Thursday
19Jun2008
'Atlas Shrugged' Loses Its Director
Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 9:58AM 
Atlas Shrugged, all right, and
Vadim Perelman has
blinked. The writer-director who earned great notices with this debut The House
of Sand and Fog has been attached to
Angelina Jolie's ambitious adaptation for
almost a year now has walked away from Atlas Shrugged, according to
Cinematical's Kim Vonyar.
Jolie has been attached to the project for some time,
and Braveheart writer
Randall Wallace had written a draft of the script over the
last couple of years, but now with a director jumping ship, there's no telling
where that leaves Atlas at the moment.
Here's where this story gets weird: Jolie has told
MTV that Perelman was never attached to direct, despite
the multiple reports that he signed a contract, the lack of immediate rebuttals
of that story, and the director's own interviews talking about the progress of
the film, one of which was conducted last month.
So who's right? Unfortunately, it doesn't really matter
now since Perelman is off the project for good, and as Vonyar writes, "I
can say with as much certainty as one can possibly have about a situation like
this that the decision to step down was on Perelman's side." Hmm, sounds like
there was a falling out, doesn't it?
This can't help the production of an adaptation long
thought impossible. The book is over 1,000 pages, and it's a dense 1,000 pages
at that. I would think just to recreate the world in the story would be fairly
expensive, not to mention how long an epic like this would take to film. And now
that a willing director has fled the scene, it's hard to say where this will go.
Jolie has wanted to do this project since she's had the stroke to make movies
happen on a whim, but she might face resistance from a studio that can't afford
to be very risky these days (Lionsgate) and directors who might be afraid of
touching the script in its current form.
So who should direct this? There aren't many filmmakers
out there who could do the story justice in the first place, but then with a
truncated version, that really makes it tough. Say, does anyone have Brett
Ratner's number?
Reader Comments (32)
Ugh! How long will we have to wait? I believe that I could likely go to film school, and start making multi-million dollar earning movies myself before anything happens with Atlas Shrugged. For sure though, here is a book that absolutely must have proper representation on screen. Here's to hoping some film studio pulls their collective heads from the sand and realizes the money that can be made from the proper adaptation of such a story.
I wondered what was going on. I'm not surprised, I guess. I'm skeptical this can be done well on film, certainly not in the 140 minutes they were proposing. But I even re-read the book in my excitement about an upcoming movie version -- it was worth it even if they don't make the movie. It's even better the second time around!
You have to wonder if there's a way to split it into a two- or three-film franchise. You'd hate to do that at a certain level, but you're doing Atlas Shrugged a huge disservice to decimate it by cutting hundreds of pages. I can't think of a better way to make it than to either make a pair of three hour movies or to make three two-and-a-half hour movies.
When I was a kid in grade school, I. liked the movie "The Fountainhead".
Since then I have seen that movie several times, read the book the movie was based on and "Atlas Shrugged" three times in my life. At age 71 I was hoping to add the DVD of "Atlas Shrugged" and place it next to the DVD of "The Fountainhead".
If someone could summon the spirit of David Lean, this could get made. But, what cineplex would show it? They could fill the house with three screenings of The Love Guru, so why dedicate a whole auditorium for four hours without orcs or Slitherins to keep people's attention? (Okay, the love scenes with Angelina Jolie as Dagny would more than make up for the lack of orcs!) Most movie-goers today have the attention span of ferrets on acid so, who would actually sit through it, anyway?
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, Atlas Shrugged needs to be presented to a larger audience, and although a Film will never do justice, at least its a start.
I believe many people would sit through a couple of hours of Atlas Shrugged. Most movies are getting longer anyway, like Lord of the Rings, Tarintino movies, and Titanic made mad money. People will sit through it as long as it is done right, that's the most important thing about this movie is that it done right and for the right reasons.
Why make a film? I know this point has been made before, but if LONESOME DOVE taught us anything, it's that an extra four hours can make an epic story more interesting than it likely would have been, told in two or even three hours. True there were a lot of big names in that one, who were also extremely good fits. But that's hardly the case in this one. You don't need buzz-dependent "stars" anymore, like the old days, to fill seats the 1st weekend in big theatres. Get a premium cable station on board for a 5-6 hour mini, hire the right director and cast for fit. That the last point wasn't much of a consideration, is a HUGE red flag that it's already wrong-headed and compromised. I want it, therefore I should have it, don't fly considering the pool insanely skilled acting talent, in the US and especially Britain.
Though the man's a felonious jerk,perhaps Polanski could do it if they want to make the film in Europe.
two words: Christopher Nolan
I hope it will be worth waiting for...this powerful story needs to be oscar quality, and I think the right team needs to work on it to get it there.
I love Angie, and I am sure she realizes it's not all about her, it's about the story of the man who stopped the motor of the world and his love. I hope they get all the right players in place with good chemistry to make this the best story ever told. This novel is the anthem of capitalism that needs to be properly porttrayed to the masses, so they get it.
Given the direction that the movie was going and being a huge fan of the book. This is good news. The movie needs to be made correctly and the direction was very liberal and in no way true to the book. I hope this book is never made into a movie.
I am deeply disappointed. I almost sent in $1000 to help finance the film. To tell you the truth, with all the venemous hatred going around these days against Ayn Rand type ideas, I have been afraid for the movie. They know how to blast these ideals, make fun of everything, sneer, cringe, and put down anything high minded, noble, or idealistic. It is not a nice world these days and I worried for the film and the producers that would finance it. It was so risky. Still, I want that movie!!!!
This has been a long time coming, and I finally warmed to Jolie as Dagny. Now what? I hope they make this. I want it bad.
This long boring book will make a long boting movie.
boring
I hate to think of what they would cut in order to fit this monster in 140 minutes... But I'm incredibly excited about it. I hope a great director is found for this project to take flight and be deserving of the novel.
Make the film in Europe??? Why not just get the US gov't to make it, they would do a much better job than private sector Hollywood.
Consider it dead in the hands of Jolie. This needs to be a 9 hour miniseries on HBO or Showtime with unknown or at least non-big name actors. I could see Paul Giamatti as Jim Taggert or one of the other villians I guess though. Bottom line is, with a story of this kind of signifigance, if you aren't creative/savvy enough to get it done right, don't do it at all. Jolie should have no part in it as she is not that good of an actor and definitely not how the book describes Dagny. My bet is she will take the story rights to her grave with nothing made.
Lara Croft TR with implants and tats as Dagny?
Screenwriter for AS with a Master's in Religion?
Brat Pitt as a rugged individualist, Hank Rearden?
A moral/philsophical film in 2 hours?
Heroine who has 4 romantic leads, (is Billy Bob one of them)?
Who is the audience, (10 students from Objectivism)?
What is LionsGate thinking?
Over the last 35 years (since I was 14) I've read the book a dozen or more times. While I was glad there was movement towards a movie, I was disappointed Jolie was attaching herself to the project. She's a movie star, alright, but I thought the book needs ACTORS. The best line up I imagined was Jodie Foster as Dagny, Mel Gibson as John Gault, Jimmy Smits as Francisco, and Harrison Ford as Hank Reardon. Of course, this was years ago, and they're all much older. Also, why can't the story be updated, retaining the objectivist thread against a backdrop of a new metallurgy process for hypersonic transports? If it's about technocrats taking their talents away, let's take that to the logical future. Had Rand been alive today she might have thought in those terms and made it relevant to contemporary technological advances. That will make the movie bankable as well and can still do justice to the narrative thread and moral ideas. Just a thought....
I love the idea of Jolie as Dagny Taggart. She is a phenominal actress and can pretty much nail any part she does. With ANY movie adaptation of a book you need to let go of things. While this will kill most "objectivists", there is no black and white. Things can be changed, cut out, ignored, etc. Titanic and the Dark Knight were 2+ hours, but still good and engaging movies. Leave the decisions about what works in a movie up to the people that make them.
No matter how it is done, the purists will *hate* it. So whoever does it should concentrate on making the best MOVIE based on the book. (Where's Peter Jackson when you need him?)
Having read the book 6 or 7 times, I find the prospect of finally seeing it made into a movie a double edged sword. I would like to love a movie made from Atlas Shrugged even more than I love the book, however, I think that might be impossible. Each time I read the book, I see more events in the book played out in my mind. One of my favorite scenarios is Dagney in Galts Gulch. I fear that no one can play the part of John Galt and do it justice. He is one of those characters that should remain illusive. Putting Atlas on film might ruin that for me and many others. So, if a movie or mini-series is ever made you can rest assured I will own the DVD - it's whether or not I have the guts to watch it that will remain the question.
Could you imagine the uproar that this movie would crate if done correctly? Just the idea of a man figuring out how to pull static electricity out of the atmosphere and convert it to a usable form; and then have the gall to think that he should profit from it would put the left in a tizzy. At a time when "green" energy is so highly valued and those that produce carbon based energy for profit are villified they'll say that such a concept should be the property of mankind. What they fail to realize is that mankind is not and should not be a collective but rather a collection of rugged individuals.
AS needs about 8 to 10 hours to be told correctly and the only way to really do that is in a mini-series along the lines of "John Adams".