hahahahahaha Atlas Shrugged is being made into a movie! with Angelina Jolie! [EDIT: actually not anymore! oh well!]

Not so hot anymore?

I'd be the black sheep of this family so damn quick.

oh for fuck's sake

x-post

what

For some reason, this seems totally logical.

SHOCKED

directed by the director of the paris hilton sextape

FFS, really? Paranoia over the Kennedy assasination and being cranky about Nixon was almost universal for his and subsiquent generations. How was Natural Born Killers a far-left movie?

http://thumb2.shutterstock.com/photos3/thumb_small/10087/10087,1132560086,1.jpg

US view on rand seems to = omg this is serious philosophy!!!

but based on the number of people i know under 40 who call themselves libertarians, i won't be surprised if some form of libertarianism is the next big wave in american politics. it's what underlies a lot of the "western strategy" being considered by both parties right now. so a big rand revival could be in the offing.

enough undergraduates do to make it rather disturbing.

My high school loved the canon - two Shakespeares a year from 9th grade on, American novelists junior year (Hawthorne, Gatsby, et al.), European and 20th Century world senior year (Kafka, Dostoyevsky, Camus, et al. plus Milton and Dante). I can't imagine any of my teachers handing out Rand with a straight face (or finding time to teach a 1000-page novel).

xp - I knew a gay, Mormon Randroid. He moved to Manhattan a year ago, so he could be part of the Chelsea boy crew Morbs speaks of.

Atlas!

yeah the few rand fans i knew in high school and college all came to her via 2112.

-- A-ron Hubbard (Hurtingchie...), October 19th, 2006.

Not very extreme of her.

-- Laurel (sininspac...), October 19th, 2006.

Well, she got all set to do it but then called her brother to have him come "say goodbye." Obviously the brother realized what was going on and stopped it and she was briefly checked in to an institution, as she was on a few other occasions.

In my college freshman-year facebook (circa 1991) The Fountainhead was the most popular "favorite book" behind the Bible. I don't think the academy takes it, or any pop-dogma type book that seriously, but people sure seem to.

as far as i know that's already happening. there's a lot of suburban youths of voting age who are disconnected from the rest of society (or at least any social diversity one might find living in stripmall subdivisions that tend to homogenize class and race) that feel like their taxes are wasted on programs they don't have any use for, and they're burdened by RESTRICTIVE LAWS against drugs and guns and helmets. combine this (what i guess you could call a randian sense of independence) with an already growing athiest sentiment that severs any potential affiliation with the republican right, as well as a contempt for what they see as a "bullshit two party system," and the libertarians emerge as the new conservative party for an upper-middle class 18-25 generation further from the working poor than ever.

x-post

(xx-post)

The Atlasphere: Ayn Rand Dating & Networking

OTM. I've a few objectivist friends and in each of their cases they were already predisposed to a high degree of self-centeredness and isolation. Sara has done this frightening self-indoctrination thing where she's read Atlas & Fountainhead twice a year for the last 8 years.

Her political philosophy is "as long as the government let's me close the door to my house and leaves me the fuck alone, I don't care what else it does (to you or anyone else)."

My fave philosophy prof who pointed out that trying to focus on selfishness and asshole self-centeredness as a means to actually develop a self tends to result in hilarious failure. "Selfishness is not selfish enough" or some such.

I see this as fairly otm. I'm in the buckle of the Bible Belt, and I just don't see that many politically engaged, under 25, right wing Christians these days. Perhaps it will come with age?

True: all we do see is decline in participation at the polls.

It's a remarkably libertarian sentiment, I think.

oh dear Lord. Would this be less toxic or even more toxic than those "Conservative T-shirts!@!!1" pop-ups?

Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler
Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler
Villians design a sound-wave machine that can make things explode, which is tested on a goat in a public ceremony.
End Spoiler End Spoiler
End Spoiler End Spoiler

I remember the novel having some entertaining set pieces, and the Epic cinema prose which praises American landscapes and industrial machinary is effectively visceral in doses. The most ineresting thing about it though is the fact that the villians are all defined as passive-aggressive types who used their emotions to manipulate people. This aspect, if adapted correctly may resonate massively with the emo backlash in the culture.

i love "sewer, gas, and electric." it starts out with a parody of the first scene of atlas shrugged. but everything's better when you add a mutant flying shark.

Then I moved on to James Joyce and the Pogues or something, I forget.

I never went through a "Rand phase" because I read Anthem at age 14 and thought it was a poorly written, melodramatic pile of BS. (But I won 30 bucks from the Ayn Rand Institute for the essay I wrote about it.)

(x-post)

Yeah, I can't imagine any 15 year old reading anything from Marx except the Communist Maniphesto.

Now that's how Rand makes in-roads in education. Every English class from seventh grade on had a poster for their essay contest. I never could bring myself to enter.

(I never had a Rand phase - I had an Orwell/Hemingway/pine-for-the-glorious-Spanish Republic phase. I call that phase "my teenage years.")

And Nietzsche had plenty of problem, mainly involving women. Either in his take on them("Everything Nietzsche ever knew about women was second-hand and third-rate" -Walter Kaufman) or his nutzoid sister who shacked up with a proto-nazi husband and put out a random blather of N's notes and called it "Will to Power."

I don't remember Marxist boy's opinion on Kant, but I know he's read him and a ton of other philosophers. (He and another friend of mine are in a Facebook group called "Let the General Will Be Sovereign" where argue about Rousseau.)

-- Eppy (epp...) (webmail), Today 5:47 PM. (Eppy) (link)

EH?

I've only read half of Twilight of the Idols and am in the process of reading Thus Spoke Zarathustra but I wouldn't call him a political philosopher. He seems like more of a moral philosopher determined to tear down rationalist and Christian tradition

Rush and Joy Division dude!

-- Zwan (anthonyisrigh...), October 19th, 2006.

U&K.

(I have a friend who was required to read Anthem in hs FWIW. It is only since coming to the US that I've realized people actually think of AR as a serious philosopher on par with Nietzsche [whom I've never read]. Not to say it doesn't happen in Canada, just I never really noticed it so much. [I don't really think Peart did before anyone gets to that.] She's not without her merits, as extracurricular high school reading goes. Can't have been that much worse than Brave New World.)

ha, i know what you mean, but yeah, that's unfair. lars is a humanist. he just doesn't like people very much. but dogville is really kind of an anti-anthem.

Re: LOWENDBRO & "mutally exclusivism," Nietzsche & Marxism can coexist quite easily if you follow the literature into the Nietzsche-influenced post-Marxists like Louis Althusser & Alain Badiou (the fucking MAN).

http://common.swankmp.com/movie_titles/images/incredibles.jpg

I bet this film totally blows, but in a non-entertaining manner. Rand was a crashing bore.

They should make a film based on that steve ditko objectivist superhero comic - Mr A, was it? That would be hilarious.

Also, it must be noted that Rand's influence is far more keenly felt on the Internet than it is IRL. Randians do love to post on message boards and blog threads.

zaxxon25, I totally agree with you. The Incredibles creaped me out.

WHY DOES OUR SOCIETY CRUSH EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE?!?! OMG, THERE'S NO WHERE FOR PEOPLE WITH TALLENT AND WILL TO GO. DAMN THE COMMON HERD! DAMN THE SOCIALISTS RUNNING THIS COUNTRY!

Why do so many people identify with this movie?

I find the idea that these books are thrilling far more ridiculous than that they have anything in common with Nietzsche.

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/102306/ayn-rand.gif

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117971319.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Vadim Perelman to direct 'Atlas'
Jolie to star in Lionsgate's Ayn Rand adaptation
By MICHAEL FLEMING

Lionsgate has brought on Vadim Perelman to rewrite "Atlas Shrugged" and direct Angelina Jolie in the starring role.

While Lionsgate needs to get a final script before formally committing to a start date with Perelman at the helm, the move puts the company in a strong position for an early 2008 production start, just a shade over 50 years after Ayn Rand's famed novel was first published in 1957.

Pic will be produced by Howard and Karen Baldwin and Media Talent Group's Geyer Kosinski.

Perelman will work from a draft of the script penned by "Braveheart" scribe Randall Wallace, who managed to boil down the Rand manifesto of 1,100-plus pages into a 127-page script. The drama revolves around what happens when great industrialists and thinkers go on strike and the world grinds to a halt.

Wallace will remain involved, and in a recent meeting with Perelman, the pair traded Russian dialogue. Perelman was born in Kiev, while Wallace has picked up the language researching his Catherine the Great pic "The Mercenary"; Rand was born in Russia. Perelman has brought his own take that will be incorporated into Wallace's script.

Perelman's latest film, the Uma Thurman-Evan Rachel Wood starrer "In Bloom," premieres at the Toronto Film Festival. It's his first since his 2003 breakthrough, "House of Sand and Fog."

Jolie starts work in early fall on the Clint Eastwood-directed "The Changeling" for Universal, Imagine and Malpaso. She would like to follow with "Atlas Shrugged," long a passion project for her.

this is madness. i haven't read it, just the wiki entry, but it sounds no less insane than that l ron hubbard book john travolta did.

"this is why i make the blockbusters," said jolie, "so that i can do important work like this"

actually she didn't say that but i bet that's what she thinks

she's also doing that daniel pearl movie with the awful title

more like "Atlas Sucked" amirite?

Yeah, I can't wait until she finishes doing that movie that came out two months ago.

not out in uk yet

we're counting the hours

As you should be.

I can't wait for this! The thing I love about Atlas Shrugged is that it's so over-the-top and ridiculous. Therefore the movie will be hilarious and awesome.

Something bothers me about this sentence: "Perelman's latest film, the Uma Thurman-Evan Rachel Wood starrer "In Bloom," premieres at the Toronto Film Festival." That something is the phrase "the Uma Thurman-Evan Rachel Wood starrer." How hard is it to use real words?

well you know, it's Variety

"I was fascinated by Rand's Hitler's book. It was original and provocative," Wallace told Daily Variety.

i love var-speak

yes, maria! that sent. bothered me so much i didn't read teh rest of the article.

lol varnacular
xpost

I thought Angelina wanted to help the world :(

in her own special Randian way.

do you prefer "vehicle" to "starrer"? That just makes me think of a limo.

She needs a limo to pack as many Darfur orphans as possible.

"this is why i make the blockbusters," said jolie

Maybe I need to look at her filmography again but she hasn't had many blockbusters. I mean, outside of the Tomb Raider films and Mr and Mrs. Smith she's had a lot of bombs. Even "Mr. and Mrs." was driven largely by her celebrity as a celebrity, not her reputation for being a box office queen. The fact she's used the tabloids nearly as much as Paris Hilton has to be build her career is something nobody really looks at.

she has never ever been in a good movie ever and she sucks

The fact she's used the tabloids nearly as much as Paris Hilton has to be build her career is something nobody really looks at.

they're too busy looking at other things

she has never ever been in a good movie ever and she sucks

otm

guys lol point: in my pr class yesterday we were talking about industry jargon, etc. in trade publications vs. press releases. the prime example of crazy jargon used: variety. :P

Lionsgate has brought on Noam Chomsky to rewrite "Atlas Shrugged" and direct Angelina Jolie in the starring role.

http://www.riskybusinessblog.com/2009/07/with-charlize-atlas-is-no-longer-shrugging.html

'Atlas' may no longer be shrugging

By Steven Zeitchik

Char The 37-year effort to bring "Atlas Shrugged" to the screen is finally gaining momentum.

Sort of.

Oscar winner Charlize Theron has been meeting during the past several months with Lionsgate and producers Howard and Karen Baldwin, who are developing the project's latest iteration, about starring as main character Dagny Taggart.

Theron has been eager to play the role but has been concerned that a feature would lose many of the nuances of the monster-sized novel. So the Rand adaptation would, under a plan she and producers discussed, be turned into a miniseries for Epix, the pay-cable network Lionsgate is forming with MGM and Viacom/Paramount.

The project, according to this plan, would be to make the mini one of the fledgling network’s programming linchpins. While insiders are not ruling out the possibility of releasing a condensed version to theaters, the main thrust would be the network, where the mini could be used to lure the book’s legion of fans to subscribe.

Theron, who recently signed with WME after years without an agent, has a history of embracing difficult roles. She took the role of a prostitute-turned-killer in “Monster,” which won her an Oscar. She’s also had parts in the sexual-harassment drama “North Country” and the upcoming apocalyptic tale “The Road.”

But her involvement remained uncertain at press time.

While those familiar with the discussions say she has been driving the development process, her reps say that she has recently come to a decision but has not yet informed the studio or producers. WME and longtime manager J.J. Harris told THR late Monday that Theron "is not moving forward with the project."

The uncertainty surrounding Theron's involvement continues a long tradition of murkiness for “Atlas Shrugged,” the project with more go-rounds than Ayn Rand’s book has pages.

Regarded as a difficult book to film, an “Atlas” project nonetheless has been tried by countless producers, dating back to an attempted effort with writer-producer Albert Ruddy in 1972 (he and Rand couldn't see eye-to-eye on creative issues).

Most recently, the Baldwins and Philip Anschutz tried at Crusader Entertainment and the Baldwins, who produced “Ray” and other well-regarded pics, took it with them when they split from Anschutz.

Angelina Jolie had been loosely attached to the material with the Baldwins but has a number of projects that could go first, and producers are keen to shoot “Atlas” next year. That’s in part because of the timeliness of the material but, more important, because an option with the Rand estate expires if principal photography does not begin in 2010.

With Theron's involvement, it could finally get a boost, especially since financiers also have come aboard; a high net-worth individual is said to find the themes resonant is said to be close to investing in the project. If Theron’s involvement falls through, Lionsgate and producers could bring on another lead, with several other well-known actresses expressing interest.

A 1,000-page novel filled with Rand’s ideas about the future of Western civilization, “Atlas” centers on Taggart, a railroad executive trying to keep her corporation competitive in a world she sees as hostile to innovation. Among its most famous passages is a 50-page speech from mysterious character John Galt, regarded as a veiled expression of Rand’s own ideas.

The book, which has sold tens of millions of copies since being published in 1957, has gained new traction in this era of Wall Street bailouts and corporate responsibility. Those opposed to Washington intervention have frequently cited it as a cautionary manifesto.

Producers own several drafts of the script adapting the difficult material, including one by “Braveheart” scribe Randall Wallace, which compressed the longer, more miniseries-friendly version by James Hart. It’s possible that several drafts could be synthesized to create the basis for a mini.

Although the miniseries idea is a new twist for Lionsgate, it has been considered before for “Atlas,” most recently as a development project a decade ago at TNT. Rand, who died in 1982, had favored television over film, thinking the medium would give her ideas more room to breathe.

Epix was created in part as an output pipeline for the films of the three studios but also is developing original programming. This year, it announced it was developing the pilot “Tough Trade,” a country music-set drama from “Weeds” creator Jenji Kohan.

Still, there are business obstacles for Epix, which has no carriage deals with cable or satellite operators. Some Wall Street analysts wonder how a network might be launched in a climate of consolidation — and one in which HBO, Starz and Showtime are competing for pay-cable subscribers.

But insiders hope the fact that there’s now another outlet for premium programming — and a climate favorable to prestige longform projects on the small screen — could ensure Hollywood finally is shrugging no more.

Maybe.

Oh boy:

For almost two decades, Hollywood has tried unsuccessfully to turn Ayn Rand’s 1100 page classic Atlas Shrugged into a feature film with actresses ranging from Angelina Jolie to Charlize Theron to Faye Dunaway. John Aglialoro, the entrepreneur who 17 years ago paid $1 million to option the book rights, is tired of the futility and is taking matters into his own hands. He’s announced that he is financing a June 11 production start in Los Angeles for the first of what he said will be four films made from the book.

Aglialoro, who had a hand in writing the script by Brian O’Tool, is taking on this ambitious plan with an unproven director, and is weeks away from production without stars to play Dagny Taggart, Hank Rearden, John Galt and the other roles. He's moving forward despite the conventional wisdom that without stars, it could ultimately be the audience that shrugged.

Aglialoro, CEO of exercise equipment manufacturer Cybex International and UM Holdings, would hardly be the only entrepreneur who uses his resources to make a picture happen, one in which he took on a creative role. David Ellison, son of Oracle's Larry Ellison, made a co-financing deal with Paramount, and one of the first projects from his Skydance slate is the aviation thriller Northern Lights, which casts him as co-star. Dan Pritzker, the billionaire son of Hyatt Hotels chain magnate Jay Pritzker, financed and directed a pair of jazz films: Bolden stars The Hurt Locker's Anthony Mackie as pioneering horn player Buddy Bolden; Louis is an honest to goodness silent film--with dialogue title cards and musical accompaniment--about the childhood of Louis Armstrong. Pritzker is working on a plan to show the latter in venues with a live orchestra. I saw the silent film and thought it was well made, but I have doubts Pritzker will sway the business from its 80 year infatuation with "talkies."

Atlas Shrugged will be directed by Stephen Polk, an actor/producer whose father, Louis Polk, was once MGM chairman. He considers Atlas Shrugged to be his feature directing debut, though Polk acknowledges he stepped in and helmed the 2008 indie Baggage. Aglialoro was unavailable to speak directly, but sent a missive indicating that he’s courting actresses like Theron and Maggie Gyllenhaal to play Taggart. Sources in the camps of both actresses were aware of the project, but neither is planning to go to work on Atlas Shrugged next month.

Polk said they are not intimidated to film a storied book even if stars don't align. “For more than 15 years, this has been at studios and there has been a whole dance around who’ll play the iconic roles,” Polk said. “Making it an independent film was the game-changer. Everybody is saying, how can you shoot this movie without a star? We’re shooting it because it’s a good movie with great characters. We've been in pre-production for months, but kept it a mystery. Part of the reason is because there’s so much crap about how you need a great big budget and stars. We aren’t looking for big names to trigger press or financing.”

Polk said that the idea of cutting through the bureaucracy and just getting started is consistent with the book's themes of capitalism and taking entrepreneurial risk. The story centers around Taggart, a railroad executive trying to keep her business on a growth track despite her feeling that innovators in hers and other industries have stopped innovating, which is causing society to crumble.

...four films. Great.

uh

even as the board's resident "Rand's work isn't as terrible as you guys say it is" poster, this entire project seems like the worst fucking idea possible

Part of the reason is because there’s so much crap about how you need a great big budget and stars. We aren’t looking for big names to trigger press or financing.

Wait, based on this, the perfect solution!

Ladies and gentlemen, Atlas Shrugged directed by...

Tommy Wiseau.

I just keep thinking Atlas Shrugged: First Sequence and... no

"The human railroad! Ha ha ha...ha...ha ha!"

Actually this whole thing does seem like the perfect project for Kirk Cameron.

Tommy Wiseau version of Atlas Shrugged would blow my mind

oh hai parasites

script by Brian O’Tool

the producers should just have a casting auction. that'd be kind of a beautiful free-market method for selecting taggart. they could start the bidding at $50 million and interested agents could just keep working it down until they get tara reid to sign on.

I would watch a movie version of Atlas Shrugged with Victoria Jackson in the role of Dagny Taggart.

Hahah I was thinking of her earlier as a possible lead.

gotta get my hands on that script

i don't think free-market would work. after all, some terrible architect could surely have bargained a cheaper cost than Roarke did in Fountainhead, but Rand clearly believes there is such a thing as aesthetic/art value.

Happy to see that there are others who were as creeped out by the Incredibles as I was. It did seem pretty Randian. Actually, the super-hero genre lends itself pretty easily to Randian themes.

The basic idea that there exists a select class of exceptional people who are essential to the welfare of the stupid, ungrateful lower classes has probably been around since the first human realized that there is an "I" and a "you".

They made the designer/architect in The Incredibles look like a goblin, if that's any consolation.

*shrug*

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118020578.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

The long-brewing feature version of author Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" has begun shooting in Los Angeles as a $5 million indie produced by John Aglialoro and Harmon Kaslow.

Cameras began rolling over the weekend on a five-week shoot for "Atlas Shrugged Part One" with Paul Johansson directing from Brian Patrick O'Toole's script. Aglialoro would have lost the feature rights if the film wasn't in production by Saturday.

A spokesman for Aglialoro -- the CEO of exercise equipment producer Cybex -- said there will be at least one more "Atlas Shrugged" shot after the current film's completed. Rand's massive novel is divided into three parts, each consisting of 10 chapters.

"Atlas," published in 1957, takes place in a dystopian version of the U.S. in which society has collapsed as the government gains increasing controlover industry. The decline occurs while the most productive citizens, led by John Galt, begin vanishing.

Johansson ("One Tree Hill") portrays Galt. The lead role of railroad executive Dagny Taggart has gone to Taylor Schilling ("Mercy) and the part of Henry Reardon is being played by Grant Bowler ("Ugly Betty").

Michael Lerner ("A Serious Man") portrays lobbyist Wesley Mouch and director Nick Cassavetes has signed on for the Richard McNamara role. Other key cast include Matthew Marsdan as James Taggart and Graham Beckel as Ellis Wyatt.

"Atlas" also stars Edi Gathegi, Jsu Garcia, Rebecca Wisocky, Ethan Cohn, Patrick Fischer, Neill Barry, Christina Pickles and Nikki Klecha.

There have been unsuccessful attempts to bring "Atlas Shrugged" to the bigscreen and TV dating back to the 1970s.

In 2007, Angelina Jolie was to star in a Lionsgate version, with Vadim Perelman directing and rewriting "Atlas Shrugged" from a script penned by Randall Wallace. Husband-and-wife team Howard and Karen Baldwin and Media Talent Group's Geyer Kosinski were set to produce.

Aglialoro would have lost the feature rights if the film wasn't in production by Saturday.

this stinks of a placeholder movie to retain the rights, kind of like Roger Corman's unreleased Fantastic Four flick.

this stinks of a potential all-time classic!

love to see this book getting the motion picture it deserves; can't wait to see it.

Too bad Oliver Stone isn't directing. I smell direct to DVD.

only way I'll see this is if it's a black and white silent film that opens with a muscular dude holding a globe over his head, shrugging, then watching it slip out of his hands and smash into a million pieces upon hitting the ground. Roll credits over ragtime music.

This really, really, really brings the LOLs. If I didn't already know, I'd assume it was a parody. May it do for libertarianism what that David Zucker POS did for conservatives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W07bFa4TzM

I mean you've got a couple of Coen Bros alums, a dude from the cast of LOST, the drug dealer dude from Gone Baby Gone, that dude with the eyebrows . . . the sugar daddy behind this must have offered some juicy paydays, because this looks fucking ridiculous.

lolz. jesus christ. part 1!

Haha the dude playing John Galt is also the director!! You might know him from TV's One Tree Hill!

http://www.cwtv.com/images/c/0000/cw-onetreehill-prt-PJohansson-a_000672-c13f7b-325x434.jpg

taxes on a train

Thing was, I thought these modern types of libertarian/conservative whatevers hated high speed rail...

OMG it is Harry "Weasel" Weisel from Newsies!

they are not getting my metal!

This is straight-to-video, right?

Possible tagline: "Who is Alan Smithee?"

was gonna put the stars on my boycott list until i realised i'd never heard of any of them

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_is_Weasel_in_the_movie_the_Newsies

I recognize the one guy from Mad Men/Lost (the interviewer?), but it's mostly a parade of unfamiliar faces. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was probably a Canadian production.

OMG it is Harry "Weasel" Weisel from Newsies!

― Peter Pepsi (Abbbottt), Friday, February 11, 2011 6:50 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i love u.

Holy shit, it's the diner guy from Mulholland Drive!

God I couldnt even finish watching that!

armin shimmerman!

laughed hard at the "PART 1" reveal.

Holy shit, it's the diner guy from Mulholland Drive!

― muus lääv? :D muus dut :( (Telephone thing), Saturday, February 12, 2011 12:38 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

makes sense that he'd be afraid of a homeless person

Aww now we cant make "Who is John Salt" jokes.

this is totally gonna be one of those things that cost $5 Hollywood to make and then pulls in like ten trillion dollars because it has a pre-built fanbase without a lot of discernment.

(i say that as a fan of new moon)

and then all the thinkpieces about how the mysterious power of ayn rand's work helped the one tree hill guy prove there can be "a different kind of blockbuster"

"it was a deeply personal project," hill says

actor quotes equally divided between True Believers and people who won't say anything more than "i find [my part] a really fascinating character"

"this year, we all know who john galt is."

any excuse to post this is a good one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzPDEirVTZk

I love the reveal

"what are you going to call this new company?"
"the john galt something"

what the fuck does that even mean. but I can imagine some randian getting really, really excited by that scene. oooh she's gonna stick it to the government!!

will this be imax 3D

opening Tax Day, get it?

why not labor day

Rich arseholes discussing tax loopholes + flashy shots of trains + epic thunderous music. Enticing.

This really must be the most poorly timed film about petulant CEOs ever.

i gotta say, as bad as this will be, it does have a lot of awesome character actors in it

i have no idea what its about though... some people are... angry about trains? idk

This summer... Some people... Are ANGRY... ABOUT TRAINS

It's part 1 of 3 - the entirety of part 2 will be The Big Speech. Filmed in a single take a la Wavelength.

Considering the lack of a major distributor - the only company on the film's website is something called "The Strike" - I'd be impressed if this even makes Kirk Cameron Jesus Film money.

Yeah as someone who's never read a speck of Rand that trailer left me pretty confused.

IM SENDING IN MORE TRAINS.

haha from the site:

We're hard at work producing downloadable assets and putting the finishing touches on the Official Atlas Shrugged Movie web site, mobile applications, posters, banners and more. While we draw nearer to completion, the best way to get involved immediately is to link to us if you've got a web site or blog, follow us on twitter, visit with us on facebook, digg us, signup for our newsletter, and of course, spread the word by telling your friends.

two months before the release date - IT'S A RACE AGAINST TIME!!!!!

http://twitpic.com/3yqh7e

A+ promo campaign, guys

i just not so literally spit my drink out @ the screen

i lol'd loud'ly

This audio interview with Godfather producer Al Ruddy, about visiting Ayn Rand and trying to seal the deal on movie rights, is hilarious.

@empty00eyesgmail Indeed. The violent opposition is quite telling. Normally, people simply ignore things they don't like. But Atlas Shrugged causes stratospheric levels of hatred.

And they can't simply politely disagree either. Most of the time its bile-filled invective couched in the most utterly venomous terms.

I think this shows how significant the novel is. Good, bad, right or wrong is irrelevant; the book holds a prominent place in many political-ethical narratives.

studiodekadent 33 minutes ago

LOL digby:

. . . we are supposed to root for the two most hottest hotties making super charged love on a fast moving train full of money. That's what Atlas Shrugged is really all about. They should have hired the people who wrote the Twilight series to really do it justice.

And I just can't buleeeve that Brad Pitt didn't fight for the role of a lifetime. Or anyone recognizable for that matter. What, Gary Sinese and Kelsey Grammer had scheduling difficulties? And I think Angie Harmon would have been fine as the toothsome Dagny if she could be spared from her obscure cable TV series. I guess the Hollywood liberal conspiracy runs so deep that they couldn't even hire the handful of quasi-famous C-list conservative celebrities for the most important wingnut movie of all time. Sad.

oh this looks great. part one of ten thousand, hopefully.

"this year, we all know who john galt is."

likely candidates:

• steve urkel
• the hamburglar
• helena bonham carter
• the most interesting man in the world (dos equis)

lolling imo!!!

it's probably Marlon Brando tbh

i'd say dom deluise, but i think he's dead.

maybe dom deluise's son! he's the shlubby dad on some disney show iirc.

spoiler: john galt is john galt

john galt is justin bieber

Dom DeLuise's son is the shlubby dad on Witches of Waverly Place!

It's pretty bad.

this has syndicated cable show production vibes

or maybe syfy original series

lol @syfy orgi

err orig

hah!

i like how the trailer overuses the "CHUNNNGGG" sound effect

lol @ 1:20

"maybe u should let me exp-"
"MAYBE U SHOULD LET ME FINISH SPEAKING"
*loud timpani hits*

taxes on a train

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Friday, February 11, 2011 3:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

I'M TIRED OF THESE MOTHERFUCKING TAXES ON THIS MOTHERFUCKING TRAIN!

armin shimmerman!

― difficult listening hour, Saturday, February 12, 2011 12:44 AM (19 hours ago) Bookmark

YES

Dom DeLuise's son is the shlubby dad on Witches of Waverly Place!

haha

I haven't read this (couldn't get past the first few agonizing pages), but is there anything keeping them from changing it to airplanes or space travel (a beanstalk etc)? I mean, railroads? Steel? Set in modern day?

shoulda been light rail obv

Conservatives queue up for peek at 'Atlas Shrugged' at CPAC

Perhaps you should elbow your way into the standing-room-only conference room on the mezzanine level, where herds of eager viewers are preparing to watch a sneak preview of a selection of scenes from the long-awaited movie adaptation of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."

Because inasmuch as the audience is made up of a group of people who have organized their entire belief system around a novel, this screening ultimately amounts to the equivalent of a Harry Potter screening at Comic-Con.

"I heard Angelina Jolie was going to star," whispers one attendee to his seatmate who, like the whisperer, is wearing the accepted fan uniform of a business suit tempered with funky glasses and modified mutton chops. (Mutton chops = IN for conservatives! FreedomWorks founder Matt Kibbe has them; so does Myron Magnet). "Did you hear that?" His friend did not hear that.

The movie does not star Angelina Jolie, nor does it star Farrah Fawcett, Charlize Theron or Maggie Gyllenhaal, all of whom were, through decades of aborted adaptation attempts, rumored to be affiliated with various "Atlas Shrugged" projects.

It does star Taylor Schilling, who appeared in NBC's now-cancelled "Mercy," and Edi Gathegi, best known for appearing as a vampire in "Twilight" and one scene of its sequel, "New Moon," until his character was ripped apart by giant animatronic werewolves.

The film has not yet been picked up for distribution.

The film has not yet been picked up for distribution.

lol

hahah ok i just watched this trailer hahahahah

hahahahhahah

hahahahahah

MAYBE U SHOULD LET ME FINISH SPEAKING

viva la capitalist revolucion

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2011/jan/31/usdomesticpolicy-ayn-rand-hypocrite-fraud, btw

MAYBE U SHOULD LET ME FINISH SPEAKING

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, February 12, 2011 10:12 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

i love that this is so played up

also

'how deep is the ocean

how high is the sky

................................whoisjohngalt'

i also love that its not 'ayn rand's classic novel' but v deliberately 'ayn rand's best-selling novel'

this summer
break
THE JOHN GALT CODE

maybe this summer kids will spraypaint "JOHN GALT LIVES" on freeway overpasses across america.

or maybe "JOHN GALT LIVES BUT REFUSES TO LEND HIS INDUSTRIAL GENIUS TO THE OPPRESSIVE ENGINE OF MEDIOCRITY THAT CONTROLS OUR GOV'T."

that's catchier.

Twitpic linked earlier is so terribly appropriate - it looks like something an angry 14-year old carves into his or her desk when the cool kids are mean.

but is there anything keeping them from changing it to airplanes or space travel (a beanstalk etc)? I mean, railroads? Steel? Set in modern day?

aggressive and slavish fanbases FTL

they should double-down and make it about the horse-and-buggywhip industry.

how did i never know until now that angelina jolie is the daughter of jon voight?

i have no idea! that's a crazy thing to not know, unless you're a sherpa in the himalayas

she just adopted a sherpa so even they know now

they should double-down and make it about the horse-and-buggywhip industry.

That should be the new trend in Hollywood: instead of "updating" old classics we take recent hits and put them in the time machine, make a cheap profit

"What we're pitching here is the 'The Hangover' but set in ancient Greece. Bradley Cooper wakes up from a Dionysian orgy to notice that his slaves are free and some Persian bandits raped his wife! Now he's gotta figure out what happened the night before!"

would make so much $$$

how did i never know until now that angelina jolie is the daughter of john galt?

Who's John Voight?

john voight is john galt.

dumbass conservative american actor xp

'how deep is the ocean

how high is the sky

................................whoisjohngalt'

lol

John Voight is the guy who previously owned George Costanza's car.

jon voight was really good as milo minderbinder and well i guess we found out why.

ayn rand was fn paranoid

also dagney taggart is such a pain in the arse

i mean

dagney

really

also lol does anyone remember the first scene of this book, sounds like a who's afraid of the dark intro

man the buzz on this thing is volcanic. here's the ad for the training seminar:

http://www.moviepostr.com/img/movie/1255/atlas-shrugged-part-i-8538-poster-large.jpeg

the buzz should be called... atlas plugged

Why is Armin Shimmerman in this? I thought he was a big pro-union guy.

He was also in "Delgo"...dude knows how to pick a movie.

QUAAAAAARRRRK!

Looks like a fucking Global Village modem icon from like 1993.

shd we change thread title to "without Angelina Jolie"?

pg-13 FOR SOME SEXUALITY

that is some sexuality, bro

shd we change thread title to "without Angelina Jolie"?

I tried something else instead.

I'm just going to assume that every part will be played by Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox in a surprise tour de force performance.

Ebert review

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110414/REVIEWS/110419990

The dialogue seems to have been ripped throbbing with passion from the pages of Investors’ Business Daily. Much of the excitement centers on the tensile strength of steel.

living up to expectations imo

"rumpy-pumpy" is my favorite.

I don't know if it's Ebert or just that it's Atlas Shrugged that made me giggle all the way through that review

Also: this movie is Part 1? O_o

this whole section = lol

The movie is constructed of a few kinds of scenes: (1) People sipping their drinks in clubby surroundings and exchanging dialogue that sounds like corporate lingo; (2) railroads, and lots of ’em; (3) limousines driving through cities in ruin and arriving at ornate buildings; (4) city skylines; (5) the beauties of Colorado. There is also a love scene, which is shown not merely from the waist up but from the ears up. The man keeps his shirt on. This may be disappointing for libertarians, who I believe enjoy rumpy-pumpy as much as anyone.

never change, Rog

i wonder which unlikely pleasures armond will find in this flick

"This is what 'Mad Men' should have been!"

0% on RT so far

Went to see this in hopes it would be fun to review. Haven't written review yet, but jeeeeezus the movie is awful, awful, awful. Ebert is otm.

I went to a Friday matinee which was maybe half-full, obviously mostly Rand fans (and mostly geezers, of the Fox News variety). They applauded at the end, but didn't seem like their heart was in it. They did enjoy hissing when the snaky, sniveling union guy showed up.

Roy Edroso's review is pretty funny, too:

Taggart and Rearden are supposed to be important and accomplished producers of wealth, but we never see them doing anything productive. Rearden smiles as he watches steel poured in his foundry, and Taggart walks around purposefully with folders, but neither is shown engaged in actual work. In fact the filmmakers seem to go out of their way to avoid showing it: At one point Taggart appears outdoors at a worksite, and Rearden compliments her on her easy manner with the workers, but we never see Taggart actually interacting with them.

It's as if the filmmakers couldn't imagine such a thing (nor can I: "Hello, factotum, your brute strength is useful to my enterprise, keep up the good work!"). In fact, it's as if they thought that the sight of either character doing anything like what real executives do would spoil the effect. Because executives make deals, and Taggart and Rearden can't deal with anyone but each other; the only thing like negotiation they perform is their own meet-cute, in which haggling over price becomes a romantic pas des deux. Everyone else they encounter, besides subordinates, is unworthy of their efforts, and thus can only be browbeaten or belittled.

Consistent though this may be with Objectivist mythology -- noble producers standing among, but not of, ignoble looters -- it destroys any opportunity for actual drama. Atlas Shrugged has several villains, yet none of them is allowed to effectively challenge Ragny Dearden. The union boss and the government factotum are wusses who are easily glowered down; the director of the State Science Institute -- "the last science center on earth," we are informed, all the others having presumably been turned into global warming propaganda centers -- only appears to tell us how pathetic he is; and the D.C. players never even get to meet Tagny Raggart. It's like a version of The Dark Knight in which the Joker says "I don't understand you, Batman," and Batman says, "I don't think you'll ever understand, Joker," and the Joker slouches off to get drunk at the Ebbitt Grill while Batman smiles at his glistening Batmobile.

It's terribly made and acted, which I'm sure Randians will use as their excuse for why it bombs, but also putting her ideas on screen really shows how weird they are. It's like this bizarro-world movie, where you're supposed to understand that people who call other people "selfish" are bad, and the guy who's mean to his wife and says he's only out to make a shit-ton of money is supposed to be a hero.

(3) limousines driving through cities in ruin and arriving at ornate buildings; (4) city skylines; (5) the beauties of Colorado.

this could also describe big chunks of Cremaster

the D.C. players never even get to meet Tagny Raggart.

Ned's long-lost cousin.

Argh.

Can we change your name to Nerd Raggart?

wait NEDNY RAGGART

tagned

Hee hee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8MVFoiw-dw

Haha, the union rep.

oh fuck this movie to hell.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/atlas-shrugged-part-i,54675/

is dagny against contractions too

Contractions are for lazy people who are not willing to work hard enough to say words.

Debuted at #14 on the box office with $1.67 million at 500 screens. Which is definitely better than I Can Hope They Serve Beer In Hell as far "word of mouth" indie releases based on infamous books go.

Though it didn't get as much love as that Robin Wright movie about the Lincoln assassination

It'll be just enough to cover justifying the direct-to-Netflix sequels.

Remembering their website, I'm actually impressed they got this thing in 500 screens

Studios have been trying for decades to get the rights to this--doesn't bode well for a future Catcher in the Rye.

If they can get Carrie Underwood playing a kindly counselor to a munched-leg surfer into theaters, anything goes.

reactions from fans linked to on the movie's twitter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWNn_y8z9zU

I thought she was a munched-arm surfer

Munched-limb. Better than mulched-limb.

that was "Fargo"

"all and all i thought it was a very good film, i'd rate it a two and a half out of four"

a lot of polite, eerily sedate enthusiasm in that clip. Tucker Max's fans seemed a little more jazzed, honestly.

Clearly there needs to be a supermovie here involving Carrie Underwood as a pregnant Objectivist sheriff burying union bosses's limbs in the snow.

"BASICALLY a good movie!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luAW3K11OKM

Based on the clip, they loved it, it was much better than Cats and they would go see it again and again.

"I knew I was going to hate it when it ended, and I did!"

"A good movie, pretty well made. It accurately showed a bunch of the book!"

"It's kind of scary because we're hearing that gobbledy-gook message already!"

http://www.atlasshruggedpart1.com/bracelet

Proudly made in the U.S.A., this anodized aluminium alloy bracelet is an exact replica of the Rearden Metal Bracelet worn by Taylor Schilling (Dagny Taggart) and Rebecca Wisocky (Lillian Rearden) in Atlas Shrugged Part I.

http://citifield.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/yogurtdoll.jpg

http://www.zazzle.com/official_atlas_shrugged_movie_mug-168930944000522348

only $25!

http://www.zazzle.com/official_atlas_shrugged_movie_t_who_is_john_galt_tshirt-235520993135444374

for the objectivist griller who has everything:

http://www.zazzle.com/official_atlas_shrugged_movie_apron-154695603008090812

Really funny emo capitalist t-shirt there. A series of lines bitching about taxes.

Located in the Home > Government, Military > United States > United States > Issues > Patriotism section.

is "rumpy pumpy" a Chicagoism?

I hope not.

I thought that phrase came from Monty Python

More Blackadder, surely.

well the roommate I heard it from was obsessed with both

maybe it was a Long Island thing

This I fully believe.

Randroids working overtime to bloat RT's user ratings and turn up posi reviews on Google.

I don't know how much inflation would make a difference, but it did have a better per-screen average than Battlefield Earth.

Rightwing blog roundup by Roy in the Village Voice. Comedy gold throughout.

Saw it opening night with our two teenage sons. It was almost sold out...and in MASSACHUSETTS no less!! How many movies have you gone to where people clap at the end? (Not many for me.) After the movie, there where lots of groups hanging around and talking about the movie and its themes.....another rarity.

No matter what 'movie critics' may say, the power of this movie is undeniable. I liked the actors and the acting. I believe it would have been a huge misktake to cast a 'Tom Cruise' as Henry or some such nonsense.

As for the dialog....can we aspire to speak English better than we are in this 21st century world of ours? Should Dagny have said "OMG!" or "Oh no you di-nt"? It was refreshing to hear people speak like they did in the movie. Let's move away from our 'text-ing' speech and embrace our rich language.

Oh my gosh!, when that train goes over the bridge at 250 MPH it just takes your breath away and swells your heart with Hope and Pride for this country. Only one theatre in all of the Sarasota/ Bradenton FL area had the Steel, (as in Rearden Steel), to show this!

You're right about the train scenes, truly inspiring! That's because it was imagery, and imagery affects us in a roundabout, very effective way that we're not even aware of. Especially when imagery is combined with music - very effective, because we're hit through TWO SENSES at once, seeing and hearing.

It sneaks up on us, through the heart, not the brain, and effects us at a very basic level. You don't even know it's happening, all you know is you're watching the train go over the bridge at 250 mph and all of a sudden you spontaneously feel your heart swelling with hope and pride. Many people have said they were affected this way by that scene. Best thing in the movie!!

I enjoyed the stilted dialog. Being somewhat hard of hearing, that kind of dialog is exactly what folks need that have trouble understanding the dialog and speech used in the movies today. I don't go to movies because most of the dialog is spoken like the actors were sucking on cotton before they said their words. I used the theaters assisted listening device, (headphones) and I was able to hear every word, because the words were pronounced well, and with emphasis and meaning, and not with the dullness of 2011 dialog. Say what you wish about the stilted dialog, I will always prefer that to the muffled crap on the screen today. Great job, and I hope part 2 and 3 are just as stilted.

^^^ That's especially funny given how these people actually feel about high-speed rail. ("Trains?! What is this, Civil War times!!!???!!!") xxp

Gotta find the rightblogger who pronounced it "Possibly the greatest movie ever made. I'd put it up there with Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan."

Poe's Law is a real thing.

TWO SENSES

For a quick second I was all "Omar what is wrong with you" then I realized you were quoting.

Should Dagny have said "OMG!" or "Oh no you di-nt"?

where in Massachusetts is this person

Those are so great. These people are seeing movies for the first time.

TWO SENSES!!!

xxxp fuck, beaten

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qni52g2FRDM/SHNth9SK5mI/AAAAAAAAAGA/VFNsxXkqJEQ/s400/Two_Princes_281x211.jpg

haha

That's because it was imagery, and imagery affects us in a roundabout, very effective way that we're not even aware of.

fuckin' imagery-
how does it work??

seeing stuff with your eyes! what a world!!

box office mojo breakdown: http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3143&p=.htm

Favorite bit of context: it was distributor Rocky Mountain Pictures' third highest-grossing launch, behind End of the Spear and Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

Maybe if this movie had a big star like Ben Stein in it, it would have done better

TWO SENSES

the audience shrugged

We should try to do an ILX adap on an even lower budget

(a Kucharesque one)

cant get over 'made in the usa' bracelet lmao

okay i wanna be the train

I like in the Onion AV Club write-up they lament that they can't say it "Has the momentum of a runaway train"

our version could be called Atlas Sharted

lol buncha xposts TOP 3 REASONS TO SEE THIS:

1. a screening sold out in Massachusetts
2. non-actors are better than professionals
3. OMG-free

I think my favorite bit of dialogue in the movie is when they're on the SUPERTRANE and it gets up over 250 mph or something and Hank Rearden says, "That's faster than any train's ever gone in this country!" It made me think that some fact-checker had added the "in this country" bit. (Of course, European trains don't really count anyway because a.) they're built by socialist parasites and not great men like hank rearden; and b.) they travel in kilometers, which are not nearly as Great and Bold as miles.)

I wd like to be a shiny building of industry :D

You up for having concrete slathered all over your foundation?

why yes

xxxp I don't think Euro trains go that fast either and Japan is just like fancy magic-land where everything is like a Studio Ghibli film so whatever, catbus-trains don't count

I like that the setting of this has dwindling resources making train travel a shiny futuristic thing again, cz I thought the very idea of dwindling resources was an impossible myth put about by socialists to scare honest god-fearing citizens out of buying nice things

(is this in the book or is it a hasty retro-fit to cover up for why there are no planes?)

We should try to do an ILX adap on an even lower budget

Could do it like the compilations--different folks take different scenes and then we paste it together.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record_for_rail_vehicles

xpost -- alternately, like this:

http://www.starwarsuncut.com/

Atlas Sharted

Tears of laughter here, A+

Me, too!

dibbs on being john gult and the answer to the question who is john gult

the comments on the AV Club review are now over 1K

I'm sure this has been said before, but it deserves to be said multiple times.

Ayn Rand collected Social Security and Medicare under the name "Ann O'Connor".

Is this true? I guess the Tea Party is more Randian than i thought!

couple in front of me at the movie theater tonight bought 2 tickets for Atlas Shrugged. Resisted the urge to say "are you sure"?

Article about how the movie was marketed to Tea Partiers.

I remember seeing The Fountainhead many years ago (I was 13 or so, and I didn't know about Rand) and hating with all my guts Cooper's parasite speech (probably one of the reasons I still don't like him much).
Can't believe someone can take objectivism seriously (but I guess it could be appealing for some people even here in Italy).

Are they planning on marketing/releasing this film outside of North America? That would be truly hilarious.

Don't you just love (err...hate) the liberal critics of this movie? I'm reminded of the 1970s when critics panned the movie Jaws and said there was no such thing as a 20 foot great white shark. Guess Shark Week wasn't on the air in those days.

roffle roffle roffle roffle

xpost
I guess there are political factions in Europe that could be interested (that grey area where technocratic faith meets hate for central government - and it is not necessarily a right wing thing), but I think Rand's philosophy is too much of a joke to be taken seriously.
But who knows, maybe we'll have soon superfast objectivist trains running up and down the Italian boot too.

The Fountainhad trial speech, still authentically idiotic: the mix of badly digested Nietzsche, catastrophic tautology, stilted rhetoric and dumb arrogance reaches almost majestic heights.

"The creator stands on his own judgment. The parasite follows the opinions of others. The creator thinks, the parasite copies. The creator produces, the parasite loots. The creator's concern is the conquest of nature - the parasite's concern is the conquest of men. The creator requires independence, he neither serves nor rules. He deals with men by free exchange and voluntary choice. The parasite seeks power, he wants to bind all men together in common action and common slavery. He claims that man is only a tool for the use of others. That he must think as they think, act as they act, and live is selfless, joyless servitude to any need but his own. Look at history. Everything thing we have, every great achievement has come from the independent work of some independent mind. Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force men into a herd of brainless, soulless robots. Without personal rights, without personal ambition, without will, hope, or dignity. It is an ancient conflict. It has another name: the individual against the collective".

I love that speech mostly because Gary Cooper admitted he didn't know what he was saying, and looks it

Don't you just love (err...hate) the liberal critics of this movie? I'm reminded of the 1970s when critics panned the movie Jaws and said there was no such thing as a 20 foot great white shark. Guess Shark Week wasn't on the air in those days

okay this needs reposting

xpost It's like he's watching his mouth moving of its own accord.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc7oZ9yWqO4

his mouth says "my terms are a man's right to exist for his own sake" but his eyes say "HEEEEEEELLLLLPPPP"

the mix of badly digested Nietzsche, catastrophic tautology, stilted rhetoric and dumb arrogance reaches almost majestic heights.

The same reason I always laugh when Rand fans complain that the field of philosophy is biased and wouldn't take her seriously: everything she said had been already said and analyzed to death by many other philosophers, and half of what she said/wrote wasn't even philosophy.

A is A!!

his mouth says "my terms are a man's right to exist for his own sake" but his eyes say "HEEEEEEELLLLLPPPP"

quite possible! :)

Rand could be an effective novelist, even powerful in her obsessive way, but her philosophical efforts are plain terrible.

Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force men into a herd of brainless, soulless robots. Without personal rights, without personal ambition, without will, hope, or dignity. It is an ancient conflict. It has another name: the individual against the collective".

I wonder if Charles Manson read much Rand.

Not like I'm saying anything new here, but my review, fwiw.

Great job!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljuxictB5d1qz6f9yo1_500.jpg

how do you get the books out

WANT

from cole-

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/nyregion/05deutsche.html?_r=2

A prosecutor at the trial of three construction supervisors charged in the deaths of two firefighters at the former Deutsche Bank building told the jury on Monday that the defendants had “put profit over people,” a decision that led to the deaths and put the lives of hundreds of firefighters, inspectors and workers at risk.

The three men, and the demolition contractor for which two of them worked, the John Galt Corporation, are charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Wow, the praxis of her 'philosophy'

"yes, your honor, but, 'profits over people', it's right on our masthead. i mean, i don't really understand where the prosecutor is going with this?"

it's also some kind of irony that rand's industrial heroes are all builders and engineers and scientist-creators and these guys run a demolition company

abjectivist

lol

http://wonkette.com/444005/nobodys-going-to-the-atlas-shrugged-movie

Atlas Shrugged: Part I has once again been eclipsed at the box office by the epic socialist propaganda romance Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, coming in at 18th and 17th, respectively.

hahah fuck yeah

Fin.

This guy:

"Why should I put up all of that money if the critics are coming in like lemmings?" Aglialoro said. "I’ll make my money back and I'll make a profit, but do I wanna go and do two? Maybe I just wanna see my grandkids and go on strike."

Aglialoro, who is chief executive of the exercise equipment manufacturer Cybex, said he is not completely finished with Hollywood, however. An avid poker player who won the U.S. Poker Championship in 2004, he has a dramatic script called "Poker Room" in development. "Maybe the critics will be kinder to that one," he said.

I do think it's bad that the New York Times didn't review it.

Transformers II was soundly panned by the critics but its fan based made it a huge hit. I'm sure Aglialoro thought, " hey Rand is a million selling author I can make my money back on her millions and millions of fans". Too bad her fame is bought by her institution they have been buying her books and donating them for a tax break.

"Every year, 400,000 copies of Rand’s novels are offered free to Advanced Placement high school programs. They are paid for by the Ayn Rand Institute, whose director, Yaron Brook, said the mission was “to keep Rand alive.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/business/15atlas.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

But according to ARI's website

In recent years, we have been pleased to see something of an “Ayn Rand
Renaissance”—as evidenced in part by the following:

* Sales of Ayn Rand’s books rose to more than 400,000 copies
annually—twenty years after her death."

Posted by: Dave | 04/26/2011 at 08:42 PM

roffles

haha that article made me really sad

if money was all the Randroids wanted from this movie, they would've just released it straight to video so the Objectivists could beat their meat in private. the profits-über-alles jibber-jabber is camouflage for their proselytizing. it's like christian missionary work, only in reverse (kinda like how Objectivism is largely Christianity/Marxism in reverse).

Aglialoro, who is chief executive of the exercise equipment manufacturer Cybex

ha i'll remember this the next time i'm at the gym

If you're at the gym they've already won.

Atlas Benchpressed 250

more on dingbat producer:

http://www.salon.com/news/ayn_rand/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/04/27/atlas_sucks

and the NYT finally reviewed it! one of the B-critics, Carina Chocano.

“Atlas Shrugged: Part I” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Some very bland sexuality and near-lethal levels of exposition.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/movies/atlas-shrugged-part-i-ayn-rands-opus-review.html

Lots of Galt-bots in Comments of course.

Only a thousand people saw Atlas Shrugged, but every one of them posted on the internet about it.

bland sexuality is my new dance band

Explore your blandsexuality.

schadenfreude FTW

http://blog.atlasshruggedmovie.com/2011/11/atlas-shrugged-inadvertently-releases.html

Oneal has quite a bit of fun with it:

http://mobile.avclub.com/articles/atlas-shrugged-producers-boldly-release-unregulate,65031/?mobile=true

part 2 starts production next month:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/02/atlas-shrugged-part-2-shooting-april.html

why is it that every libertarian i meet/read about is fucking awful with their money

my roommate put a ron paul bumper sticker on his brand new BMW

Hahahahahaha

i watched "part 1" last night and couldn't stop raising my fist and bellowing "PROGRESS!"

made me want to go galt all over progress island:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ1lLR4ePnE

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES!!

http://blog.atlasshruggedmovie.com/p/jobs.html

"The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity."
- Ayn Rand

We’re hiring. The Atlas Shrugged Part II Marketing team has two immediate openings to fill.

INTERN
Full-time paid internship working with the marketing team in Beverly Hills, CA. Show us your creative writing skills by writing a brief 3 paragraph essay answering the question "Who is Ayn Rand?" Email your essay and contact info to: interns✧✧✧@atlasshruggedmo✧✧✧.c✧✧.

ART DIRECTOR
Full-time position working on the Atlas Shrugged Movie Marketing team (may work remotely). Must be proficient in Photoshop and Illustrator and posses depth of knowledge in Web related Graphics and design. HTML, CSS, and Usability huge pluses. Experience with Adobe Premiere helpful. Responsibilities to include evolving the foundational Atlas brand, creating collateral and assets for print & web. DO NOT send resume. Email ONLY links showcasing your work to: creat✧✧✧@atlasshruggedmo✧✧✧.c✧✧.

"evolving the foundational Atlas brand"

Well. Says it all.

http://blog.atlasshruggedmovie.com/2012/07/volunteers-wanted-dallas-tx.html

Saw a friendly acquaintance reading this last night, bummed me out. Question though: should I make an effort to read it first before trashing it? Seems the honest thing to do. Or should I just watch the movie? At least there's some rumpy pumpy in that, right?

dude, we've all read Atlas Shrugged, that's how we clown it

btw it's bad

I had a crush on a girl freshman year who was very sweet and reasonably bright but seemed to believe almost anything she read or that anyone told her. She had been raised evangelical christian family and was certain of the bible's truth, and then one day she came to me and told me that she had read this book by Ayn Rand and how it was completely obviously right about everything. Somehow this didn't contradict her view that the bible was also obviously absolutely right about everything. She later 'tried to kill herself', but called her brother to come 'say goodbye to her' before she did it (predictably, he stopped her from killing herself). Having a crush on her was like riding the slow boat through the "It's A Small World" ride except the people of each respective country throw some new kind of disgusting matter at you instead of greeting you with pleasant song.

tbf, the small world ride is pretty much horrible to begin with

http://bitcast-a.v1.lhr1.bitgravity.com/slashfilm/wp/wp-content/images/Atlas-Shrugged-Part-II-poster.jpg

New cast, new director, same atlas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF9QT43uDQU

slightly starrier cast this time around

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/03/a-movie-recommendation-from-chief-judge-kozinski/

NOOOO Ray Wise NOOOOOO

A: D.B. Sweeney.

I know, it's disappointing seeing Ray Wise in this. But, a job's a job, I guess?

Oh man, Caprica must have really broken Esai Morales. ;_;

Dude playing Henry Rearden was the paraplegic in Monkey Shines!

So these Galtian supermen finally bringing Ayn Rand's glorious vision to the screen weren't bright enough to sign their cast to a multi-movie contract?

Who's the James Carville-lookin' guy who says "capitalism doesn't work"?

Having a crush on her was like riding the slow boat through the "It's A Small World" ride except the people of each respective country throw some new kind of disgusting matter at you instead of greeting you with pleasant song.

How did this pass without comment, this is hilarious.

Who's the James Carville-lookin' guy who says "capitalism doesn't work"?

He was on ER for years and years, and then he got killed when a helicopter fell on him.

(on the show, not irl)

I have seen maybe three episodes of ER In my life and that was one of them.

Bet the sequel will do well this weekend, lots more advertising than the last one and Ryan-mentum too.

there's a hilarious TV commercial going on about "is this the movie that will DECIDE THE ELECTION!?"

completely tanked in wide release, barely did better than the first

libertarians of the nation really voting with their dollars

it's only playing in one theatre around here, for a midnight show.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/atlas-shrugged-part-iithe-strike,86633/

Here's the Av Club review, and the commenters are quite enjoying themselves

Atlas ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

"atlas shrugged, audiences follow suit"

http://mobile.avclub.com/articles/producers-of-atlas-shrugged-movies-stand-up-for-se,95476/

Both previous installments in Ayn Rand’s vision of a world righted by corporate shit-fits have earned far less than they cost, taking in a combined $8 million at the box office for the approximately $30 million that was spent on them. Such numbers would lead most filmmakers to see this as an edict from the free market to just yield their work to some other’s control already, were they not still subscribed to Rand’s definition of objective thinking as “harboring hate-filled petulance for things that get in your way.”

So the final movie is just going to be some guy talking, yeah?

i still need to watch the second one.

you may have a distorted understanding of the definition of "need"

duh

http://www.avclub.com/articles/atlas-shrugged-producers-turn-to-kickstarter-for-h,103253/

The 3rd film has already been funded, but the producers have taken to Kickstarter to raise 250-large to raise awareness and piss off "haters", expressly violating the Kickstarter TOS.

And I love any Newswire bit that lets Oneal cram as many jokes at Ayn Rand into a post as possible.

ok was at a party at a friend's house and they turn on the tv to hit up itunes via whatever media system and we momentarily see the netflix queue and both atlas shruggeds are on there.

i'm actively trying to pretend this never happened because i like the dude a bunch but yow.

didn't wanna say 'i hope those are ironic' because what if they aren't really i'm too old to engage in a serious discussion with someone who isn't horrified by ayn rand about her work

enh, I mean I could see watching it not ironically but out of genuine interest in badness, I mean voluntarily watched battlefield earth and read NRO from time to time just to keep tabs and such

i suspect every tech person whose politics i don't know is secretly a way out libertarian. it turns out to be the case depressingly often :-(

Where I live it's pretty much a guarantee.

http://www.yahoo.com/movies/ron-paul-to-make-acting-debut-in-part-3-of-atlas-89270143262.html

Now featuring: Ron Paul! Sean Hannity! Glenn Beck!

In each of these films, Dagny and Hank are played by different actors. This time ROB MORROW is playing Hank? Really?

I wonder if I should watch the first one for Piper Chapman now?

Since I watched it first, I always think OITNB is about a bunch of ladies who went galt.

Would like to see a Northern Exposure episode where the cast does a community-theater production of Atlas Shrugged. True to Alaska, and Janine Turner would probably be down for it.

Thinking of Janine Turner now makes the teenage me sad.

I don't know why I'm surprised that this has made it to a second, risible looking sequel, but anyway. Trailer:

http://youtu.be/GSJNU41h5Cg

can't believe you need three movies for one shitty book

#hobbit

You saying Peter Jackson is ghost-directing this?

http://www.salon.com/2014/09/11/sean_hannity_and_glenn_beck_in_a_bizarre_ayn_rand_fever_dream/

lol the cast was like completely different in all three movies

I would watch a filmed version of Telemachus Sneezed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=175&v=AH9ufx-Wq3w

Zack Snyder has confirmed his next project will be an adaptation of Ayn Rand's THE FOUNTAINHEAD. pic.twitter.com/HiBhQTgkld

— Talk Film Society (@TalkFilmSoc) May 28, 2018

Truly the man to do it justice.

knowing he’d willingly make an Ayn Rand adaptation pretty much explains his whole film career

If ever a couple of hideous cunts deserved each other, it's rand and snydet.

Kind of a perfect storm of material and director. A match made in Crap Heaven!

Won’t lie, I am kinda stoked.

It always irritates me to go to a bookstore and see Ayn Rand shelved with the "Classics". She's just so irretrievable bad.

Won’t lie, I am kinda stoked.

Yeah, I'm kinda down with Snyder going as vulgar as possible with this. I hope he believes he is a Howard Roark.

someone should make the best ever period 50s/60s sex farce out of my years with ayn rand, the bildungsmemoir by one of her ahem "circle" who eventually broke with her philosophy and went on to (wait for it) found the self-help movement. not always intentionally one of the most revealing books i've ever read. don't even mean primarily about ayn rand. but about her too: jesus christ.

even now it is most likely uncool to give a shit but 300 remains prob the fashest movie i've ever seen, triumph of the will included. you long for the melancholy ambiguity of death wish

guys this is probably the best news i've had in months - american cinema's most meanspirited, meagre direcor takes on one of the 20th century's most indefensible novels! what could be more entertaining?

I was prepared to physically carry you to this thread if you didn't stumble upon it yourself.

As a fan of massive lulz this is great news

The original movie is pretty excellent if you've never seen it

It always irritates me to go to a bookstore and see Ayn Rand shelved with the "Classics". She's just so irretrievable bad.

Black cover Penguin classic :(

I was prepared to physically carry you to this thread if you didn't stumble upon it yourself.

i felt a great disturbance in the luminerferous aether and was irresistably compelled to investigate

Don't know if Zack's looking for notes but Tom Cruise was born to play Roark

nailed it

Arm0nd's review is legitimately going to be a masterpiece and is actually already written.

i just can't wait to see how snyder, who is perhaps second only to michael bay in the cinematic-adhd stakes, handles endless scenes of extremely tedious dialogue

isn't vince vaughn a big libertarian shithead? he'd probably kill to play roark

Surely Snyder could have a Dr. Parnassus-esque rotating cast of alpha dudes playing the role.

I wonder if Jon Hamm would do it.

Gary Cooper will be tough to beat

It'll almost certainly be Cavill, won't it. I can feel it.

John Cena

I could never hack the Cooper version w/out MST3K, let alone reading Rand

but the man was born to play fascists tbf

Courtroom scene: Roark monologues for two minutes before Zack gets bored. Cut to zoom-in shot of a jar of urine. Cut to Roark dynamiting the courthouse with all the socialists inside.

John Cena

― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Tuesday, May 29, 2018 8:53 AM (sixteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Misread this as 'Jon Secada' and nearly sprayed a mouthful of coffee across my monitor.

It'll almost certainly be Cavill, won't it. I can feel it.

I think I'd be willing to wager a good deal of money that there's a videotape in existence containing a homemade adaptation of The Fountainhead starring Paul Ryan.

Or, at the very least, a dog-eared copy of the book with many instances of 'Roark Ryan' throughout.

It always irritates me to go to a bookstore and see Ayn Rand shelved with the "Classics". She's just so irretrievable bad.

― A is for (Aimless), Monday, May 28, 2018 10:49 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Really she belongs in self-help. Self-help for complete assholes who want to feel ok about being assholes.

When the first Atlas Shrugged film came out they asked for fans to say "I am john galt" to add to a dvd extra. The results are some of the best, most strange youtube videos you'll ever see pic.twitter.com/lVoSSSyQ0h

— Cruiskeen Lawnmower Deth (@NoChorus) August 11, 2018

Strangely, there was only one in that group of a couple dozen youtubes that featured a person of color, at least that I noticed.