Posted on 06/08/2003 1:41:51 PM PDT by RJCogburn
Fans of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged have heard this one before: the movie rights have been sold and the enduring bestseller is coming to the silver screen.
Admirers of the epic 1957 novel may be skeptical of the news that Beverly Hills-based Crusader Entertainment bought the rights to Rand's story of the mind on strike.
Past attempts to make Atlas Shrugged into a movie have failed, though Crusader president and CEO Howard Baldwin is arguably better prepared than his predecessors. He has read Rand's gigantic novel, he has hired a top screenwriter and -- consistent with Rand's literary philosophy -- he's already thinking larger than life.
"Our goal is to adapt the book without any restrictions," Baldwin said during an exclusive interview with Box Office Mojo from his office in Beverly Hills. Baldwin said it's too early to peg the project as a three-hour movie, a miniseries or even a trilogy. "It may be two movies, it may be three," he teased. "We want to tell Atlas Shrugged properly."
That's no easy task. The novel, over 1,000 pages long, presents the essential principles of Rand's radical philosophy of self-interest, reason and capitalism.
While Atlas Shrugged is routinely vilified by left-wing intellectuals, who oppose Rand's view that capitalism is the only moral economic system, and repudiated by those on the right, who shudder at Rand's rejection of religion, it remains deeply loved by readers, who named it the second most influential book of their lives in a 1991 Library of Congress/Book-of-the-Month club survey -- behind only the Bible.
As a movie, its potential to move audiences is profound. Today's times seem taken straight from the pages of Atlas Shrugged: New York City at the core of a disastrous climax, businessmen under government persecution, chronic train wrecks and the slow, grinding halt of society's basic functions. The Ayn Rand Institute describes it as "Ayn Rand's complete philosophy, dramatized in the form of a mystery story 'not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder — and rebirth — of man’s spirit."
Baldwin said Crusader became interested last year after billionaire businessman and Crusader Entertainment Chairman Philip Anschutz -- himself the recent target of government regulators -- noticed a front page USA Today article about the tremendous influence of Atlas Shrugged among business leaders.
"Phil gave me a call and said, 'Can we get this?'" It didn't hurt that one of Baldwin's friends, businessman Ed Snider, was cited in the article. Snider had previously owned the movie rights to Atlas Shrugged, and put Baldwin on track to buy them.
Baldwin projected a long development -- funded by Crusader -- though he said he expects a script treatment by the end of this summer. Screenwriter James V. Hart (Contact, Tuck Everlasting, Bram Stoker's Dracula), who penned Crusader's Sahara starring Matthew McConaughey, is writing the script.
Crusader is the latest entertainment company to take a crack at Atlas. Rand, who died in 1982 at age 77, sold the rights to producer Albert S. Ruddy (The Godfather) in 1972 -- but a movie was never made. Later, writer and producer Stirling Silliphant (In the Heat of the Night, The Towering Inferno) wrote a script for an NBC television miniseries -- which was killed by NBC executive Fred Silverman.
In 2000, Turner Network Television sought to make an original miniseries, with Albert Ruddy as producer -- but the deal fell apart in the wake of AOL's merger with TimeWarner and the devastating Sept. 11 attack by Islamic terrorists. Ruddy later tried to make a feature-length movie but his contract expired before he could secure financing.
Baldwin said Crusader is prepared to tackle the obstacles associated with such an ambitious undertaking. In keeping with Rand's view that making money is virtuous, Baldwin said he fully expects to make a profit from Atlas Shrugged.
"Atlas Shrugged is not going to be a low budget movie," Baldwin said. "But I think the box office potential is huge, because of the enormous interest. It is one of the best-selling books of all time."
Rand plagiarizing the commies again.
By freak chance they might turn crap material (Rand) into something good (unintentional Ed Wood-like comedy).
We have a winner.
Hollywood will kill it onscreen and infuriate the old readers while leaving the ignorant to wonder what the fuss was all about.
Jackson did well ith the first and turned the second into a ho-hum action epic. Randians will complain only if the philosophy is spiked-- which it WILL be.
In the second movie, it seemed Merry and Pippin didn't do anything, until suddenly--deux es machina--they said the right thing to the Ents to make them trash Isengard.
I have a theory: All the Ents had to be trailing close behind Treebeard to be on hand for the trashing. Treebeard cleverly asked Merry and Pip which way they wanted to go before he released them. In other words, the Ents had decided to go to Isengard, but only if Merry and Pippin volunteered, even without the help of the Ents, to go there.
My theory gives Jackson tremendous credit, which I don't mind extending given the quality of the first film. But the story spent entirely too much effort on Helms Deep, IMO, and didn't carry Aragorn across the threshold from reluctant hero to determined king.
Is it a bad film? No. It's just not LOTR, IMHO. But my opinion is unique to everyone elses take on that film.
For the same reason, I don't doubt for an instant that Hollywood will make an enjoybale, but utterly shallow, adaptation of Atlas Shrugged. Folks will like it generally but Purists will fume. (As happened with Starship Troopers.) Expect every character to do something that their ethics won't allow them to do and thus make hash of the book. Expect Jim Taggert to be the misunderstood villain of the film(s) who's good intentions go mysteriously wrong thanks to lazy, greedy, and inconsiderate middle managers.
And just like Starship Troopers, critics will simply regurgitate their shop-worn attacks on the BOOK while ignoring the film.
The boundary between the first and second movie is somewhat different from that between the first and second book. I would expect the 2-3 boundary to be likewise.
The real test will be to see if the third movie wraps things up effectively.
Just like the book I suppose, a big bird will swoop down out of the sky and spirit them away to safety. And the audience just like the reader will wonder, "Why didn't that stupid bird just make a round trip? We could have been spared all the orc gore and eye strain!"
I think Brad Pitt has the right look for John Galt, and he's not a terrible actor, despite his pretty boy roles to date.
No good Dagny comes to mind. Carrie Anne Moss has the hard edge, but somehow doesn't work. I always envisioned a young Jane Seymour. Natalie Portman, maybe, if she weren't such a flaming liberal.
Antonio Banderas for Fransicso D'Anconia, I think, except that he's pushing the edge on age.
We need a young Harrison Ford or Spencer Tracy for Hank Rearden. They don't make 'em like that anymore. Maybe Kurt Russell could pinch-hit.
Other suggestions?
Well, that's a start. {/Sarcasm} I've read it 4 times.
I hope they get someone to who is 'into' the book to Direct and write the screenplay.........a Peter Jacksonian-type rabid Objectivist, unwilling to compromise would do fine.
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.