The Movie That The American Left Has Long Dreaded.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hLeoarv5qQ

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http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/10/entertainment/la-et-0410-atlas-shrugged-20110410

It has taken businessman John Aglialoro nearly 20 years to realize his ambition of making a movie out of "Atlas Shrugged," the 1957 novel by Ayn Rand that has sold more than 7 million copies and has as passionate a following among many political conservatives and libertarians as "Twilight" has among teen girls.

But the version of the book coming to theaters Friday is decidedly independent, low-cost and even makeshift. Shot for a modest $10 million by a first-time director with a cast of little-known actors, "Atlas Shrugged: Part I," the first in an expected trilogy, will play on about 300 screens in 80 markets. It's being marketed with the help of conservative media and "tea party" organizing groups and put into theaters by a small, Salt Lake City-based booking service.

The fact that one of the 20th century's most influential books is coming to movie screens in such a fashion is depending on whom you ask a reflection of liberal Hollywood's aversion to Rand's ideas, a symptom of Aglialoro's rigid adherence to them, or a testament to the challenges inherent in adapting the complex tome.

Aglialoro ultimately made a movie that hews more to Rand's ideology than the conventions of cinematic storytelling, at the risk that far fewer people will see it. Taking a page from the independent blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ," however, he is paying for his own theater bookings and marketing his film to an audience Hollywood often overlooks.

The novel takes place in an unspecified future in which the U.S. is mired in a deep depression. Heroine Dagny Taggart is trying to save her railroad company from collapse amid increasing government control and a mysterious phenomenon causing the nation's leading industrialists to disappear. "Atlas Shrugged" lays out Rand's passionate defenses of capitalism and individualism, and has been a source of inspiration to figures as varied as Alan Greenspan and Angelina Jolie.

The 97-minute film is a faithful adaptation of the first third of the book, with some adjustments made for modern audiences: It takes place in the year 2016, when gasoline costs $37.50 a gallon, train travel predominates and clothes, cellphones and offices look pretty much as they do on a "Law & Order" rerun. Dagny, played by Taylor Schilling of the now-canceled television show "Mercy," is still trying to hold Taggart Transcontinental together. She's building a train line with a new metal alloy made by the man who is also her love interest, steel magnate Hank Rearden (former "True Blood" werewolf Grant Bowler). Much of the film's dialogue comes straight from Rand's often didactic prose and, perhaps as a result of the quick and thrifty adaptation, some dramatic action scenes are left out and key props, like a supposedly groundbreaking motor, look more jury-rigged than cutting-edge.

The graphic sex scenes of the novel are considerably toned down, earning the film a PG-13 rating and making Rand's story somewhat more palatable to the Christian family audiences who are among those the filmmakers hope to court. "Atlas Shrugged" has long been a sacred text among many conservatives and libertarians, but as an atheist who had an open marriage and wrote unapologetically sexual characters, Rand doesn't fit neatly into any Christian values-based marketing plan.

In February, the producers began to share the film with people likely to be in accord with the author's views. They showed footage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, unveiling a trailer that has since been downloaded more than a million times on YouTube, and screened the final cut for influential conservatives like House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and commentator Andrew Breitbart. They enlisted Freedomworks, the political organizing group behind many tea party events, to help promote it, and started advertising with posters that said "Who Is John Galt?," the first line of the book and a meaningful catchphrase for Rand's acolytes.

Part of the marketing for "Atlas Shrugged: Part I" relies on the movie's status as a product, as Fox News host Sean Hannity has described it, that "liberal Hollywood doesn't want you to see."

more @ http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/10/entertainment/la-et-0410-atlas-shrugged-20110410

Edited April 12, 2011 by Paul and Vanessa

[B_J 2,752]

I've waiting for this to come out.

[^_^ 5,021]

The graphic sex scenes of the novel are considerably toned down ... making Rand's story somewhat more palatable to the Christian family audiences who are among those the filmmakers hope to court. "Atlas Shrugged" has long been a sacred text among many conservatives and libertarians, but as an atheist who had an open marriage and wrote unapologetically sexual characters, Rand doesn't fit neatly into any Christian values-based marketing plan.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Oh please....please no! Oh please....please don't release this movie!

[HeatDeath 430]

Marketing Ayn Rand to religious conservatives is the most hilarious thing I've heard all month.

Even that notwithstanding:

Has anyone here read the book? There's a 75 page monologue in the middle of it. I swear I am not making that up. No exposition, no plot, not even another character lobbing softball questions and complimenting the main speaker's allegedly self-evident genius - just the author's vision of the ideal man, ranting about politics, economics, and morality for 50-75 pages, depending on the pagination of the particular edition. It's the trope-definer for the term "author tract".

The first movie may be decent. The third movie may even be interesting. But unless they are incredibly skillful, brilliant filmmakers (and the fact that they are tying to market Ayn Rand to religious conservatives givse me no confidence in their brilliance whatsoever), the middle third will be an unfilmable, unwatchable mess.

Edited April 12, 2011 by HeatDeath

[The Dude 206]

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http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/10/entertainment/la-et-0410-atlas-shrugged-20110410

It has taken businessman John Aglialoro nearly 20 years to realize his ambition of making a movie out of "Atlas Shrugged," the 1957 novel by Ayn Rand that has sold more than 7 million copies and has as passionate a following among many political conservatives and libertarians as "Twilight" has among teen girls.

Interesting analogy there. You teahadists and libertarians write fan fiction about Ayn Rand literature? Do you have Team Galt and Team Taggart?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Marketing Ayn Rand to religious conservatives is the most hilarious thing I've heard all month.

Even that notwithstanding:

Has anyone here read the book? There's a 75 page monologue in the middle of it. I swear I am not making that up. No exposition, no plot, not even another character lobbing softball questions and complimenting the main speaker's allegedly self-evident genius - just the author's vision of the ideal man, ranting about politics, economics, and morality for 50-75 pages, depending on the pagination of the particular edition. It's the trope-definer for the term "author tract".

The first movie may be decent. The third movie may even be interesting. But unless they are incredibly skillful, brilliant filmmakers (and the fact that they are tying to market Ayn Rand to religious conservatives givse me no confidence in their brilliance whatsoever), the middle third will be an unfilmable, unwatchable mess.

The Ayn Rand Libertarian fanboys eat her sh!t up like the way Scientologists eat up Ron Hubbard's Dianetics.

[HeatDeath 430]

Interesting analogy there. You teahadists and libertarians write fan fiction about Ayn Rand literature? Do you have Team Galt and Team Taggart?

It would be Team Galt and Team Rearden, technically.

Hangs head in shame for knowing this;

Tries to figure out which is more shameful: knowing the romantic triangle in Twilight, knowing the romantic triangle in Atlas Shrugged, or being willing to compare them in public.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Marketing Ayn Rand to religious conservatives is the most hilarious thing I've heard all month.

Even that notwithstanding:

Has anyone here read the book? There's a 75 page monologue in the middle of it. I swear I am not making that up. No exposition, no plot, not even another character lobbing softball questions and complimenting the main speaker's allegedly self-evident genius - just the author's vision of the ideal man, ranting about politics, economics, and morality for 50-75 pages, depending on the pagination of the particular edition. It's the trope-definer for the term "author tract".

The first movie may be decent. The third movie may even be interesting. But unless they are incredibly skillful, brilliant filmmakers (and the fact that they are tying to market Ayn Rand to religious conservatives givse me no confidence in their brilliance whatsoever), the middle third will be an unfilmable, unwatchable mess.

The book is terrible literature. I suspect the movie is going to be unwatchable.

I don't know why Paul is getting so excited - The Fountainhead was adapted in 1949 and is available on Netflix

[Obama 2012 1,714]

See the Dismissive Commie Pinkos are already out in full force!

They hate it when the truth is thrown in their face!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

See the Dismissive Commie Pinkos are already out in full force!

They hate it when the truth is thrown in their face!

[^_^ 5,021]

See the Dismissive Commie Pinkos are already out in full force!

They hate it when the truth is thrown in their face!

It is like kryptonite

[HeatDeath 430]

I'm a religious conservative, with substantially libertarian politically leanings, and I still think it's a stunningly mediocre book that is going to become a terrible trilogy of movies.

And I'm smack-dab in the center of their target market. If I'm unenthused, they're doomed. It's that simple.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

The movie Soul Surfer is going to lap up the Christian audience this weekend, not Atlas Shrugged.

Mark my words.

[The Dude 206]

See the Dismissive Commie Pinkos are already out in full force!

They hate it when the truth is thrown in their face!

A movie based upon a fictional work is the truth? You learn something new every day.