Turbineguy]

19. It's not the socialists who have destroyed the country

it's the finance people. If anything, Thorstein Veblen has the answer, not Ayn Rand.

[Bluenorthwest]

20. This is going to be a terrible film, just awful....

Plan 9 From Ayn Rand.

[FSogol]

21. It will cure our nation's insomnia epidemic. Just wait until Galt preaches his 65 page sermon on

how being selfish is good.

[kenny blankenship]

25. At last, Battlefield Earth will have some serious competition.

[jmowreader]

26. How, exactly, is this a bestseller?

It took them 54 years to sell 6.5 million copies...that comes out to 120,000 copies a year.

There are of course two reasons for its slow sales. One is it's fucking huge. You could use the damn thing as a wheel chock for a tractor-trailer. The other is it's ridiculous.

Even without seeing it I can assure you the movie on a blank DVD will be more entertaining than "Atlas Shrugged, Parts 1, 2 and 3."

[franzia99]

27. conservatives' love affair with Ayn Rand would be funny if it weren't so sad.

[rasputin1952]

29. I had to read that for an English Assigment many years ago....

IIRC, the tattered softcopy was $1.95, (used, I never did see a "new" copy). I would not pay $1.95 to see the movie...I'm still embarrassed that I had to "pad" the assignment because of the inane drivel I literally drove myself through on autopilot. I still recall the double underline and star for my last line in the assignment placed there by an astute ENG teacher..."what was the this shit?"