atlas shrugged movie

[Nerva]

i was pleasantly surprised when i found out they are making a movie... but as soon as i saw the cast, i was not so happy...

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[xanis]

Oh no... this can only end badly.

 

[destrekor]

One, it's rumored... and two... why? The two heads are quite talented and have had some excellent lead roles in the past. They just need a good director and good story to have believable characters. Angelina Jolie is especially convincing when she is handed strong roles.
But the director... has anyone seen House of Sand and Fog? I've never seen it, so it could be sketchy in regards to the director for Atlas Shrugged.

+

 

[Nerva]

i dunno, i hope they dont destroy this...

 

[BRObedoza]

they're both fine actors. house of sand and fog was pretty good.

 

[Platypus]

Hooray.. now 1000+ pages of literary masturbation filled with trite, stolen and crudely munged together philosophies can be distilled into a 3 hour wankfest

 

[Wuffsunie]

That movie will implode under the sheer mass of its own pretension.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: Platypus
Hooray.. now 1000+ pages of literary masturbation filled with trite, stolen and crudely munged together philosophies can be distilled into a 3 hour wankfest

Well of all the 1000+ page books I've ever read this is by far the easiest to distill into a movie. The whole damn book says the EXACT same thing over and over and over again 20 times, could easily have been 250 pages and made just as much sense. I think it would be good to have it made into a movie though, and I DO think Angelina Jolie is the right person to play the lead. I don't agree with alot of what is said in the book, nor do I find it particularily well written, however it is a good book to get your mind going in new directions if you have neven been exposed to the sort of things it says, and deffinitely makes some good point. But the carboard cutout characters are a far cry from real life and the result is a far over simplified view on morality.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

some of ayn rands stuff is interesting but the pretentious nature of her objectivist 'followers' makes it really annoying to mention.

 

[Kirby64]

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
That movie will implode under the sheer mass of its own pretension.

Uh oh, the cloud of smug will appear and cause us all to perish

 

[nageov3t]

I can't really see anyone *other* than Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart.

it was totally how I envisioned Dagny in my head when I first read the book 5 years ago.

 

[axelfox]

Student all over the world rejoice.

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
some of ayn rands stuff is interesting but the pretentious nature of her objectivist 'followers' makes it really annoying to mention.

Much like the fanatics of other institutions, yeah, objectivists can rub some people the wrong way. But there are those that admire her work, even do their best to keep some of her principles in the back of their heads during the day, that don't annoy others. Its uncommon, but I'm drawn more towards her book The Fountainhead; I actually keep it around and read it once every 8 months or so.

I do hope this is a good movie. Rand deserves nothing less.

 

[Praxis1452]

Never read the novel, plan to though soon. Hope it works out well.

 

[Born2bwire]

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/150385

 

[PowerEngineer]

Anyone who really likes a particular book will always be disappointed by the movie.

That said, I do agree that the book contains quite a bit of repetition (I have never made it through John Galt's chapter-long speech) and the plot/action seemed like it came out of a comic book. So, I can easily see it being compressed into a 2-hour "action" movie.

I doubt that the arguments for self-reliance and self-pride will be effectively conveyed to the movie-goers.

It's an interesting book; well worth reading. I find myself a bit less upset by Rand's ideas every time a reread the book -- probably because I've had to deal with my share of James Taggart's over the years.

P.S. -- While I don't want to minimize the importance of Dagny's physical attractiveness (as described by Rand), I always had the impression that it was her intelligence and competence that made her stand out to the few men that valued those things. I'm afraid that a physical "knock-out" like Jolie is too much (more of a Lara Croft). She just isn't going to come across as a hard-as-nails business woman. And Brad Pitt? Oh no... I suppose he'll be a little more believable as John Galt than he was a Achillies.

 

[BrokenVisage]

Finally.. I would never have the patience to read that thing, I want to see what all the fuss is about (of course it will probably diverge from the novel and people will say it's not even comparable).

Hey maybe Jolie will walk around nude with mud on her nipples like in Beowulf.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I just don't see Atlas Shrugged as making a good movie no matter how talented the actors are. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[Saint Michael]

I don't know about Jolie, but Pitt is a fine actor. Never read the book so I have no emotional investment in the movie's success, though.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: Saint Michael
I don't know about Jolie, but Pitt is a fine actor. Never read the book so I have no emotional investment in the movie's success, though.

The problem isn't even that Pitt is a terrible actor, its that Pitt is not even close to what the character of John Galt should be.

 

[Farang]

Originally posted by: PowerEngineer

Anyone who really likes a particular book will always be disappointed by the movie.

That said, I do agree that the book contains quite a bit of repetition (I have never made it through John Galt's chapter-long speech) and the plot/action seemed like it came out of a comic book. So, I can easily see it being compressed into a 2-hour "action" movie.

I doubt that the arguments for self-reliance and self-pride will be effectively conveyed to the movie-goers.

It's an interesting book; well worth reading. I find myself a bit less upset by Rand's ideas every time a reread the book -- probably because I've had to deal with my share of James Taggart's over the years.

P.S. -- While I don't want to minimize the importance of Dagny's physical attractiveness (as described by Rand), I always had the impression that it was her intelligence and competence that made her stand out to the few men that valued those things. I'm afraid that a physical "knock-out" like Jolie is too much (more of a Lara Croft). She just isn't going to come across as a hard-as-nails business woman. And Brad Pitt? Oh no... I suppose he'll be a little more believable as John Galt than he was a Achillies.

I agree that it will be easily compressed, but disagree that the message won't be conveyed. At first I thought that too but for me the best part of the book was Francisco d'Anconia's money speech, which could be powerfully interpreted in film. Other important parts, such as Dagny's frustration with the shadow man taking away business leaders, or the burning of the oil fields, or the first train journey on Rearden metal track, could all be very well translated to the screen.

The book is just so long though that we have to hope they have good screenwriters to compress it, but I do think the opportunity is there for it to be a great film.

 

[biggestmuff]

Originally posted by: 3cho
i was pleasantly surprised when i found out they are making a movie... but as soon as i saw the cast, i was not so happy...

Text

Well, aren't you being rather subjective.

 

[SirStev0]

Originally posted by: Born2bwire
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/150385

You : 1 , This thread : 0

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: MrLee

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
some of ayn rands stuff is interesting but the pretentious nature of her objectivist 'followers' makes it really annoying to mention.

Much like the fanatics of other institutions, yeah, objectivists can rub some people the wrong way. But there are those that admire her work, even do their best to keep some of her principles in the back of their heads during the day, that don't annoy others. Its uncommon, but I'm drawn more towards her book The Fountainhead; I actually keep it around and read it once every 8 months or so.

I do hope this is a good movie. Rand deserves nothing less.

yeah, she did spend 10 years of her life writing it. i have actually only read atlas shrugged and the fountainhead, but recently picked up Athem and will probably just read all her work while i am at it.

i think her philosophy contains a lot of merit, though extremely difficult to apply/implement in the society we live in. but still, i guess there is no harm in writing about utopia.

 

[Vic]

Brad Pitt as John Galt?

That can't go over well... his style doesn't lend itself to soliloquy.

Ayn Rand's philosophy isn't bad, just a bit ideologically extreme and cold-hearted. But at least it doesn't require a perfect world to work like communism does.