Atlas Shrugged Part III Trailer


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Interesting insight, Jonathan. I agree with your suggestion of keeping the original universe. I feel the same way; and I pointed to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Other people have indicated steam punk and diesel punk stories they know. I have comments here about Shakespeare in modern dress. The director has a lot of liberty in choosing the setting. A good story is always timeless.

That being as it may, I saw both movies and bought both DVDs (three times: ex-wife; and daughter). But then, I enjoyed the book every time I read. One thing I noticed is that everyone got a lot younger, especially Dagny, but even Hugh Akston...

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Then again, perhaps some of the shock of the clip's oddly wooden melodrama will be absorbed by the establishing of context and pace within the actual film. There were cringe-worthy moments in the previews of the first two films that were less heinous when seen within the entirety of the films.

J..

Interesting perceptions, as you pretty much do here on OL.

The first time I watched the Fountainhead, before I ever heard of Ayn Rand,[i am a Lou Gehrig, psychotic Yankee fan], so the translation of Cooper's "wooden" speech to the jury impacted me at a very personal and early place.

Moreover, every word that came out of Cooper's mouth "fit" my personal beliefs.

That film led to me exploring Ayn's exceptional mind and led to me fundamentally changing every aspect of my life...

Pretty cool lady ...

A...

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Thanks! I did not know there was a third trailer. Looks fine. Myself, I generally do not criticize a work that I could not have surpassed. Laurel and I save seen some uninspiring movies together, but a work of art reflects you or not. If you don't like Gauguin's theme, that's fine, but unless you can paint like that, don't bitch about how he mixed his pigments.

Since April 13, 2011, we have suffered a slew of nasal nattering from self-annointed geniuses who apparently never have managed $10 million worth of anything... and then grew it...

Could someone else do better? Perhaps. Will someone else do better. Perhaps. Which remake of Pride and Prejudice is your favorite? When your children on Titan or your grandchildren in the Oort belt are taxed for their ions and ices, this will be remade once more.

In the mean time, we have this. (Unless, you have one of your own for us...)

Based on my experience in independent films, I am certain I could make a far better movie than Atlas I for less than the $20 million that was spent on it. Why don't I?

1. I don't have $10 million.

2. I don't have the permission of the copyright holder.

That said, I'd like to challenge that idea that only skilled artists are qualified to render judgments about works in their field.

628x471.jpg

With no knowledge of welding, casting or stone-cutting, I personally would not be able to render an outdoor sculpture on the scale of the object above.

But I do know there are there contemporary sculptors who can do better:

640px-Belfast_%28144%29%2C_October_2009.

And that is the only fact that matters.

That flowing hoop lady is beautiful.

Discrimination is integral to life. Everyone constantly regards one thing to be better than another.

Greg

You guys should visit your local Hallmark store and start collecting Willow Tree figurines.

Maybe also check out Precious Moments while you're there!

J

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I feel the same way; and I pointed to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Other people have indicated steam punk and diesel punk stories they know.

Totally! I can't think of a better example of style, lighting, texture and color than Sky Captain. I think it would have been perfect for AS.

J

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Then again, perhaps some of the shock of the clip's oddly wooden melodrama will be absorbed by the establishing of context and pace within the actual film. There were cringe-worthy moments in the previews of the first two films that were less heinous when seen within the entirety of the films.

J..

Interesting perceptions, as you pretty much do here on OL.

The first time I watched the Fountainhead, before I ever heard of Ayn Rand,[i am a Lou Gehrig, psychotic Yankee fan], so the translation of Cooper's "wooden" speech to the jury impacted me at a very personal and early place.

Moreover, every word that came out of Cooper's mouth "fit" my personal beliefs.

That film led to me exploring Ayn's exceptional mind and led to me fundamentally changing every aspect of my life...

Pretty cool lady ...

A...

My sentiments exactly but with the first reading of the Fountainhead. Saw the movie a few yrs. later.

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If I had the $30 million (a paltry sum for even 1 movie), and capable of producing AS 1-3, I'd rather spend it by using it to get AS, the book, into the hands of college students. At approx $8.00 a book that's about 3.75 million books (people reached). Better return for the buck, I believe, especially since the movies barely scratch the surface of the philosophy.

-J

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The trailer is heinous. Let's hope for the best.

I think a large part of the "heinousness" is due to the fact that "Romantic Realism" doesn't translate well to media other than literature (and a lot of people don't like it as literature), especially when it's twisted to fit the present rather than leaving it as an alternate reality from a different time.

If you're going to speak Rand's words as an actor, you're going to have to be willing to do some old school heroic posing and gesticulating without embarrassment. In today's context I think that that would come across more as Romantic Melodrama than Romantic Realism, but speaking the words without posing and gesticulating comes across either wooden, a clash of styles, or "heinous."

Then again, perhaps some of the shock of the clip's oddly wooden melodrama will be absorbed by the establishing of context and pace within the actual film. There were cringe-worthy moments in the previews of the first two films that were less heinous when seen within the entirety of the films.

J

Happy-Hyena-hyenas-31563531-385-358.jpg

If only "old school heroic posing" has been the problem. In fact, there was no style at all--not in terms of dialogue or performance or lighting or composition or editing or anything else that serves to give a film an identity.

If I had to give the look of Atlas a name, it would be Small TV Market Six O'Clock News.

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If I had the $30 million (a paltry sum for even 1 movie), and capable of producing AS 1-3, I'd rather spend it by using it to get AS, the book, into the hands of college students. At approx $8.00 a book that's about 3.75 million books (people reached). Better return for the buck, I believe, especially since the movies barely scratch the surface of the philosophy.

-J

$30 million in spare change? That assumes a net worth of $250 million or so. There are such people of course: Mitt Romney, Tom Cruise, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Bill Cosby, Shaquille O'Neil, Mark Cuban, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenny Rogers, Al Gore, and high school dropout Sophia Amoruso (founder and CEO of Nasty Gal). Think you could persuade one of them to buy four million books written in 1957?

Then there's the problem of leading college students to water and encouraging them to drink. That's been the NBI-ARI strategy of the past 50 years or so. Free beer, yes. Atlas Shrugged?--no thanks. Giving them something for nothing doesn't sound right, either.

Likely result would be another dozen Hegelian feminists to piss on Rand's legacy. Is that worth $30 million?--maybe to Al Gore it is!

:laugh:

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Then again, perhaps some of the shock of the clip's oddly wooden melodrama will be absorbed by the establishing of context and pace within the actual film. There were cringe-worthy moments in the previews of the first two films that were less heinous when seen within the entirety of the films.

J..

Interesting perceptions, as you pretty much do here on OL.

The first time I watched the Fountainhead, before I ever heard of Ayn Rand,[i am a Lou Gehrig, psychotic Yankee fan], so the translation of Cooper's "wooden" speech to the jury impacted me at a very personal and early place.

Moreover, every word that came out of Cooper's mouth "fit" my personal beliefs.

That film led to me exploring Ayn's exceptional mind and led to me fundamentally changing every aspect of my life...

Pretty cool lady ...

A...

The Fountainhead is a terrific film, beautifully designed, acted and photographed.There is nothing naturalistic about the sets, the dialogue, or the delivery of the lines--which makes it a rarity of its time and place. It's about as close as you can get to a major studio project running on pure style. I'm certain I would have fallen in love with the film even if nothing in Rand's philosophy appealed to me.

The only argument critics offer is Cooper's inability to inhabit Roark. It's true that Cooper doesn't connect in the scenes involving theoretical dialogue. But just as often he's excellent. The quarry/Francon mansion scenes are perfect. Aside from age, he was the ideal physical type. And what was the alternative? Bogart? Ray Milland? Glenn Ford? Alan Ladd? Dana Andrews?

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The Fountainhead is a terrific film, beautifully designed, acted and photographed.There is nothing naturalistic about the sets, the dialogue, or the delivery of the lines--which makes it a rarity of its time and place. It's about as close as you can get to a major studio project running on pure style. I'm certain I would have fallen in love with the film even if nothing in Rand's philosophy appealed to me.

The only argument critics offer is Cooper's inability to inhabit Roark. It's true that Cooper doesn't connect in the scenes involving theoretical dialogue. But just as often he's excellent. The quarry/Francon mansion scenes are perfect. Aside from age, he was the ideal physical type. And what was the alternative? Bogart? Ray Milland? Glenn Ford? Alan Ladd? Dana Andrews?

Michael Cimino wanted to remake The Fountainhead. I saw his adaptation screenplay in 1985. Now Oliver Stone wants it.

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If I had the $30 million (a paltry sum for even 1 movie), and capable of producing AS 1-3, I'd rather spend it by using it to get AS, the book, into the hands of college students. At approx $8.00 a book that's about 3.75 million books (people reached). Better return for the buck, I believe, especially since the movies barely scratch the surface of the philosophy.

-J

$30 million in spare change? That assumes a net worth of $250 million or so. There are such people of course: Mitt Romney, Tom Cruise, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Bill Cosby, Shaquille O'Neil, Mark Cuban, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenny Rogers, Al Gore, and high school dropout Sophia Amoruso (founder and CEO of Nasty Gal). Think you could persuade one of them to buy four million books written in 1957?

Then there's the problem of leading college students to water and encouraging them to drink. That's been the NBI-ARI strategy of the past 50 years or so. Free beer, yes. Atlas Shrugged?--no thanks. Giving them something for nothing doesn't sound right, either.

Likely result would be another dozen Hegelian feminists to piss on Rand's legacy. Is that worth $30 million?--maybe to Al Gore it is!

:laugh:

AS 1 & 2 grossed around $8 mil. At $8 a ticket that's 1 million people (probably less since many who saw Pt. 1 saw Pt. 2).

Both films were pissed on by main stream media.

I don't know about convincing anyone with deep pockets to fund the book giveaway. I said I would. Reaching more people with the entire message is what interests me. It could be done, imo.

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Giving away Atlas Shrugged is intellectual welfare. Especially en masse. It's contempt out of the gate. Both ways.

ARI is in the intellectual welfare business.

--Brant

giving away what Rand made instead of demanding pay (ment)

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Giving away Atlas Shrugged is intellectual welfare. Especially en masse. It's contempt out of the gate. Both ways.

ARI is in the intellectual welfare business.

--Brant

I don't buy that Brant.

I consider it an effective marketing of ideas.

-J

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Returning to the subject of Atlas movie financials, I dug a bit further. Atlas 1 was distributed by Rocky Mountain Pictures, who probably took a 35-40% distribution fee, plus prints and advertising. Considering that exhibitors took 25%, it's possible that net revenue to the production company was less than $1 million -- just enough to pay off deferred salaries and interest expense. In other words, zero recoup of $8 million cash outlay. The net on Atlas 2 must have been far worse, zero payback on $10+ million. For Atlas 3, Aglialoro and other backers gambled another $10+ million on a brand franchise that has been utterly destroyed. They'll have the consolation prize of tax write-offs, nothing else to show for an incredibly stupid wager that Atlas would sell itself, without Al Ruddy or Lionsgate, without A-list stars, on a shoestring budget. DVDs are another zero net disaster, with Fox taking at least half off the top, and the rest going to union residuals, overhead, and lab costs. In his quest for a studio deal, Aglialoro claims he spent $20 million before he wrapped Atlas 1. Total to date: $48+ million down the drain.

 

It wasn't heroic. It was hubris and folly.

 

"With the 18-year-long option to the film rights set to expire on June 15, 2010, producers Harmon Kaslow and Aglialoro

began principal photography on June 13, 2010, thus allowing Aglialoro to retain the motion picture rights." [Wikipedia]

 

Who is Harmon Kaslow? -- "best known for...strong violence/gore" [iMDb], cheap horror and box office poison.

 

Atlasphere: Are there other independent films with a similar budget, from which

you drew inspiration for this project? Or did you just do what you had to do?

 

Aglialoro: I just did what I had to do...

 

-- like casting Hank Rearden with a lisp, played by a low-brow TV palooka




-- or this broad, another B-list TV day player, normally type cast as a crime victim




Mistakes of this size are never made innocently.
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The owner of the screen rights had 18 years to really do something great with them. It sounds as if he had shot the whole thing all at once he might have saved a lot of money. Lost in all this is Peikoff selling those rights. It suggests he had either money issues or Rand issues or perhaps both. Note how badly he has treated her papers. I can't figure out if he's a complete dunce about accuracy and scholarship or thinks he's free to rewrite her at will or what. The irony is Rand not standing for anyone doing anything with her novel qua movie. She couldn't stand for any dialogue changes in her play "Penthouse Legend" so it's fair to infer such control-freakism would extend to her novel. The big boys never made it so it got completely trashed in the end.

I never looked forward to anybody making AS into a movie for several reasons. What resulted was a self-cauterizing wound. Hardly anyone has seen this crap so hardly any damage has been done, except to someone's wallet.

--Brant

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Giving away Atlas Shrugged is intellectual welfare. Especially en masse. It's contempt out of the gate. Both ways.

ARI is in the intellectual welfare business.

--Brant

I don't buy that Brant.

I consider it an effective marketing of ideas.

-J

Marketing? Where are the b u y e r s?

--Brant

buy get the ideas and the book for free?

why not give away OPAR?

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Giving away Atlas Shrugged is intellectual welfare. Especially en masse. It's contempt out of the gate. Both ways.

ARI is in the intellectual welfare business.

--Brant

I don't buy that Brant.

I consider it an effective marketing of ideas.

-J

Marketing? Where are the b u y e r s?

--Brant

buy get the ideas and the book for free?

why not give away OPAR?

Certainly more potential buyers than the movies might have gotten.

How would you market the ideas in AS if you had $30 mil to spend?

-J

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Aside from age, he was the ideal physical type. And what was the alternative? Bogart? Ray Milland? Glenn Ford? Alan Ladd? Dana Andrews?

Most of them were way too short for the role of a tall stud...

Hell, they had to have Ava Gardner walk in a trench next to Alan Ladd in, I believe, On the Beach because he was such a shrimp...

A...

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Mistakes of this size are never made innocently.

Intriguing statement, what did you mean by it, Wolf?

A...

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Mistakes of this size are never made innocently.

Intriguing statement, what did you mean by it, Wolf?

A...

"At first, I kept wondering how it could be possible that the educated, the cultured, the famous men of the world [David Kelley, Matt Kibbe] could make a mistake of this size and preach, as righteousness, this sort of abomination -- when five minutes of thought should have told them what would happen if somebody tried [to shoot Atlas with a B-list TV cast]. Now I know that they didn't do it by any kind of mistake. Mistakes of this size are never made innocently. If men fall for some vicious piece of insanity, when they have no way to make it work and no possible reason to explain their choice -- it's because they have a reason that they do not wish to tell."

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Mistakes of this size are never made innocently.

Intriguing statement, what did you mean by it, Wolf?

A...

"At first, I kept wondering how it could be possible that the educated, the cultured, the famous men of the world [David Kelley, Matt Kibbe] could make a mistake of this size and preach, as righteousness, this sort of abomination -- when five minutes of thought should have told them what would happen if somebody tried [to shoot Atlas with a B-list TV cast]. Now I know that they didn't do it by any kind of mistake. Mistakes of this size are never made innocently. If men fall for some vicious piece of insanity, when they have no way to make it work and no possible reason to explain their choice -- it's because they have a reason that they do not wish to tell."

Does seem quite curious...thanks.

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Giving away Atlas Shrugged is intellectual welfare. Especially en masse. It's contempt out of the gate. Both ways.

ARI is in the intellectual welfare business.

--Brant

I don't buy that Brant.

I consider it an effective marketing of ideas.

-J

Marketing? Where are the b u y e r s?

--Brant

buy get the ideas and the book for free?

why not give away OPAR?

Certainly more potential buyers than the movies might have gotten.

How would you market the ideas in AS if you had $30 mil to spend?

-J

The question is why hasn't AS had a greater cultural-political-intellectual impact? Your assumption is deficient marketing. My assumption is deficient philosophy. The philosophy is deficient for it's the philosophy of Ayn Rand. The universality of that is 5 to 10%, the rest is a bunch of opinions, attitudes, esthetics and exclusiveness which leave no room for critical thinking and room to roam and individualism, burying if not contradicting the real and essential value. The pounding power of her philosophy is from the inside of the world Rand made for herself in AS, but the world itself is not that alternate reality. As a great work of art AS can, in theory, be made into another great work of art in a movie, but AR the philosopher never understood that there is no such thing as a great* philosophy only a right philosophy so she larded it all up with her implicit utopianism. Scientists (real ones)--understand this for they use the right philosophy in scientific endeavor.

--Brant

*there is a great political philosophy--this country was founded on it--but that's only one out of four basic philosophical principles--and that is where the libertarians hang out

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