How about Christian Bale? Great actor, and he can burn a hole through a brick wall with his stare.
Posted on 02/11/2007 2:15:16 PM PST by saganite
Ayn Rand is one of the most controversial writers in modern American literature, known for her tireless advocacy of the right to selfishness and her hatred of big government. She has been derided and loved in equal measure and her books have sold millions of copies, attracting followers as diverse as banker Alan Greenspan, President Ronald Reagan and architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Her most famous book, Atlas Shrugged, has long been a target of Hollywood producers and attracted such big names as Faye Dunaway, Raquel Welch and Sharon Stone. But each project collapsed in the face of turning a 1,200-page philosophical novel into a watchable movie. Now that is to change. The latest attempt to film Atlas Shrugged is set to star Angelina Jolie in the role of Rand's railroad heiress heroine Dagny Taggart. Unlike past efforts, this one seems likely to succeed. A two-hour screenplay is almost complete and filming is to start this year with release in 2008. It is being written by Randall Wallace, who wrote the Mel Gibson epic Braveheart, and is backed by Lion's Gate Entertainment.
Atlas Shrugged is one of the most controversial books in modern literature. It is a passionate defence of Rand's belief that the world is best served when individuals act entirely in their own rational self-interest. Or, to put it more bluntly, they act selfishly. Rand, who died in 1982, founded the objectivist school of philosophy and still has millions of followers. Atlas Shrugged and another novel The Fountainhead promote her views. In financial circles Atlas Shrugged has been dubbed 'the bible of selfishness'.
(Excerpt) Read more at observer.guardian.co.uk ...
Jolie was in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow which conjured up a futuristic 1939. There's a lot in that film's style and decor that might be adapted to a similar project, though outright copying wouldn't go. It wasn't a very good story, but the look was fascinating, at least at the beginning.
Spot On!
Burton's Batman?
Great choices Buscemi and Malkovitch- but Goodman? How about Clooney? (If he'd do it I mean)
What are they going to do about those 62 pages?
Actually, as much as I disagree with their politics and find both actors repulsive (well, one is easier on the eyes than the other) I think that Jolie and Pitt are good choices to play the roles based upon what I've seen of them in other films. I believe Jolie is an excellent choice and Pitt is a pretty good one too. Now, let's cross our fingers and hope that they don't mess up the message of the book and turn it into some liberal tripe.
They are going to have to distill it down to the basics. That could be the hardest part of the film and the one Objectivists will watch very closely.
How about Christian Bale? Great actor, and he can burn a hole through a brick wall with his stare.
bump
Me too!!
I think there are some GREAT concepts clearly communicated in that book, along with some over-the-top glorification of selfishness.
I look at it like this - capitalism at work in a generally Christian culture is a pretty good thing. Remove the Christian culture part and you end up with the single most dangerous culture to ever blacken the planet.
Socialism ignores the value of human selfishness and the absolute need to feed it in order to get much done. It also limits it's power. Imaging a completely Godless world of John Galt. Creepy indeed. It would not be like the book imagines. Nevertheless, he was right about the looters.
This is one book I have wanted to see as a movie for a very long time.
Angela would make an excellent Dagney Tabert. I wonder if they will replace the dated "railroad" and "Reardon steel" model for something more up-to-date. It it is the near future, she could represent a major airline and he could represent Boeing and a hypersonic transport.
I dunno. It would be a lot of rewriting. Maybe it would have to be like one of Angelas other movies, Sky Captain and the world of tomorrow. Sort of a past glimps of a different future.
How about Keanu Reeves? He could do the same as Bale.
Keanu Reeves isn't qualified to share a stage with Christian Bale's shoes.
Norton first surprised me in America History X. Since then, I've been content to be impressed with the man.
One of my generation's greater talents.
Oh God, I hope not.
The book was written from 1947 to 1957. The "present" conjured up by the book represents Rand's vision of an America where the rightward turn in the 1946 elections never happened. Imagine someone like Congressman Vito Marcantonio of New York (a communist agent) or former vice president Henry Wallace as the Democratic president who succeeded FDR, and you'll get the picture Rand wanted to create.
Her version of the Fifties showed an America where all technological progress had stopped because of the heavy hand of government. It's this barren, depressed and repellent Fifties America that a good production designer has to create. My model would be "Streets of Fire".
Bale's a much better actor. He was fantastic in The Prestige opposite Hugh Jackmen, and his work in The Machinist was great too. Not to mention his turn in Batman Begins which was also pretty darn good.
Wow! I could almost imagine a Harry Turtledove sort of thing where the scenario you depict is exactly what happened. Great idea!
The good thing about lunch with Willers is that he can carry the conversation pretty much all by himself. You just need to nod on occasion and say "yes, go on" and order more coffee. :-)
I'm thinking "Rearden Polymers" or "Rearden Carbon Fibers" or "Rearden Nanotubes." Not as macho sounding but it will do.
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