Posted on 07/26/2025 1:25:48 PM PDT by Publius
In her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand expounds her individualist philosophy by portraying a dystopian society in which titans of industry fight back against burdensome bureaucracy.
Though widely panned by critics, the book has remained a cult favorite of the libertarian Right. Paul Ryan, the former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, gave out copies to staff members as Christmas presents. Donald Trump, not widely known as a reader, has named Rand as his favorite author.
It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that an adaptation of Atlas Shrugged is among a handful of projects proposed by Founders Films, a new Right-wing production company aimed at restoring patriotism to Hollywood.
The planned venture, which is being pitched to potential investors, comes amid a broader shift to the Right across the US media industry as the return of Trumpian politics triggers a war on “woke”.
“Founders Films goes against everything that we know about Hollywood, which is that traditionally it is quite Left-liberal, it is quite compassionate, it is rarely associated with blood and thunder narratives,” says media analyst Alex DeGroote.
“It’s a real punch in the face for woke.”
Founders Films is being launched by a handful of figures linked to the Silicon Valley data giant Palantir, including chief technology officer Shyam Sankar, early employee Ryan Podolsky and investor Christian Garrett.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
The three “Atlas” movies of a decade ago were financed on a shoestring with the participants donating their talents in the hope that the movies would show a profit over time. To my knowledge the three movies never made a profit.
I had hoped that the partners would produce three seasons corresponding to the three parts of the book with each season consisting of roughly five episodes. It’s the only way to do justice to the book.
Then the partners shelved the project. The website showed “Atlas” as “S1E1,” which indicated it was a placeholder. It appeared they were having trouble lining up financing.
Founders Films (Dallas) has joined the partnership and is looking to line up additional partners to finance the project. They are planning on producing yet another three-part version like the movies of a decade ago.
Can they be any more successful?
Atlas ping.
Your suggestion of a three-season mini-series is a good one.
The three-movie production fell flat, especially the third one. (I know, I can’t imagine wring a screenplay for the third section myself, so who am I to judge?)
To fit into a three-movie format, the book had to be cut mercilessly.
“Everybody understands a slap in the face. Or a slug from a .45.”
—The Ghost of Humphrey Bogart to the Woody Allen character in Play It Again, Sam.
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
The Rev. Dr. Mike Tyson
Considering that I was co-author of Who is John Galt: A Navigational Guide to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, along with our own Billthedrill, I purchased the Final Draft software and turned the first part of the book into five one-hour scripts. Upon contacting Bonfire Legend, I was informed that they were going to handle all writing in-house. Fair enough. From a cost control standpoint, that made eminently good sense. I asked to be considered for a position on the production team. Then the project got shelved.
Now they are going to make the same mistake again. It's frustrating. Lessons not learned.
I have the 3 part series. First one was pretty good, 2nd much less so, 3rd much much less so to awful!*
Also if it’s to be redone it needs to be moved out 1950s technoloy - railroads to something people today can relate to. If the transportation motif is necessary to maintain then trucking maybe, airlines, auto industry, etc.
* I remember reading that Hollyweird put enormous pressure on actors, screenwriters, producers and distributors not to cooperate with the effort. Hollyweird ratcheted up the pressure for each volume. It went to very few movie houses.
“Mike Tyson turns out to be a really nice guy when you get to know him.”——The Hangover.
I liked your book!
I think you would have been a great asset to the team.
I liked the ones from a few years back, except the last one. Completely different cast, and left the impression of someone just throwing whatever together to get to the end.
The problem with the three movies is that they’re set in an alternative universe that branched off in 1957. Railroads are not going to return to their previous dominance.
Maybe if Dagny were running an airline it would work better.
Never saw that film so I can’t relate to the point you’re trying to make.
Just make a western if you want to make a film for conservative Americans
Too much internal dialog to make a good movie-
Too much of it is how the reader builds the views in their head.
Who plays Dagny?
My vote goes to a young Famke Janssen - But I get soundly voted down every time this comes up.
Ha. True, it was the best part of the Phil Collins song. Those hard drum hits. 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
Or Exxon. Eventually, Dagny runs out of gas to sell.
Fantastic book! Very prophetic, much like 1984. I recommend it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.