Atlas Shrugged - the movies

[Spindrift]

Atlas Shrugged is being made into a series of movies. The first one is due out in April.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480239/

If a screenwriter can make a good screenplay out of the source material, he/she deserves not only an Oscar but a Nobel Prize.

I wonder if one of the movies will just be John Galt's monologue. I wonder how they will deal with that.

 

[Denver]

Sounds about as exciting as the Left Behind movie.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Sounds about as exciting as the Left Behind movie.

Hmmm. A franchise crossover could be a huge hit!

Except I'm pretty sure John Galt would more easily fit into the Antichrist role. Oh well, whatever brings in the audience. Alan Rickman, perhaps?

 

[Aepervius]

behind the Atlas ?
Left and shrugged ?

 

[Chris L]

Some books should really be left as books. I really can't see this as ending well at all. Either they'll botch the ideas and it will be a mess, or they'll get the ideas exactly right and it will be a mess. Outside of seeing Angelina Jolie in a rough sex scene or two, I'm not sure what the point of it might be.

 

[Aepervius]

Some books should really be left as books. I really can't see this as ending well at all. Either they'll botch the ideas and it will be a mess, or they'll get the ideas exactly right and it will be a mess. Outside of seeing Angelina Jolie in a rough sex scene or two, I'm not sure what the point of it might be.

Frankly even that would not be worth the entry. You can probably find look alike for cheaper to rent on soft core or hard core dvd (not that I would know...*whisttle onnocently*).

 

[drkitten]

Some books should really be left as books. I really can't see this as ending well at all. Either they'll botch the ideas and it will be a mess, or they'll get the ideas exactly right and it will be a mess. Outside of seeing Angelina Jolie in a rough sex scene or two, I'm not sure what the point of it might be.

Did they actually manage to put AJ in this destined-for-dog-status movie? What did they do, feed her agent roofies?

 

[stilicho]

Hmmm. A franchise crossover could be a huge hit!

Except I'm pretty sure John Galt would more easily fit into the Antichrist role. Oh well, whatever brings in the audience. Alan Rickman, perhaps?

I was thinking Michael Madsen and maybe let Mike Judge write the screenplay.

 

[dudalb]

Word circulating in the Film Business, where Atlas Shrugged has been a resident of Development Hell for Years.is this film was made on as small a budget as possible so the studio could keep the rights to the novel which otherwise they would lose..along with all the money they paid for the rights. The contract apparently had a "Drop dead "date where the rights reverted if a film was not made. The studio hopes this film will die quickly, be forgotten and another,more serious film version made later.
Think of the 1990 Fantastic Four film as a parrellel.
Just look at the resumes of the Director, Writer, and cast. This is not a serious attempt to film the novel. And it will probably turn out as well as the 1990 Fantastic Four film did.

 

[dudalb]

I have to repeat my favorite comment on Ayn Rand:

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

 

[Spindrift]

Word circulating in the Film Business, where Atlas Shrugged has been a resident of Development Hell for Years.is this film was made on as small a budget as possible so the studio could keep the rights to the novel which otherwise they would lose..along with all the money they paid for the rights. The contract apparently had a "Drop dead "date where the rights reverted if a film was not made. The studio hopes this film will die quickly, be forgotten and another,more serious film version made later.
Think of the 1990 Fantastic Four film as a parrellel.
Just look at the resumes of the Director, Writer, and cast. This is not a serious attempt to film the novel. And it will probably turn out as well as the 1990 Fantastic Four film did.

IMDB says they spent $15M on the film, less than Angelina's usual paycheck I think. Pretty much a no-name cast. A few character actors I've heard of though.

They might actually make some money off this though, they seem to be targeting the right audience. The trailer debuted at CPAC.

 

[joobz]

It lends itself well to Melodrama.
Perhaps Tyler Perry can direct it.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

IMDB says they spent $15M on the film, less than Angelina's usual paycheck I think. Pretty much a no-name cast. A few character actors I've heard of though.

They might actually make some money off this though, they seem to be targeting the right audience. The trailer debuted at CPAC.

I think the AJ thing was a joke. She's not listed in the credits. But you're right - these days $15M is nothing.

 

[technoextreme]

Some books should really be left as books. I really can't see this as ending well at all. Either they'll botch the ideas and it will be a mess, or they'll get the ideas exactly right and it will be a mess.

Actually someone got the ideas exactly right and it wasn't a mess. It was called Bioshock.

 

[Spindrift]

I think the AJ thing was a joke. She's not listed in the credits. But you're right - these days $15M is nothing.

At one point she was supposedly considered along with Charlize Theron, Maggie Gyllenhaald. And Brad Pitt was considered for John Galt.

Of course 'being considered' could just be PR BS.

 

[dudalb]

IMDB says they spent $15M on the film, less than Angelina's usual paycheck I think. Pretty much a no-name cast. A few character actors I've heard of though.

They might actually make some money off this though, they seem to be targeting the right audience. The trailer debuted at CPAC.

I wonder if Rand's militant atheism, a major strand in the novel, will vanish from the film so as not to offend the CPAC crowd. Of course that Omission would tick off the core Objectivist audience, so it might be a no win situation for the studio. There has always been a lot of tension between the traditional conservative movement and the Ayn Rand followers.

I still smell that the sudden reduction from a big budget film to a small budget movie (15 Mill ain't nothing nowdays) indicates a "use it or lose it" element is involved here.

 

[dudalb]

At one point she was supposedly considered along with Charlize Theron, Maggie Gyllenhaald. And Brad Pitt was considered for John Galt.

Of course 'being considered' could just be PR BS.

Atlas Shrugged has been in Development Hell for years,but no studio has been willing actually to pull the trigger on it.
I predict it will open in a few cities, flop badly, then straight to DVD.

 

[dudalb]

Did they actually manage to put AJ in this destined-for-dog-status movie? What did they do, feed her agent roofies?

No, the big budget Jolie/PItt version fell apart about a year ago. This is a main reason why the Show Biz rumors are this was a "make it and release it or lose the rights" film.

 

[Chris L]

I think the AJ thing was a joke. She's not listed in the credits. But you're right - these days $15M is nothing.

Shows you how much I've been paying attention to this thing. I heard the rumor about her and left it at that. I'm still not sure it is even worth spending $15M on, let alone a real budget.

 

[tomamitai]

Some books should really be left as books. I really can't see this as ending well at all. Either they'll botch the ideas and it will be a mess, or they'll get the ideas exactly right and it will be a mess. Outside of seeing Angelina Jolie in a rough sex scene or two, I'm not sure what the point of it might be.

That book should be left as a doorstop.