Posted on 07/26/2010 7:06:51 AM PDT by Ed Hudgins
I spoke with Dagny Taggart the other night. “It’s a huge honor to be part of this film,” said Taylor Schilling, who plays the heroine in John Aglialoro’s independent production of Atlas Shrugged. Tuesday evening, July 20, marked the completion of filming. We caught up with Aglialoro and his team in a weary but ebullient mood as shooting wrapped after an intense five-week schedule.
The movie covers Part I of Ayn Rand’s novel, with two more films in the planning stage to tell the rest of the story. With six months of editing still to go on “Atlas Shrugged, Part I,” Aglialoro expects it to be ready for release by next March—unless it is accepted for Cannes or other major festivals, which would probably mean a June release.
In entrepreneurial courage and talent, the film project to date is fully the equal of the story it tells, Dagny’s heroic struggle to build the John Galt rail line.
Having optioned the film rights to Atlas in 1992, Aglialoro (pictured above with producers Harmon Kaslow and John director Paul Johansson) has worked with a number of studios and independent producers, with one project after another coming to grief. In the ten years I have been advising him about scripts, I have read at least six distinct scripts for everything from TV miniseries to feature films. Hopes ran high for a deal with Lionsgate Films and Baldwin Entertainment for a single feature-length film, with a good script by Randall Wallace and Angelina Jolie as the lead. After that effort fizzled, Lionsgate undertook a lower-budget miniseries last fall. But the script…
[For the rest of the story plus a video interview with Aglialoro, visit The Atlas Society website!]
(Excerpt) Read more at atlassociety.org ...
Who would’ve known the potential box office for this project back in 1992! With the right to produce the film about to expire, I can understand why filming got underway even without a bankable lead or leads. On the other hand, I don’t know why only part I was produced. As with Lord of the Rings, you’d think all three parts would be filmed at the same time.
Not very familiar with these actors.
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This project has a few things going for it in my opinion:
First, its being done independently, freeing it from the typically stupid Hollywood mentality. You know, all that T&A, explosions, and mind-boggling action sequences that Hollywood thinks a movie needs in order to appeal to the braindead masses.
Second, the producers and many of those involved seem to “get it” regarding Rand’s vision.
And last, the project is being stretched over three releases ala The Lord of the Rings. This way, the story can be told in it’s entirety, giving the audience the full measure of the vision.
I’m looking forward to seeing it in theatres. The last movie I saw in the theatre was Return of the King.
I wonder if “Mr. Thompson” will be an Obama lookalike. Now that would be funny....
I’m a libertarian who is not fond of Ayn Rand. I couldn’t figure out where I fit. Then my Kids read the whole “Little House” series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I am a Laura and Almonzo Wilder libertarian and not an atheist Russian nut job.
That is to say I am a freedom loving traditional American.
I believe it was in the “Long Winter” book that there was a discussion about how everyone worked together, built roads, hired a teacher and took care of police and fire. Then the territory sent out a tax man for property taxes and all of a sudden people were Republicans and Democrats, no one worked together and politics took over. A lot of folks moved to Oregon once this happened.
All of this happened and was written long before Ayn Rand. Oh yeah, and they were religious, loved their country and still believed in personal freedom/responsibility.
5 weeks? Most people can’t even read the book that fast. ;-)
I thought Eddie Willers had a few conversations with Galt early on in the book although Willers and the reader didn’t find out that it was Galt until late in the book.
There's even a bit more to it than what you state. Ayn Rand is her pen name; she actuallly came from a Jewish family with a clearly Jewish name. The Czarist government and the Orthodox Church were deeply anti-semetic and often promoted pogroms. Just go see "Fiddler on the Roof." Hence, she had very good reasons not to like organized Christianity, especially the Russian Orthodox version.
Have you ever read "The Discovery of Freedom" by Rose Wilder Lane (Laura and Almonzo's daughter)?
Exactly.
I thought angelina jolie was playinhg Dagny?
John Galt 2012: “If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve.” :-)
Sorry. I woke her up too late and she missed the audition.
“Rand, while a good writer of prose, was also a self indulgent writer and “over wrote” Atlas. “
She didn’t think anyone was qualified to edit her writing.
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