Cameras role on 'Atlas'

[Ed Hudgins]

Posted: Mon., Jun. 14, 2010, 4:00am PT

Cameras role on 'Atlas'

Production ends 30-year trek to bring pic to screen

By DAVE MCNARY

The long-brewing feature version of author Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" has begun shooting in Los Angeles as a $5 million indie produced by John Aglialoro and Harmon Kaslow.Cameras began rolling over the weekend on a five-week shoot for "Atlas Shrugged Part One" with Paul Johansson directing from Brian Patrick O'Toole's script. Aglialoro would have lost the feature rights if the film wasn't in production by Saturday.

A spokesman for Aglialoro -- the CEO of exercise equipment producer Cybex -- said there will be at least one more "Atlas Shrugged" shot after the current film's completed. Rand's massive novel is divided into three parts, each consisting of 10 chapters.

"Atlas," published in 1957, takes place in a dystopian version of the U.S. in which society has collapsed as the government gains increasing controlover industry. The decline occurs while the most productive citizens, led by John Galt, begin vanishing.

Johansson ("One Tree Hill") portrays Galt. The lead role of railroad executive Dagny Taggart has gone to Taylor Schilling ("Mercy) and the part of Henry Reardon is being played by Grant Bowler ("Ugly Betty").

Michael Lerner ("A Serious Man") portrays lobbyist Wesley Mouch and director Nick Cassavetes has signed on for the Richard McNamara role. Other key cast include Matthew Marsdan as James Taggart and Graham Beckel as Ellis Wyatt.

"Atlas" also stars Edi Gathegi, Jsu Garcia, Rebecca Wisocky, Ethan Cohn, Patrick Fischer, Neill Barry, Christina Pickles and Nikki Klecha.

There have been unsuccessful attempts to bring "Atlas Shrugged" to the bigscreen and TV dating back to the 1970s.

In 2007, Angelina Jolie was to star in a Lionsgate version, with Vadim Perelman directing and rewriting "Atlas Shrugged" from a script penned by Randall Wallace. Husband-and-wife team Howard and Karen Baldwin and Media Talent Group's Geyer Kosinski were set to produce.

Read the full article at:

http://www.variety.c...1118020578.html

[Brant Gaede]

I'm amazed and wish them well. I doubt if I'll be able to stand watching it.

--Brant

[Alfonso Jones]

I'm amazed and wish them well. I doubt if I'll be able to stand watching it.

--Brant

Somewhere, pigs are flying. Also, rumors are that temperatures in hell have dropped precipitiously.

Bill P

[Jonathan]

Aglialoro would have lost the feature rights if the film wasn't in production by Saturday.

That explains the rush to production.

The lead role of railroad executive Dagny Taggart has gone to Taylor Schilling ("Mercy) and the part of Henry Reardon is being played by Grant Bowler ("Ugly Betty").

Michael Lerner ("A Serious Man") portrays lobbyist Wesley Mouch and director Nick Cassavetes has signed on for the Richard McNamara role. Other key cast include Matthew Marsdan as James Taggart and Graham Beckel as Ellis Wyatt.

"Atlas" also stars Edi Gathegi, Jsu Garcia, Rebecca Wisocky, Ethan Cohn, Patrick Fischer, Neill Barry, Christina Pickles and Nikki Klecha.

It looks like they've hired some talented actors.

It'll be interesting to see how far Aglialoro's people will be able to stretch such a small budget for such a large project.

J

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

This is great news.

With a smaller budget, I think there will be more oversight on keeping true to the spirit of the book.

Ironically, with no mega-stars, there will be no major egos to get in the way...

Michael

[9thdoctor]

Johansson ("One Tree Hill") portrays Galt. The lead role of railroad executive Dagny Taggart has gone to Taylor Schilling ("Mercy) and the part of Henry Reardon is being played by Grant Bowler ("Ugly Betty").

Michael Lerner ("A Serious Man") portrays lobbyist Wesley Mouch and director Nick Cassavetes has signed on for the Richard McNamara role. Other key cast include Matthew Marsdan as James Taggart and Graham Beckel as Ellis Wyatt.

Here's some photos gathered from Google:

Paul Johansson

Taylor Schilling

Grant Bowler

Michael Lerner

Nick Cassavetes (who's Richard McNamara?)

Matthew Marsdan (Marsden?)

Graham Beckel

[9thdoctor]

Somewhere, pigs are flying.

Your wish is our command:

[Dennis Hardin]

Posted: Mon., Jun. 14, 2010, 4:00am PT

Cameras role on 'Atlas'

Production ends 30-year trek to bring pic to screen

I wonder if the copy editor over at Variety would be available to play Kip Chalmers.

[Greybird]

The listing for this production at the Internet Movie Database includes this single photo —

A striking natural image (plot pun intended {g}), and certainly quite dramatic, but I wonder where this is.

Edited June 14, 2010 by Greybird

[Greybird]

The "stunt" and "mystery" aspects (Rand's words) of this story are, perhaps, unavoidably compromised by any focus on the actor/director playing John Galt. If he's known to be a real person, and not merely what is now called an Urban Legend, a sizable part of the storytelling drive in the novel will be lost.

Yet, on the other hand, who would not know by now that Galt is an actual character, with the "Who Is" meme appearing throughout popular culture?

Also, they have no Francisco d'Anconia, from reports thus far. That's not a good sign. He was in the book from nearly the beginning. They kept McNamara, the contractor, but not d'Anconia, the balance wheel and sardonic spark of the plot?

... Yes, this is the first of many installments of fanboy kibitzing. After enduring at least six attempts to actually film this over 40 years, I think we're entitled.

Edited June 14, 2010 by Greybird

[Jonathan]

Also, they have no Francisco d'Anconia, from reports thus far. That's not a good sign. He was in the book from nearly the beginning. They kept McNamara, the contractor, but not d'Anconia, the balance wheel and sardonic spark of the plot?

I was assuming that Jsu Garcia might be playing Frisco.

J

[Jerry Biggers]

"Who is John Galt?"

Here's his website (one of many):

http://www.pauljohanssononline.com/

[Jonathan]

Here's a clip that Doug Bandler posted on SOLOP, apparently from the set of the Atlas Shrugged film:

J

[Brant Gaede]

Johansson is much too heavyset to play Galt.

--Brant

watch, they're trying to raise more money and then reshoot the early material?!?

[Jerry Biggers]

An interesting perspective on some problems with this latest development:

http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2010/6/14/pawn-shop-atlas-shrugged-adaptation-in-production.html

[9thdoctor]

I wonder if the copy editor over at Variety would be available to play Kip Chalmers.

Role vs. Roll, pretty bad, you'd think they wouldn't mess something like that up.

Have a barf bag ready before checking out Comrade Sonia’s latest bit of nastiness.

A funny anecdote, at the 1997 IOS get together in DC for the 40th anniversary of AS, a teenage girl asked Aglialoro during a question period how/whether she could get the part of “young Dagny”. The actress now cast is probably younger than that girl, I’d say she was 15 then, so now she’d be about 28, Taylor Schilling’s reported age is 25. From the photo I’d say she looks pretty good, but I never saw the TV show that she was in (Mercy, a medical drama on NBC).

[Dennis Hardin]

Have a barf bag ready before checking out Comrade Sonia’s latest bit of nastiness.

Comrade Sonia is distressed because the producer is working with David Kelley.

Kelley's IOS/TOC/TAS has been dying since its peak around 2003, when I cut ties.

Well, that was predictable. How could it possibly survive without her?

Comrade Sonia then proclaims “open Objectivism” to be an “abject failure” and, as proof, points to the “flowering of new and innovative work” at ARI. An example of this “new and innovative work’ would undoubtedly include the course she is teaching at this year’s summer seminar on “The Rational Egoist’s Approach to Luck.” Quoting from the seminar’s website: "By focusing on the ethics of luck, this course offers fresh insight into the practice of the Objectivist virtues and reveals common errors about luck that hinder us in our pursuits.”

Since Objectivist metaphysics excludes the idea of “pure chance,” no doubt she will adopt the Aristotelian perspective that defines chance events as the concurrence of two independent causal chains. She will say that a rational person does everything he can to prepare for such an opportunity and optimize the likelihood that it will occur. The irrational will sit around wallowing in self-pity and complaining about how crappy life is.

Objectivists have been anticipating the film version of Atlas Shrugged for half a century, and, regardless of any misgivings, should be eagerly awaiting the release of the film and its potential impact, particularly in view of the Tea Party movement and the recent resurgence of Ayn Rand’s popularity. The rational approach would be to seize this opportunity, hope for the best, and make the most of it.

But Comrade Sonia fears that the movie could do “more harm than good” in terms of spreading Objectivism. “The fewer the people who see it, the better,” she says.

The last thing this woman has any business lecturing Objectivists about is a rational approach to luck. “New and innovative”? Yeah, right. Evidently Peikoff’s tiresome, morbid pessimism is contagious.

[BaalChatzaf]

Who is Comrade Sonia

Ba'al Chatzaf

[9thdoctor]

Comrade Sonia’s latest bit of nastiness.

Who is Comrade Sonia

Click the link. I believe it was Chris Sciabarra who provided the name, it’s been around for years now.

"By focusing on the ethics of luck, this course offers fresh insight into the practice of the Objectivist virtues and reveals common errors about luck that hinder us in our pursuits.”

I haven’t heard of this, but even the Jedi were sceptical:

[Alfonso Jones]

Who is Comrade Sonia

Ba'al Chatzaf

Character in We the Living. Diana H.'s behavior has caused some to term her "Comrade Sonia." Read We the Living to see why.

Bill P

[Jerry Biggers]

This may be a great opportunity for Comrade Sonia to try-out for the role of the not-yet cast Lillian Rearden. The role is tailor-made for her.

Aglialoro could probably get her cheap, since she sells out so easily.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

As people know, I am studying Internet marketing. That means SEO (search engine optimization), social networking, etc.

This made a couple of pieces fall into place.

The complaint by Hsieh--and I believe it will be echoed by others in O-Land who wish to see Aglialoro fail--is that TAS has a crappy website, that it has curtailed its activities, yada yada yada.

Well. because of this, I make a skim of the TAS site from my new perspective and, although I agree that the site could use a "user experience" overhaul, I also noticed that someone at The Atlas Society knows what he/she is doing.

Anyone with any kind of experience in SEO knows that what goes into the title tag of a site is extremely important in search engine results.

(That goes for the domain name, also, but TAS has kept the old one. The domains theatlassociety.com, , theatlassociety.net and , theatlassociety.org lead to a different website called "The Atlas Society," which is, er..., a division of "The Atlas Society." )

Now take a look at the description given on the TAS site, which is coded in the header's description tag (another SEO hotspot): "The Atlas Society--the world's most respected independent source of information about Ayn Rand (author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead) and her philosophy, Objectivism."

Look at the keywords:

Ayn Rand

Atlas Shrugged

The Fountainhead

Objectivism

Those are the biggies for SEO and user experience. Really good free traffic if you can get the ranking. But hard to rank for unless you have a ton of backlinks and age... sort of like... well... the TAS organization! As for the title tag, there is enough Rand stuff all over the place on that site to make "Atlas" a strong search engine magnet.

Just a small targeted SEO campaign will put that site on top. It's like smoldering cinders waiting for a gust of wind to become a blaze.

So I sit here thinking with my buttons (a Brazilian expression, don't ask), and I say, "Hey buttons, if I wanted to get a butt-load of free worldwide exposure from a major Rand project like the Atlas Shrugged movie, what would I call myself? The Objectivist Center? No way..."

Then I notice that the sudden focus on the Internet and the name change happened about the same time as the backstage movie project news was becoming concrete...

And I think...

Hmmmm...

I wonder if The Atlas Society has far more up its sleeve than it is letting on...

Michael

[algernonsidney]

I'm keeping an open mind on this. The fact that the director was hired so late worries me a little more. Having good people behind the camera is essential, probably more essential than having good actors or actresses.

I don't have any trouble with the cast, even though they are people whom I have mostly never heard of. I'm largely convinced that these kind of actors try harder than A-list actors.

Mainly, I hope that everyone that is working on this respects the book. One criteria, hopefully, is that every one of them has read the book at least once and that they understood it and liked it.

The rush to production is simply a rush to get started. Now that he has started it, he can go as slowly as he wants.

Actors and directors can and do work with deadlines. On Sunday morning, the cast and crew of Saturday Night Live start to build a show from scratch. They write the show, pick skits for the show, put it together, and rehearse it. By the time Saturday comes, they are ready to go.

[Dragonfly]

Now take a look at the description given on the TAS site, which is coded in the header's description tag (another SEO hotspot): "The Atlas Society--the world's most respected independent source of information about Ayn Rand (author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead) and her philosophy, Objectivism."

See here and here.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Dragonfly,

Without going into the merits of the "most respected" hype-like phrase, if you go to the TAS site (home page) and look at the page source code (usually accessed on a menu somewhere as "view page source" or something like that), you will see the phrase I quoted--the one you object to--in the header section under the "Description" meta tag.

Why there? Google search. When you see the results of a Google search, each site listing has a title (with hyperlink), a description and a URL The title usually comes from the "Title" meta tag of the site referenced, and the description comes from the "Description" meta tag (not always in order to confound those gaming the systme, but mostly). A text like the one presented on the TAS site serves very well for this description. People who do not know what TAS is all about will be reading that text amidst some real hype out there from other sites. Gotta compete with that to get the readers.

Michael