Evidently the Atlas Society held a summer seminar where the producers of the upcoming Atlas Shrugged Movie shared some details about the project:
- The final go-ahead “deal” was signed on June 29. The film is well-capitalized, with Lionsgate — the studio that produced the most recent Oscar-winning film, “Crash” — investing $40 million or more for initial production effort.
- The plan is for the film to be shot and shown in three parts, as a trilogy, like “Lord of the Rings.” Only that length, they said, would give sufficient scope to tell Ayn Rand’s long, complex story. (The initial $40 million would go mainly to Part I.)
- The first draft of the script for Part I has been completed by James V. Hart, a veteran screenwriter among whose major credits are “Contact,” “Hook,” and “Tuck Everlasting.”
I’m not sure what to make of all this. Even with Angelina Jolie as the female lead, I have trouble imagining too many non-Randroids sitting through three epic movies — including one long speech — with no Orcs.
Jane Galt — who, amusingly, is not an Objectivist — points out the biggest question:
Who is John Galt? I nominate Brad Pitt, whose lovely golden incoherence seems just right for the bits that aren’t, well, a 150 page speech.