Just how badly will Hollywood screw up Atlas Shrugged?

As I recall, The Fountainhead wasn't bad, but those were different times.

The Fountainhead's screenplay was written by Rand, and due to the phenomenal success of the book she was able to get pretty good control of the movie. Even so, she still wasn't completely happy with it.

Leaving AS to Hollywood to have their way with is a very bad sign.

Leaving AS to Hollywood to have their way with is a very bad sign.

Rumor has it that Oliver Stone will direct the movie and Barbara Streisand will play Dagny Taggart. This is in keeping with Rand's statement that "man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress."

Kidding aside, Angelina Jolie is reported to be very interested in playing Dagny. The producers haven't picked a director yet, because they want to be very careful that whomever they do pick will treat the story correctly.

I attended a speech by Yaron Brook of ARI back in May. When asked what he thought of this project, he said (close paraphrase) "Who knows if it'll actually get made, but you know if it does, it's going to be awful." He also said he knew Brad and Angelina were big Rand fans, but that that fact alone didn't mean they really understood the material in any meaningful way.

Who knows? Maybe they'll surprise everyone. (Visualize me not holding my breath.)

Sometimes movies turn out to be about the ideologies that dominate Hollywood (eg, "Mission to Mars" or "The Day After Tomorrow") than the superficial subject of the movie. This will probably be one of those movies. I believe Jane Galt's words on this will be prophetic:

More to the point, how on earth could Hollywood possibly make this movie? Some objectivist bigwig has apparently signed off on the screenplay, but colour me sceptical. I'd offer long odds that by the time Hollywood is done editing the thing, it will represent plucky individuals against . . . a government superficially indistinguishable from the Bush administration. In the summer blockbuster release, the state's biggest crime will no doubt be stealing all the gay marriage from poor people and stuffing it into private accounts where they can't get at it.

This is a man of rare candor.

He also said he knew Brad and Angelina were big Rand fans, but that that fact alone didn't mean they really understood the material in any meaningful way.-

Hollywood won't be happy that Mr Brook doubted any of their own. How dare he!! They are actors, how can they NOT get it?

He also said he knew Brad and Angelina were big Rand fans, but that that fact alone didn't mean they really understood the material in any meaningful way.

Objectivism: not all of its fans are worthy of it.

On the other hand, we should be suspicious of Yaron Brook, since he suffers from Bush Derangement Syndrome:

While we have taken Saddam Hussein out of power, we have neither eradicated the remnants of his Baathist regime, nor defeated the insurgency that has arisen, nor taken any serious precaution against the rise of a Shiite theocracy that would be a far more effective abettor of Islamic Totalitarianism than Saddam Hussein ever was.

In terms of ending the (limited) threat posed to America by the respective countries, the “war” in Afghanistan was a partial failure, and the “war” in Iraq is a total failure.

On the first hand, he is not all bad, since in the same essay he proposes winning the war on terrorism with torture and tactical nuclear weapons.

A few years ago, it was "The Fountainhead" which was supposed to be remade. The project floundered. I'm not sure why, but an indication might be a comment made by one of the principles that the movie wasn't about politics, it was about the love affair between Roark and Dominique.

We may be in for a similar situation with AS.

Objectivism: not all of its fans are worthy of it.

Sorry, SpongeBob, but you triggered one of my pet peeves. This isn't the place for a flame war, but debating the "worthiness" of supposed believers is the province of cults not philosophies. If Objectivism is treated as a philosophy, then it simply makes no sense to question whether someone is "worthy" of it or not. Do they understand the philosophy? Do they adhere to a code of ethics derived rationally from Objectivism? These are questions which make sense.

Debating the "worthiness" of supposed believers is the province of cults not philosophies.

That's what I had in mind, Karl.

BTW, Yaron Brook's and Alex Epstein's essay on the war on terrorism is at http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2006-spring/just-war-theory.asp . It's just great reading.

I was just joking about Oliver Stone directing Atlas Shrugged. It turns out that Stone really was earmarked to direct a remake of the Fountainhead, http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/123.php .

It just goes to show you that cocaine makes strange bedfellows.

Leaving AS to Hollywood to have their way with is a very bad sign.

Indeed. Need I even utter the words "starship" and "troopers" in the same sentence?

I think Jane is probably right. Considering Hollywood thinks they're being "silenced" by the oppressive Bush administration, they'll likely have the brave individualists speaking out against an oppressive government that looks a lot like the current one. The key governmental struggle will probably be that Rearden wants to give free health care to his workers and the admin won't let him.

They'll also make Ragnar into a Robin Hood type pirate.

Bob