General Discussion

Brother, can you spare an actor? Deadline Hollywood is reporting that a long-awaited adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged may soon be coming to theaters...if anyone chooses to show up to act in it. John Aglialoro, who owns the rights, is apparently so fed up with waiting for someone else to finance the production that he's going to go ahead and throw one together himself, despite the fact that his director is exceedingly green and that none of the major roles have yet been cast. 
 
Atlas Shrugged, if you haven't read it, is a story about the healing power of altruism. Hah, no; it's a cautionary fable about a woman who runs a train company in an era when the government is attempting to exert greater control over private industry. It's perhaps best known for a nearly 70-page speech by a character named John Galt, in which he expounds upon Rand's theories of Objectivism and self-interest. (If you're a gamer, you'll probably also recognize the character Andrew Ryan as an expositor of many Randian themes in the BioShock series.) It's not exactly Nabokov, but as a philosophical novel, it has proven to be immensely influential, perhaps especially over the past couple of years of the Tea Party movement, which would explain the timing of this film adaptation. But like most philosophical novels, it's a bit dense, so it'll be interesting to see how the filmmakers condense an 1,100 page novel into a watchable film. Especially without, you know, actors. 

Well at least it doesn't have Gore Verbinski attached.

I don't know how this movie could ever work. It's a big damn book full of people talking the whole time. I mean, yeah, it's pretty good, but there's no way this could be a compelling movie.

@litrock:  It worked in The Fountainhead.  And Atlas has more train wrecks/society crumbling/escapes to utopias than Fountainhead. 
 
Edit: Also pirates, love triangle, weird technology, and an Every-Man that the audience can relate to (Henry Rearden)

I got ten-to-one Shia LaBeouf is cast in this somehow. Kid has a knack for getting roles he's completely ill-suited to (See: Every action film he's ever had the lead or sidekick role in and...Well, pretty much everything he's ever done since Holes & Even Stevens...Well I guess he was kind of okay for the I, Robot part but that performance still seemed a bit forced).

I think this movie immediately gets laughed at as soon as a sonar-based tank weapon shows up. I know it would lose some of its power, but I think it should be made as a near-future movie, not one set in the time period of the book. You'd have to figure out some way to make trains relevant as the backbone of commerce though. That's the really hard part to get across in a movie version.

Dagney was a whore....
 
For real though I read this whole book. The ending action by Dagney made me dislike is a bit though. I'm quite interested in how they make a movie out of this.

@snide: That's actually pretty spot on. I can't really think of another way to make this fly as a movie unless you just throw out all dignity & slap it with a title like "Atlas Shrugged; A Bioshock Story".

John Aglialoro is going to make the movie his way, with his vision, using his money, and under his rules.  That's pretty much on message, right?

@TheClap said:

" @litrock:  It worked in The Fountainhead.  And Atlas has more train wrecks/society crumbling/escapes to utopias than Fountainhead.  Edit: Also pirates, love triangle, weird technology, and an Every-Man that the audience can relate to (Henry Rearden) "

Was the Fountainhead movie good?  I loooove the book, I like it much more than Atlas Shrugged.

You see this is why we can't have nice things.

@masternater27: If you liked the book, there's a good chance you'll like the movie.  It has Gary Cooper and was made in 1949, so if you go in knowing that, you should be fine.  Most of the character work is really good.

I still want to read Atlas Shrugged.

I agree that it will be interesting how they can cram over 1,000 pages into a 2 to 3 hour movie. 

I could not get into any of those books.  They were just so... bleh.  Don't get me wrong I know they're "Classics" But for some reason I just can't read them.   
 
A movie?  Maybe.   
 
If you're going for the "trains as the center of everything" and want to make it near future.  How about Space Elevator?  It's got all the same hooks and rules as a train, with the "future factor" you're talking about.  Just like trains there are "other ways" to move freight and people, but none as cost effective.  Also it set on a fixed "track."  I don't know how well it'd fit a revamped story (again never read the book) but I think it'd work.   Discuss. :)  

I plodded through Atlas Shrugged at a horrifyingly slow pace after trying and retrying to get into it. It took me about 3 months to make it through but I feel it was an accomplishment and, looking back on it, that monstrosity of a novel wasn't bad at all. I still think The Fountainhead is the better of the two, but it definitely wasn't bad. And since The Fountainhead wasn't half bad, I think Atlas Shrugged could work out as a film. Here's hoping.