After 15 years of almost-productions with almost-casts, it appears that a film adaptation of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged will get made. Producer John Aglialoro bought the rights to the novel for $1 million in 1992 and is determined to start production on June 11th of this year, which, yes, is two weeks away. And no, there is no cast attached.
Russ Fischer over at /Film is wise to point out that Aglialoro’s ambition echoes that of the elusive John Galt in Rand’s epic.
Atlas Shrugged, for those who don’t know, tells the story of Dagny Taggart (who Aglialoro hopes to get Maggie Gyllenhaal or Charlize Theron to play), a railroad company executive trying to keep the business afloat during a hard economic turn. In her attempt to find a solution to her problem, she meets people who only further explain and perpetuate the economic problem that has become America, and it all leads to the question: “Who is John Galt?”
Aglialoro wants viewers to ask that question and go to theater searching for the answer, apparently.
The film will be directed by Stephen Polk, son of Louis Polk, former MGM Chairman. This would be his “official” directorial debut. Polk is confident in getting the film made; as confident as Aglialoro.
Here’s what Polk had to say about the nature of the project:
“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.” [Deadline Hollywood]
I would love to see this book made into a movie. It is THE allegory of American capitalism and there was never a better time for a film like that. That it may be independently financed makes it that much better.
Would you pay to see Atlas Shrugged? Have you read Rand’s novel?