Fired Atlas Shrugged Director Sues
My feature for Reason's May issue on the making of the Atlas Shrugged movie discussed the question of who could properly call the movie "mine." Now Stephen Polk, who was hired then fired before shooting began as director of the film, is suing:
Filmmaker Stephen Polk says the creators of the movie adaption of the Ayn Rand novel "Atlas Shrugged" replaced him with another director and then used his ideas without payment or credit….
Polk says Kaslow hired a new director and produced the movie "using all the elements" that he had put together for the project.
Polk demands $6.5 million for "oppression, fraud and malice" from the defendants' false promises that he would "be compensated and credited as producer."
When I contacted Polk for the story, he wasn't talking suit; as I quoted him in my story:
Polk, in an email interview, refers merely to "complications," adding that he was impressed with Aglialoro's willingness to spend whatever it took to make the movie's production values fit the subject. "It's always been John's movie," Polk said, adding "I hope it is all he hopes it will be and inspires people to read more Rand."
Kaslow declined to discuss the whys of Polk's firing.
