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Atlas Shrugged Script: Only Slightly More Than Twice as Long as Galt's Speech
David Boaz at the Cato blog sums up some thoughts from Atlas Shrugged screenwriter Randall Wallace on the script, which is complete--at 129 pages.
Here's how Wallace, an Oscar nominee for his Braveheart script, explains the connections:
The assertion that change occurs when heroic individuals are willing to stand up–and further, that people in the herd want to be heroic individuals but aren’t encouraged to do so until they find a leader worth following–is very much in Braveheart, and it’s something thoroughly ingrained in the American psyche.
I think Mel would make a great Hank Rearden, by the way.
While I live in L.A., I'm not quite a full-on "Hollywood insider." Still, I did subscribe to Variety for a year, and I'll go out on a limb and say a big-deal epic for which no director nor complete cast appear to have been slated is pretty unlikely to be out next summer, no matter what Wallace says.
|5.23.07 @ 11:29AM|#
It will be quite a challenge to turn Rand's archetypal characters into real people. Casting request: Alan Tudyk as Cuffy Meigs.
|5.23.07 @ 11:30AM|#
I've been told that each page of a script is roughly equal to 1 minute of film, so we'd be looking at a move around 2 hours long.
Timothy|5.23.07 @ 11:37AM|#
Question of the day: Who will be more insufferable, the kids waiting to see Atlas Shrugged or the nerds in line for the latest installment of Harry Potter?
|5.23.07 @ 11:39AM|#
Oh dear god no. The Apocalypse is upon us.
Think of how many teenagers have been turned into insufferable
assholes by reading Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. And now
they want to broaden the audience?
I'm going to go hide under a rock for five years or so.
thoreau|5.23.07 @ 11:44AM|#
Think of how many teenagers have been turned into
insufferable assholes by reading Atlas Shrugged and The
Fountainhead. And now they want to broaden the audience?
They may be assholes, but they're our
assholes!
|5.23.07 @ 11:47AM|#
"Whoever plays Dagny Taggart will have to have lungs made of
iron."
Huge tracts of land should suffice.
This is very nearly the worst idea since "Springtime For
Hitler".
Timothy|5.23.07 @ 11:51AM|#
This is very nearly the worst idea since "Springtime For
Hitler".
Meaning it will be a HUGE box-office success.
|5.23.07 @ 11:59AM|#
Hm, yes, an explicitly libertarian movie, and all we have are jokes and naysaying. I think anybody who's that negative is the insufferable asshole.
Grotius|5.23.07 @ 11:59AM|#
Scripts as a rule of thumb are supposed be between 90-120 pages. One reason for this is that every page equals roughly a minute of screentime.
|5.23.07 @ 12:01PM|#
I don't trust Hollywood. They will take out every bit of political content that doesn't fit the leftist PC line and change the script for "dramatic purposes" and make the whole thing about global warming or American racism or something. If you people think they will put out a movie version that embraces the politics of the book unabashedly, I have a bridge to sell you.
|5.23.07 @ 12:10PM|#
Hm, yes, an explicitly libertarian movie, and all we have
are jokes and naysaying. I think anybody who's that negative is the
insufferable asshole.
Forgive me if I don't give a crap what the political leanings of my
mass-media entertainment are. If Rand had been an outspoken
communist, my primary complaint about her work would be the
same.
ed|5.23.07 @ 12:12PM|#
Timothy | May 23, 2007, 11:37am | #
"Who will be more insufferable, the kids waiting to see Atlas
Shrugged or the nerds in line for the latest installment of Harry
Potter?"
It's you, Timothy, you.
NotThatDavid | May 23, 2007, 11:39am | #
"Oh dear god no....I'm going to go hide under a rock for five
years or so."
Please do, but make it 10 years.
Timothy|5.23.07 @ 12:14PM|#
I've never claimed otherwise, ed.
Also, like, your mom wears army boots or something equally
scathing!
B|5.23.07 @ 12:15PM|#
I believe Angelina Jolie is already signed on to play
Dagny.
Brad Pitt as John Galt? They've already done the
violence-as-foreplay thing on screen...
thoreau|5.23.07 @ 12:15PM|#
Hm, yes, an explicitly libertarian movie, and all we have
are jokes and naysaying. I think anybody who's that negative is the
insufferable asshole.
Yes, but only a libertarian would laugh at Ayn Rand jokes. Anybody
else would be like "Huh?"
The jokers may be insufferable assholes, but they're
our insufferable assholes.
|5.23.07 @ 12:19PM|#
I'm going to hold out hope that this is going to be a good movie. It would be neat to see it infused with a low level of retro-futurism.
|5.23.07 @ 12:21PM|#
I don't understand how this project can go forward on the most
optimistic libertarian time-line when Angelina Jolie
is taking a year off work.
2009?
|5.23.07 @ 12:21PM|#
Randall Wallace? Um, he's about as dishonest to the source
material as they come. Heck, it'll be in praise of Marxism by the
time he's done with it. I still can't forgive him for the atrocity
that was The Man in the Iron Mask. Oooh, let's "improve"
on Dumas, shall we?
He also wrote Pearl Harbor.
|5.23.07 @ 12:23PM|#
I hope Michael Bay doesn't direct it. Then Rearden Metal will be used to make Transformers or something. Or maybe they'll use it as a metaphor and make it Rearden Black Metal, and dethklok will be in the movie.
Lupito41|5.23.07 @ 12:25PM|#
"Scripts as a rule of thumb are supposed be between 90-120
pages. One reason for this is that every page equals roughly a
minute of screentime."
Actually a "spec script" like this should be much longer than
90-120 pages. Once a director whittles it down to a "shooting
script", it will still likely be 160-180 pages, leaving the rest to
be edited in post-production.
See, Dad! Film school *was* worth it!
|5.23.07 @ 12:27PM|#
John,
To be fair, it would be incredibly easy to make Atlas Shrugged into
a leftie propaganda piece. It's not too much of a stretch to say
that the captains of industry went on strike because they're a
bunch of whiners who made huge, huge profits but then whined and
went home when they couldn't buy a gold-plated Cadillac. All the
filmmakers have to do is piece together a string of Rand's
"moocher" rants while showing abject poverty on the streets. It
would be a cheap shot, but easy to do.
|5.23.07 @ 12:36PM|#
oh, and as Randolph noted, it's Rearden with an "e". I hereby revoke Doherty's libertarian-nerd cred.
|5.23.07 @ 12:36PM|#
Lamar,
That makes sense. It would be very easy to take Rand's meritocricy
and twist it into an indictment of the rich. Do the whole leftist,
"all capitalists are rich because of lying, gambling and
speculating at the expense of everyone else" line.
Urkobold®|5.23.07 @ 12:57PM|#
URKOBOLD'S MINIONS "MASHED UP"
SANFORD AND SON AND DUNE TODAY. URKOBOLD SEES
SIMILAR POTENTIAL WITH THAT WOMAN WITH STRANGE SEX HABITS' 10,000
PAGE BOOK (URKOBOLD ONLY READS THE SPEECHES) AND MR. SANFORD'S
SHOW.
URKOBOLD IS COMING TO YOU, ELIZABETH! THIS IS THE BIG ONE!
stephen the goldberger|5.23.07 @ 12:59PM|#
Come on this could be awesome. That quote from Wallace I think indicates that he understands the material to some degree, and will succeed in humanizing it. Making Rand's message more appealing to everyone instead of just the soulless robots.
|5.23.07 @ 12:59PM|#
I want to keep my money
And give away absolutely nothing
To the government who moderates my spending
and obliterates depending on what time of the year
brutality is here
in the form of income tax
I'd rather take a fucking axe
to my face, blow up this place
with you all in it, I'd do it in a minute
if I could write off your murder
I'd save all of my receipts
because I'd rather you be dead
than lose a tiny shred of what I made this fiscal year
I'd rather you be dead than to maul your body in my second
home
I'd rather you be dead than consider losing all my evil
restaurants
|5.23.07 @ 1:02PM|#
"Randall Wallace? Um, he's about as dishonest to the source
material as they come. Heck, it'll be in praise of Marxism by the
time he's done with it. I still can't forgive him for the atrocity
that was The Man in the Iron Mask. Oooh, let's "improve" on Dumas,
shall we?
He also wrote Pearl Harbor."
What happened to the guy who wrote Ray?
Pearl Harbor was a cinematic Cleveland Steamer.
|5.23.07 @ 1:06PM|#
If he just has a script now and not even a director, there's basically no way a major motion picture will be done within one year.
GILMORE|5.23.07 @ 1:06PM|#
I have a few points to make without reading anything anyone's
already said, which is disrespectful and lazy. I apologize.
- Why does the fact that Ayn Rand was a Fundylibertoid mean that
ANONE, especially us, should care about her shitty fiction? Really.
I can agree with a lot of her basic ideas, and also hold that she
was a crap storyteller. Her longer novels in my view dont deserve
to be filmed. They're too flat and unuanced. Soap operas with
economic subtext.
Anthem, however, would make a decent sci-fi film ... One reason
that book succeeds is that she didnt give herself room to
pontificate, and just told a PK Dick style parable.
- Also Ayn_Randian's existence = proves NotThatDavids point
I fully belive that it is fair, right, good and proper for any
particular camp to mock, malign and abuse the fundies in their
midst. Democrats should kick the hippies in the nuts, the GOP
should evict the Dobsons, and we, the leftover people, should
remind our core-constituency of nerds, sci fi freaks,
ferret-owners, transgenderists, etc. that they all have to sit in
the back of the bus and shut up so they dont ruin our hepcat
image.
See, like Nick. Nick is a great face for Libertoids, because he
gives the impression we're a bunch of suave, economically
literate...uhh... potheads. :)
Ayn Rand - herself and her fan club - tends to reinforce the image
of libertoids as nerdy paranoid naysayers with layers of
personality problems. Basically, someone you'd never want showing
up at your kegger.
It's nice to refer to Rand as a historical pioneer for
Libertarianism, but it doesnt mean we have to also be her literary
fan club.
|5.23.07 @ 1:12PM|#
Hm, yes, an explicitly libertarian movie, and all we have
are jokes and naysaying.
Much like I can't understand Bill Buckley's objections to a movie
made from an Ann Coulter book. It is conservative, and therefore
worthwhile.
robc|5.23.07 @ 1:12PM|#
Gilmore,
While I agree with you that Anthem would be the best choice for a
movie, I liked the longer novels too. I just dont read her
non-fiction.
Fluffy|5.23.07 @ 1:22PM|#
Well, Gilmore, I'm not sure I agree completely with your
literary evaluation.
Atlas is in fact unnuanced - so much so that Rand invested time and
energy in inventing a theory of aesthetics to justify her lack of
nuance. But that doesn't necessarily discredit it in literary terms
for all time. It's a stylistic throwback without much of a place in
the history of 20th century "high" literature, sure.
I think The Fountainhead and We the Living are actually pretty
decent literature, and aren't nearly as stilted as Atlas.
I don't think Atlas would make a good film for several
reasons:
1. It's too long, and can't really be profitably shortened in my
humble opinion without having the implausibility of a "strike of
the mind" toppling an industrial society heightened to really
obscene levels.
2. It takes place in a magic-realist America that combines the
attributes of many different eras, and would therefore have to take
place in a sort of "Hudsucker Proxy" world that I don't think
filmgoers would take to.
3. Many of the subplots would make little to no sense to a modern
audience. The Rearden marriage makes no sense in 2006, Dr. Robert
Stadler's conflict would be alien to the audience, etc. But taking
out the subplots [the likely solution] just makes the story that
much flatter.
I also think the film is a bad idea because too many of the readers
of Atlas take it as a political and economic primer instead of as a
metaphor for the role of reason in man's existence. The strike idea
is, at the end of the day, silly - technological society runs on
too broad a base of human expertise to be vulnerable to the
disappearance of a small group of people. That's why Rand has to
construct the composite environment in #2, above - to create a
world where the strike could work. And once we dispose of the
literal strike and look at the story as a metaphor, I just think
that there HAS TO BE a better way to make a film that makes that
metaphorical point than to try to squeeze Atlas into 2 hours.
Urkobold®|5.23.07 @ 1:33PM|#
URKOBOLD PLANS TO ATTEND THE GRAND OPENING OF ATLAS SHRUGGED AND YELL, "SPEECH! SPEECH!" DURING THE SCENES WHERE THE SPEECHES ARE EDITED OUT IN THE INTEREST OF TIME.
Urkobold®|5.23.07 @ 1:34PM|#
thoreau may be a geeky Physicist with a cheeseball sense of humor, but he's our geeky Physicist with a cheeseball sense of humor.
|5.23.07 @ 1:39PM|#
Is it just me, or does the Urkobold seem to have multiple
personalities today?
Though I do think that the war with thoreau ended last week.
Urkobold is now at war with Jennifer. Or is that Eurasia?
|5.23.07 @ 1:45PM|#
But will it be as good as Shrek 3?
I think that Burt Reynolds would make a great Dagney and Dom
DeLuise as her sidekick Eddie Willers. ( Are Burt and Dom still
living? )
In any case, when it comes out I'll be the first in line at the
movie theater.
IDL
Jennifer|5.23.07 @ 1:57PM|#
Urkobold is now at war with Jennifer. Or is that
Eurasia?
That would be me. And I am totally kicking his ass.
Urkobold®|5.23.07 @ 2:05PM|#
PATHETIC FOOL! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO, SHAKE YOUR TITS AT
URKOBOLD? YOU CANNOT WIN.
LAST URKOBOLD SAW, YOU WERE FAILING TO MASTER YOUR OWN DOMAIN.
stephen the goldberger|5.23.07 @ 2:10PM|#
what the shit is this urkobold. it's not funny, and pretty much kills any thread it posts in.
Jennifer|5.23.07 @ 2:14PM|#
Urkobold is the primal troll before whom all lesser trolls
tremble.
I, however, am a greater troll, so I do not tremble. I bounce.
thoreau|5.23.07 @ 2:19PM|#
Urkobold is a necessary response to all of the trolls that we've been encountering lately.
|5.23.07 @ 2:28PM|#
thoreau, sort of a troll consolidator, if you will.
I don't think I'd call the Urkobold funny. More in the
grating/abusive/bad for kids vein, I'm thinking.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm starting to think there's something
going on between Jennifer and the Urkobold. She springing to His
defense? He constantly talking about her ampleness? Yeah, they call
it a war, but I'm thinking Sam and Diane.
Urkobold®|5.23.07 @ 2:30PM|#
Urkobold...pretty much kills any thread it posts
in.
stephen the goldberger GETS A COOKIE.
THUNDERCHICKEN|5.23.07 @ 2:52PM|#
Do you have a gizzard, gullet, and comb? No? Well then - you
couldn't possibly pronounce it.
*pecks cookie on the taint*
Fluffy|5.23.07 @ 2:52PM|#
Checked out:
That's always been a mystery to me, too.
I always assumed it was "DAG - nee."
Jennifer|5.23.07 @ 2:58PM|#
Maybe it's just me, but I'm starting to think there's
something going on between Jennifer and the Urkobold.
For fuck's sake, PL. This is a thread about Ayn Rand
novels, and the thought of a creepy abusive masochistic
love/hate sex vibe catches you by surprise?
Turn in your decoder ring at once, lightweight.
|5.23.07 @ 2:59PM|#
I like Atlas Shrugged (though I certainly wouldn't call it good; bizarre would be more accurate). The prospect of an Atlas movie is exciting, no matter how ridiculous it winds up being.
|5.23.07 @ 3:01PM|#
Fluffy,
I just never thought Dag-nee sounded cool, so have wondered if it's
supposed to be like the 'g-n' in champagne, and pronounced Danny or
Dainy. Oh, well, thanks for your thoughts.
|5.23.07 @ 3:04PM|#
Jennifer,
Alrighty then. I recast my analogy then to the romantic tones of
The Fountainhead.
|5.23.07 @ 3:05PM|#
Trooper Roman? Isn't that a font?
You are essentially correct, Sir. It's a joke for graphic-design
nerds. "Urkobold" sounds like a typeface, you see.
Urkobold®|5.23.07 @ 3:11PM|#
AND JP SOUNDS LIKE A "JUNIOR
PENIS."
ON SECOND THOUGHT, URKOBOLD SHOULD HAVE HIS OWN FONT. URKOBOLD
AWAITS SUBMISSIONS THEREOF, MINIONS AND UNTERKOBOLDIANS. SOMETHING
TROLLISH, WITH LOTS OF NICE GROTESKS. . .SERIFS FOR YOU FRENCHIFIED
FOOLS.
GILMORE|5.23.07 @ 3:15PM|#
stephen the goldberger | May 23, 2007, 2:10pm | #
what the shit is this urkobold. it's not funny, and pretty much
kills any thread it posts in.
First off, I commend your creative use of "what the shit"
Second, I think the Urkobold is inevitable and necessary in open
forumns
The best defense against stupidity is often to appropriate that
particular mode of stupidity, and pre-empt it with some rhetorical
flourish. It sometimes acts as 'asshole repellant', since it takes
away the air of seriousness that stupid people sometimes need to
express their particularly stupid views
my occasional use of "MORE AMERICAN THAN YOU"-man is similar. He
knows that all of you are Athiest America-hating decadent druggie
half-breed fag-enabling masturbators, and knows that you dont
understand anything unless he types in IN ALL CAPS AND WITHOUT
COMMAS BECAUSE A REAL AMERICAN DOESNT NEED COMMAS COMMAS IS
PROBABLY COMMIE TOO
Fake personas are always fun too.
|5.23.07 @ 3:18PM|#
I don't like the direction that this is taking. Some sociology PhD is thinking about writing his thesis on the Urkobold as we type. That disturbs me for some reason.
GILMORE|5.23.07 @ 3:20PM|#
Lord Urkobold,
Runic fonts for your missives
http://www.acondia.com/fonts/runenglish/index.html
highnumber|5.23.07 @ 3:25PM|#
Right, ProGLib.
Do not look behind the curtain. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Move along quietly, folks. Everything's fine. Nothing to see.
|5.23.07 @ 3:28PM|#
The producer had talked about doing Atlas Shrugged as "two or
thre movies, or one fairly long one" to fully capture Rand's vison
or something. This script sounds pretty compact.
Summer release date? I would have expected this to be a December
release with heavy Oscar campaigning.
I've never read the book, but I have no doubt that this movie will
suck.
|5.23.07 @ 3:31PM|#
Yeah, they call it a war, but I'm thinking Sam and Diane.
Better than than Jack and Diane.
grylliade|5.23.07 @ 3:31PM|#
Actually a "spec script" like this should be much longer than 90-120 pages. Once a director whittles it down to a "shooting script", it will still likely be 160-180 pages, leaving the rest to be edited in post-production.
Aristotle believed that even a spec script should be 90-120 pages.
I suggest you read Aristotle's Filmics before you
embarrass yourself further.
Urkobold is a necessary response to all of the trolls that we've been encountering lately.
It has become necessary to troll the threads in order to save
them.
How is 'Dagny' pronounced, please?
I believe it's pronounced "Taggum."
Fluffy|5.23.07 @ 3:35PM|#
One other pronounciation possibility I've heard is that it's
pronounced like "Daphne".
I tend to not agree with that pronounciation, though.
|5.23.07 @ 3:37PM|#
I liked Atlas Shrugged.
And I predict that the movie will be such a popular blockbuster
that it will spawn a weekly TV series.
Jerry Stiller will play John Galt's wacky neighbor.
GILMORE|5.23.07 @ 3:38PM|#
I dont mean to slag off all rands longer books, and think they
are great for young adults who want a Dune-type immersive read that
also gives them some 'big ideas' to chew on... (I read all her
stuff in a rush in 8th-9th grade, and can credit her for starting
me down the glorious path of enlightenment that lead to.... uhh, me
hanging around the reason threads?)...but it's just that i think
they're not the kinds of things that make good film material. Like,
say, The Magus. Or, a better example, most of Vonnegut's stuff...
which is light-years better writing than Rand, but has something
about it that makes it hard to translate onto screen. I love
vonnegut's books, but most of the films made of his stuff are
garbage (Shlaucthous Finf being the exception)...
anyway, Rand as a thinker lost a lot of credibility to me the more
of her stuff I read. She had the headlines right, but really didnt
understand a lot of the shit she tossed around. and, she was nuts.
And, the big fans of her stuff (see above) are often...whats the
expression? Insufferable something-or-others?
|5.23.07 @ 3:38PM|#
How is 'Dagny' pronounced, please?
Just like "Danny," but with a strangling noise in the middle.
|5.23.07 @ 3:42PM|#
That's what I like about you, highnumber. I don't have to
explain my cryptic, runish-fonted remarks to you.
Stevo,
I see it as a wacky farce, with Galt being an inventor who is
constantly quitting regular jobs.
I\'m embarrassed to even be th|5.23.07 @ 3:44PM|#
One other pronounciation possibility I've heard is that it's
pronounced like "Daphne".
You mean Dagny was African-American?
|5.23.07 @ 3:50PM|#
John Galt was an asshole. I liked Francisco much better. Oh, and
Dagny was a total slut, jumping from guy to guy. She dumps Galt for
Owen Kellogg later in the sequel, Atlas Dropped the Ball.
I think the movie should reflect my view.
"Chumley" as in Tennessee Tuxedo? Heh, heh.
Fluffy|5.23.07 @ 3:52PM|#
I see no evidence that the continent of Africa exists in the
Atlas Shrugged world, nor any evidence that there are any Americans
of African descent. Thus, I conclude that Daphne-Dagny was not, in
fact, African-American.
Just to clarify things for everyone regarding my OWN name - I
actually use the German pronounciation, which is, of course,
Floify. Please make a note of it.
Austin Powers|5.23.07 @ 3:56PM|#
It's to be called Atlas Shagged, Baby! And I'm going to be the star! Isn't that just groovy?
|5.23.07 @ 4:03PM|#
Oh, like Featherstonehaugh is pronounced Fanshaw. Or that
Worcestershire word.
I'd pay twice to watch Atlas Shagged.
Jennifer|5.23.07 @ 4:12PM|#
I'd pay twice to watch Atlas Shagged.
That would be the most boring porn movie ever. Considering how
completely oblivious John Galt was to being tortured in the
original version, just imagine how calm and efficient the sex
scenes would be.
|5.23.07 @ 4:18PM|#
Well, like I said, John Galt was a jackass. How about we edit
him out altogether? Hank Rearden was the protagonist, anyhow. Or
maybe Chumley. Either way, not Galt.
Now that I think about it, an Atlas Shrugged parody does
just about write itself.
VM,
Spelt Raymond Luxury-Yacht, right? ☻
VM|5.23.07 @ 4:21PM|#
And you know how it's pronounced. Now how about that nose
job?
**
"My Hovercraft is full of eels"
|5.23.07 @ 4:47PM|#
Okay, this is really funny. I went and looked at the "Hungarian
Phrasebook Sketch" that VM is quoting from and saw this
line:
"Ya! Ya! Ya! Ya! Do you waaaaant. . .do you waaaaaant. . .to come
back to my place, bouncy bouncy?"
Yes, "bouncy bouncy". Jennifer, you and Urkobold are apparently one
with Monty Python or are speaking Hungarian. Either way, pretty
cool.
The next great line in the sketch, incidentally, is, "If I said you
had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? I. . .I am no
longer infected."
For those that don't know, all these statements are from a
Hungarian using an evilly written Hungarian-English phrasebook to
attempt to purchase some cigarettes.
VM|5.23.07 @ 4:50PM|#
The Flat at 2b...
errr.
To be honest, it was the URKOBOLD's "Bouncy bouncy" that inspired
my request for matches!
|5.23.07 @ 5:28PM|#
I'm going to hold out hope that this is going to be a good
movie. It would be neat to see it infused with a low level of
retro-futurism.
Good call mediageek. Another Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
would be perfect. A super styled piece with a message. Critically
aclaimed and enough promotion and fan base to make it profitable
once it hits netflix. Yet only barely so. So in a years time it
will be forgotten by all but the faithful and won't be a shit
target for every statist with an ax to grind.
GILMORE|5.23.07 @ 5:30PM|#
PL
I cant believe you've made it this far through life without having
memorized every single mont python sketch ever produced. i thought
that was like, part of college or something.
"My Hovercraft...is full of eels..."
|5.23.07 @ 5:44PM|#
Another Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow would be
perfect.
I've got it: it should be animated. Brad and Angelina can
voice Galt and Dagny, and Randy Newman can write some songs for
it.
|5.23.07 @ 5:49PM|#
I\'d pay twice to watch Atlas Shagged.
That would be the most boring porn movie ever.
Speaking of porn movies, I submit Vibrator Shrugged.
|5.23.07 @ 5:53PM|#
Which reminds me, "Dagny" is pronounced "Danni," as in "Danni Ashe" (who should be given the role, BTW).
|5.23.07 @ 5:59PM|#
(indignantly) "My nipples explode with delight!" I don't have
Python fully memorized, but I usually know it when I hear/read/see
it. I learned juggling in college, for the record.
As for connecting principles, I certainly know many men who would
state that "bouncy bouncy" is the force that holds and binds all
the universe together. An ur-stuff if you will.
|5.23.07 @ 6:01PM|#
Hmmm. It appears that the Urkobold has unlocked Formerly Known as jp's primal force.
|5.23.07 @ 6:11PM|#
It appears that the Urkobold has unlocked Formerly Known as
jp's primal force.
I attribute it to bouncy bouncy, the ur-stuff, even more ur than
ur-kobold.
|5.23.07 @ 6:24PM|#
Really, for a title, you can\'t beat The
Fountainhead.
No, no, no. That would be Fountain Head.
Hmph.Amateurs...
|5.23.07 @ 6:45PM|#
Junior P----,
I believe that it was Thales of Miletus that posited the theory
that all existence could be reduced to "bouncy bouncy".
|5.23.07 @ 7:21PM|#
"Lamar | May 23, 2007, 11:29am | #
It will be quite a challenge to turn Rand's archetypal characters
into real people."
Casting the politicians will be easy. Just hire actual politicians.
That would be the first real job for some of them.
|5.23.07 @ 7:36PM|#
"Jennifer | May 23, 2007, 2:58pm | #
Maybe it's just me, but I'm starting to think there's something
going on between Jennifer and the Urkobold.
For fuck's sake, PL. This is a thread about Ayn Rand novels, and
the thought of a creepy abusive masochistic love/hate sex vibe
catches you by surprise?
Turn in your decoder ring at once, lightweight."
Nice going, Jennifer. Made me choke on a cinnamon roll, I was
laughing so hard at your post. Trying to kill me, you sadist?
|5.23.07 @ 7:44PM|#
"my occasional use of "MORE AMERICAN THAN YOU"-man is similar.
He knows that all of you are Athiest America-hating decadent
druggie half-breed fag-enabling masturbators, and knows that you
dont understand anything unless he types in IN ALL CAPS AND WITHOUT
COMMAS BECAUSE A REAL AMERICAN DOESNT NEED COMMAS COMMAS IS
PROBABLY COMMIE TOO"
I resent being called an atheist. And you left out "greedy
anarchist capitalist-exploiter swine".
stephen the goldberger|5.23.07 @ 11:37PM|#
uhh in any case im excited that this movie is a possibility. I hope they keep in tact the highly eroticized bridge design scene. I also hope they edit John Galt's speech from one hour 25 minutes to a 4 word catch phrase like: "man, y'all fucking crazy"
|5.24.07 @ 3:28AM|#
# Fluffy | May 23, 2007, 1:22pm | #
# I don't think Atlas would make
# a good film for several reasons:
# 2. It takes place in a magic-realist
# America that combines the attributes
# of many different eras, and would
# therefore have to take place in a
# sort of "Hudsucker Proxy" world that
# I don't think filmgoers would take to.
I disagree with you there. Don't think "fantasy 1940s that never
were..." Think "sf 2040s that might yet be..." There are a lot of
rail fans out there, and many economic and technological reasons
why we might see a revitalized rail system in the near future. The
person or persons who make that happen could forge a new modern era
of transportation, and be among the class of magnates to which Rand
alludes in AS.
Furthermore, politics and economic trends seem cyclical. After a
booming entrepreneurial, laissez faire period of several
post-millennial decades, in which South America (notably Chile and
Argentina) could once again ascend, we could fall back into a
statist-socialist global pattern, which would pave the way for the
Cuffy Meigses and James Taggarts of the world.
It just seems to me that setting the AS movie in a possible FUTURE,
as opposed to an imaginary, parallel universe PAST, would be the
better call.
|5.24.07 @ 3:51AM|#
And here's another vote for Mel Gibson as Rearden. I thought he
could do Eddie Willers, too, but I think I'd rather see him as
Hank.
Antonio Banderas as Francisco!
I used to like Jodie Foster as Dagny. I don't think Angelina is
right. What about Jessica Simpson? Yes, I'm serious!
Laura Linney as Lillian Rearden!
Paul Gross as John Galt. Or, if you need someone younger, Christian
Bale. Either of them could credibly play Galt as both the janitor
and the guru-leader of the "strike." Both can speak Galt's words
with conviction and intelligence.
|5.24.07 @ 9:20AM|#
Actually, Dagny is properly rendered in speech as
"natures".
Jack Elam as Henry Rearden.
|5.24.07 @ 2:27PM|#
The perfect future double bill...
"A first draft of "Karl Marx" is due to be ready for the Festival
de Cannes."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i8d63c07e815ca7e34c7b7357a1bae56e
|5.24.07 @ 5:55PM|#
Mel Gibson as Hank Rearden
Tom Hanks as Eddie Willers
Ray Liotta as James Taggart
Brad Pitt as John Galt (a one dimensional actor to play a one
dimensional role.
Angelina Jolie as Dagny
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends as...
|5.25.07 @ 2:46AM|#
Shrugged should be a 26-part TV miniseries. Any
hour-long or longer scenes of speechifying can be excerpted in the
first release, with the full versions available as on demand video
through the `net or one's cable or satellite provider. Those will
be extras on the DVD release, of course.
The Italians made a decent version of We, The
Living.
Kevin
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