Just started reading it for the first time shortly after the election and got hung-up there for a while. What worked for me was to just take it a few pages at one sitting. I wonder, if John Gault were to make his speech today, how many listeners would have tuned out early?.
BTW, I want Ann Coulter to play Dagny!.
Anne would have the appropriate sympathies but probably not the acting skills. I think you would need a really fine actress to sell the role and the attitude (regardless of her political sympathies) like a Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslett, Jodie Foster, Emma Thompson, Nicole Kidman, or Marisa Tomei.
Don't remember Dagny's age so that would probably thin out the candidate list. Helen Mirren would have been my first choice if she were younger but too late for her now.