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 ...
I was just wondering about that ... What kind of Teutonic Wagnerian warrior type can we get to play Ragnar? I think you nailed it.
I didn't see Vanity Fair. I'm working my way through her catalog. I personally wouldn't like her as a schemer. If Mrs. R is a real slore, how about Heather Graham or something? Leave my Reese alone! LoL
I don't have an image for that character. Walken? If the character needs to have a screw loose, Walken's your guy!
yea i wrote that about 2/3 of the way thru the book. I had gone beyond annoyed by the tedious writing style. I'd internalized it. It's as if I knew what words she would use before she even used them, as if we'd both tapped into some perfect form of....whoops. there i go again :-P
Like most condemnatory articles about the work of Ayn Rand, there's no indication and evidence the writer ever attempted to read the original work himself -- but merely found the 1,200 pages "daunting," and so relied on envious critics to undermine its worthiness.
It's boilerplate "Ayn Rand is not worth the effort to understand, and so read the dismissive articles I've read as all you need to know."
My god, will the mainstream media ever write about something they really know about -- in their authoritative, pretentious AP style?
I can see Dwight Yoakam in one of the weasel roles here. He was great in Slingblade.
Her Rebecca was a credit to the breadth of her talent. She can do more than ditzy, bubblehead roles. I was impressed. Not overwhelmed, mind you, but impressed.
Wasnt' he? That scene where he's practicing with his "band" and gets wasted and kicks them all out? I laughed so hard I almost pissed myself.
And once again, while I despise his politics and think he's two bricks shy of a wall, Billy Bob Thornton WAS Carl Childers. "Gonna get me some o' them french fried pataters, uh hmmmm."
I'm one who has read the book all the way through and now that it's back in the spotlight, I think I'll read it again.
However, there is virtually NO chance that I will see this movie with the likes of Jolie and Pitt as the main characters.
In fact, I can't think of any of today's current crop of talentless, vapid "stars" playing the parts of Taggart and Galt.
Better to imagine the characters in my mind than to have them ruined by Hollywood tripe.
I see you changed the spelling on Yoakam but I've got it right. Check it out. He was also great in The Panic Room but anything else he's done doesn't measure up to those two.
How is it that idiots like these two are followers of Ayn Rand? They are both big-government socialists (while simultaneously being rabid capitalists and voracious consumerists and shooting movies in places like Toronto or Australia to avoid paying Teamster wages or high taxes like in Los Angeles).
I really liked that movie along with the soundtrack. They did a great job on mixing past and present.
You're correct. It's "Yoakam."
I'm not so sure he was acting.
It's Okay not to understand everything in the world. (That's how one finds out.)
It's not okay to pretend to understand everything in the world.
That's one of the central themes in Atlas Shrugs.
I enjoyed the book overall, but damn me for being a little more compassionate than Rand. For instance, if she had developed mental illness or some such thing, and fell down, would she really have said "My tough luck, let me fall by the wayside", or would she have hoped someone would have helped her out?
Hmm. If you really are an x roadie maybe you have the inside scoop!
I'm not a big fan of delegating compassion - it should be a personal committment not something left to a bureaucrat. Neither should "giving" be forced at the point of a gun.
And I surely do not want those receiving to feel that it is their right, and will sue you if you don't give them what they feel you "owe" them.
The reward of compassion is gratitude - the welfare system destroys both.
I don't know if Ayn Rand served in soup kitchens - just like I don't know whether Bill Gates has. But both Rand's fictional hero and Gates contributed infinitely more to society in terms of the thousands of jobs and billions in wealth they added to society.
I'm much more impressed by those contributions, than someone ladling a few cups of soup on Thanksgiving (I admire that too, but it's not in the same league. By the way, guess why that person is ladling? Because it makes him feel good - rather selfish, don't you think?)
A propos our discussion, here's a very timely post about the evils of capitalism (your darwinian economics).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1783092/posts
I am.
It is.
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