For what seems like the 9,997th time, it appears that Atlas Shrugged might actually leave development hell and finally turn into a movie. This movie will, of course, be terrible. There’s simply no question about that. For one thing, there’s no way you can back nearly 1,000 pages of dense prose into one three-hour movie. It simply cannot be done.
That said, since this is one of the myriad times that Atlas Shrugged has threatened to actually be made and it hasn’t happened yet, perhaps now is a good a time as any to talk about what would make for a good film version of Atlas Shrugged.
Before I do, though, a quick word about Atlas Shrugged. Let me just say that despite the over-long, in-desperate-need-of-editing speeches, I’ve always found the book to be a helluva great, pulpy read. Ayn Rand draws archetypes well and her depictions of a decaying society are pretty damned realistic. I still find The Fountainhead to be a superior work in many ways, but The Fountainhead made for a terrible movie, and that movie was probably the best possible version that could be made.
The Trilogy
First off, let’s be realistic here: there is simply no way you can fit all of the story of Atlas Shrugged into one movie. It is simply impossible. However, it would be possible to fit the story into a trilogy. Quite easily, in fact, because Atlas Shrugged is divided into three parts, each of which have their own neat beginning, middle, and end. Of course, the titles for those parts would have to go. I doubt that anyone would go to see Atlas Shrugged: A is A. Here are my suggested titles:
First movie: Who Is John Galt?
Second movie: The Strike
Third movie: Concerto of Deliverance
Your mileage, of course, may vary.
The Cast
Of course, no discussion of Atlas Shrugged as a film would be complete without a discussion of the cast. Here are my suggestions for most of the main parts:
Francisco D’Anconia: James Caviezel — he’s got the look, and I loved his swashbuckling turn as Edmond Dantes in Count of Monte Cristo.
Hank Reardon: Guy Pearce –If ever there was a man who could play a brilliant self-flagellator, he’s the one.
Dagny Taggart: Cate Blanchett — I thought this from the moment I saw Elizabeth.
Hugh Akston: Morgan Freeman — nobody does aging, wise, philosopher/mentor better.
Jim Taggart: Russell Crowe.
Ragnar Danneskjold: Nathan Fillian. Because who else would you want to play a pirate who hits government transport ships?
Eddie Willers: Masi Oka. Who better to play the honest everyman?
Lillian Reardon: Lucy Liu — beautiful, but emasculating is how I picture Lillian Reardon, and Lucy’s great at that.
Ellis Wyatt: Bill Pullman — he’s capable of the manic energy necessary, as well as playing the smart guy.
Robert Stadler: Robert Duvall.
Wesley Mouch: Gary Oldman — all he has to do is play pretty much the same guy he played in The Contender and he’ll have it nailed.
Dr. Floyd Ferris: Jason Isaacs — nobody oozes evil better.
John Galt: Easily the hardest role to cast, isn’t it? But after thinking about it for awhile, I can’t see anyone doing it better than Denzel Washington.
The Setting
Another challenge in setting up a film version of Atlas Shrugged is simply the setting. Atlas Shrugged was fairly contemporary for the 1950s. Since then, there have obviously been lots of changes in technology and industry. So the question is, do we update it? Or set it in the 1950s anyway? For myself, I think that the best option is to update and modernize the story. Heck, some of the technological elements in the books are still science fiction today: Galt’s motor, the hologram protecting Galt’s Gulch, etc. Reardon Metal can be updated to be carbon nanotubes or something like that rather than a new alloy, but it would still be pretty much the same as a story element.
One question about the film is that in the book, the Taggart Transcontinental Railroad (which has both passenger and freight) is the central company of the novel. But Ayn Rand wrote Atlas Shrugged during the twilight of the railroads. Now it’s pretty much dusk. Sure, there’s still lots of freight hauled on the rails, but passenger rail is virtually non-existent for long trips, and it’s not the vital industry it used to be. This will no doubt create the temptation to change the central industry of the story. Probably to an internet company or something.
This is a bad idea. I don’t think that Atlas Shrugged is possible without railroading. Too much of the theme is expressed through the metaphor, and large chunks of the book would have to be changed. (The John Galt line, anyone?) For me, though, the answer is obvious: set Atlas Shrugged in a near future society where airlines and trucking have collapsed and been replaced by high speed rail/maglevs. That’s not entirely unfeasible, it helps preserve the metaphor, and dammit, they look cool.
An Ideal Film Indeed
Despite some of the ideas I’ve thrown up about an Atlas Shrugged film trilogy, here’s one thing I can honestly say for sure–nothing like it will ever be made. It won’t be cast right. It will be compressed into three hours. It will have a weird, no real time period feel to it, etc. It will be directed by Michael Bay and have several gunfights. Also, John Galt will love puppies, go to Church on Sundays, and be played by Ben Affleck.
Because well, that’s Hollywood.
For the most part your cast is okay, though Caviezel is simply a weed and I cannot see Crowe taking on a supporting role as small as that of Jim Taggart’s would be on film. Denzel Washington would have to turn in the job of his lifetime, since in life he represents absoultely NONE of what John Galt stands for. Jim Carrey would be a better choice as Galt, or hell, even Drew Carey for that matter.
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Yeah, they’ll ruin Atlas Shrugged, which is a shame cause it really blew my mind. But look on the bright side, the love scenes should be HOT! Hopefully done with less blood loss and fewer broken shot glasses too.
Jim Carrey as John Galt? No way that works. I could easily see Denzel Washington as Galt. Maybe Michael Keaton if he is not too old now. George Clooney would be the worst possible person to cast who might actually be considered in my opinion. (No way Jim Carrey even gets a serious look.)
I would love to see Wentworth Miller as John Galt, I think he would be perfect. I loved the Fountain Head and I’ve read Atlas Shrugged. Her theory of objectivism is correct as far as I’m concerned. My motto is, “Howard Rourke is my mentor.” So many people have never heard of her or if they have, they call her Ann Rand, but it’s acutally rhymes with pine.
I think your cast is actually pretty solid especially Guy Pierce. Although I’m not sure I agree with your idea about changing time periods, it’s a shame that you’re right though, they’re going to ruin a great book like Atlas Shrugged but I’ll see it anyways and be disappointed.
No to everyone above, except Blanchett, but she will still not get the combination of aristocrat (WASP) and industrialist down right. She will play up Dagny’s “tough, feminist” (feminist is not the word for her) side too much, and go over the top with the one-on-one encounters with F, H and J.G. She will lack, in other words, the proper effortlessness of Dagny’s cool style.
All the men here stink, really. For F d A, it is imperative to find a kind of unknown, European actor. He has to be very mature and suave and the American crop just doesn’t pull it off well enough.
Hank Reardon should be a graying-at-the-temples Brooks Brothers type. He should not be so difficult to cast, but he still must have the right combination of discipline and charisma….
John Galt should not be Denzel Washington. Come on. Let’s just stay faithful to the book and go for the green eyed, copper haired man Daggo fell for. I am not racist, but giving over the role to a Black actor because it’s the “thing to do” is just going to smack of a PC smarminess all the way. I am sorry, but it was not Denzel whom Dagny was looking for all her life…
Same with Lucy Liu. Come on guys. Lilian Reardon is a frosty, WASP blond b*tch. Eleanor Powell in The Sound of Music—who gets wildly jealous of Julie Andrews–would have been perfect. I see no one like her today. All right, laugh if you will at this particular reference, but those who know who I am talking about will agree that that actress was Lilian all the way…
They will ruin the movie not for length reasons (And quite frankly, I always was fascinated by the “overly long” speeches), but because they won’t stay true to the time, tone and temperament of the book. They will walk on eggshells, try to make it too “up to date”, they will debase the elevated language, the actors will be too juvenile and unable to convey the emotional repression/control and joy that the characters felt at once. In a word, it will be way too immature….
I would bet you that a very independent, almost amateur film maker who read and adored the book, and who has a literary sense of envisioning the movie, would do a helluva better job than “hollywood”
I’ve recently changed my view of what the movie should be, as far as who it should be aimed at. Young people is who needs to see this film. It is they who will bear the brunt of the current foolishness in politics. With this in mind, I think the cast should come almost directly from the Twilight series of vampire films. Kristen Stewart could play Dagny, old and young. Robert Pattinson is just strange enough to play John Galt. I haven’t come up with the rest of the cast based on my new vision of the film, everyone I was thinking of is too old.
The thing that I disagree with you the most strongly about is that the main company would need to be changed with the times, by a producer’s stand-point. But I would think, and hope, that they would keep it set in the period it’s intended. I know she never specifically named a year in the book, but she gives us one vital clue: The Mexican nationalization of the mines and rail, which happened in 1938. This is what I’ve always pictured when reading the book, and I think that it would be best to stay with that theme, and save the editing for the overly-long, redundant speeches.
Scott, in regard to your cast listing, Dagny Taggert is in her 30s, and so are most of the other main characters. Some in their 40s. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson aren’t even worth consideration.
I’m pretty ok with the casting I’ve reviewed on IMDB, with the exception of D’anconia.
I agree with Anne that an unknown should be cast for D’anconia. I’ve thought that about all the roles. They’re too strong of characters, if they used someone very famous, we’d stop seeing, say, Hank Rearden, and start seeing the actor they cast.
However, Anne, I disagree that it should be a suave european, unless they managed to nab a Spaniard. I like to see literal translations, and using, say, a Frenchman to play someone who was supposed to hail from Chile, with Spanish ancestry, just wouldn’t work for me.