Ok, the “Atlas Shrugged” movie is just on our doorstep. So I have decided to break it down for all the diehard Dynostian novel fans out there.
Firstly, it is NOT a star studded cast. The original buzz around the film a few years ago threw around names like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but now it turns out they were all false rumours. But don’t let that discourage you, (I know it discouraged me at first) because the early reviews seem really good.
The movie was originally going to be directed by Stephen Polk, but Paul Johansson replaced him just nine days before the shooting begun. I wasn’t really aware of any of his work, so I looked him up, and it turns out he’s more of an actor than a director. He plays the part of Dan Scott in One Tree Hill, which is a show I stopped watching after episode 2, and personally, have no idea how it lasted so long. So it’s hard to say whether the guy is a good director or not, but the grapevine seems to say he is. There were also rumours he was going to play John Galt in part’s 1 and 2, but he has denied these rumours.
Dagny Taggart, who for years was apparently going to be played by Angelina Jolie, is played by Taylor Schilling. Again I’m not aware of her work, she is quite young and seems new to the film scene, but she’s going to be in a Zac Afron movie soon, so she must be up in coming. If you want to check out some of her previous work, she starred in the NBC drama Mercy.
Hank Rearden is being played by Grant Bowler, who has been on Australian television for years. I personally remember him being the host of channel 7’s “The Mole”, which was one of my favourite shows back in the day and he’s also the current host of “Australian Border Security.” My friend tells me he was in the second season of True Blood as a werewolf, and he is also planned to be the host of the new “Australian Amazing Race.” Let’s hope his performance in this film is so mind blowing that his days of television host are over.
A scene has been released online from the film, and I must say, it doesn’t look cheap. That was one of my fears. It’s a limited release, and has a budget of between 5-10 million. Sure, this is a hefty sum, but for film, it would mean a lot of crossed corners, and I’m hoping these corners have been crossed with the casting of less famous stars. But the scene looks good; it shows Hank coming home from a day of work to a family that doesn’t understand him. He gives his wife a bracelet made of the first metal of Rearden steel, and she doesn’t look happy. The environment looks sharp, the acting looks spot on, and there doesn’t seem to be a hint of cheapness at all.
The movie is schedule for a mid-April release, and I will be providing a comprehensive review once it’s released. My hope for the film is that it captures Ayn Rand’s philosophy “objectivism” correctly, and that it doesn’t bore the hell out of me. The book was great, because it contained so much personal reflection. In fact half the book is expressed with sentences such as, “she did it, as if the clouds had parted and a ray of sunshine had blessed her soul.” So it will be interesting to see how her words are captured on the screen.
Anyway, that’s enough from me for now. I will be back tomorrow with some philosophy and perhaps an article on the writing craft. This blog is still very damn new, and I hope that people start reading soon and contributing so it can grow. If you come to this site, and see that there isn’t much on it yet, please don’t leave without commenting. I want to get this blog up and running because I believe it will be a valuable community when it is.
Thanks for your time
Greg
Firstly, it is NOT a star studded cast. The original buzz around the film a few years ago threw around names like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but now it turns out they were all false rumours. But don’t let that discourage you, (I know it discouraged me at first) because the early reviews seem really good.
The movie was originally going to be directed by Stephen Polk, but Paul Johansson replaced him just nine days before the shooting begun. I wasn’t really aware of any of his work, so I looked him up, and it turns out he’s more of an actor than a director. He plays the part of Dan Scott in One Tree Hill, which is a show I stopped watching after episode 2, and personally, have no idea how it lasted so long. So it’s hard to say whether the guy is a good director or not, but the grapevine seems to say he is. There were also rumours he was going to play John Galt in part’s 1 and 2, but he has denied these rumours.
Dagny Taggart, who for years was apparently going to be played by Angelina Jolie, is played by Taylor Schilling. Again I’m not aware of her work, she is quite young and seems new to the film scene, but she’s going to be in a Zac Afron movie soon, so she must be up in coming. If you want to check out some of her previous work, she starred in the NBC drama Mercy.
Hank Rearden is being played by Grant Bowler, who has been on Australian television for years. I personally remember him being the host of channel 7’s “The Mole”, which was one of my favourite shows back in the day and he’s also the current host of “Australian Border Security.” My friend tells me he was in the second season of True Blood as a werewolf, and he is also planned to be the host of the new “Australian Amazing Race.” Let’s hope his performance in this film is so mind blowing that his days of television host are over.
A scene has been released online from the film, and I must say, it doesn’t look cheap. That was one of my fears. It’s a limited release, and has a budget of between 5-10 million. Sure, this is a hefty sum, but for film, it would mean a lot of crossed corners, and I’m hoping these corners have been crossed with the casting of less famous stars. But the scene looks good; it shows Hank coming home from a day of work to a family that doesn’t understand him. He gives his wife a bracelet made of the first metal of Rearden steel, and she doesn’t look happy. The environment looks sharp, the acting looks spot on, and there doesn’t seem to be a hint of cheapness at all.
The movie is schedule for a mid-April release, and I will be providing a comprehensive review once it’s released. My hope for the film is that it captures Ayn Rand’s philosophy “objectivism” correctly, and that it doesn’t bore the hell out of me. The book was great, because it contained so much personal reflection. In fact half the book is expressed with sentences such as, “she did it, as if the clouds had parted and a ray of sunshine had blessed her soul.” So it will be interesting to see how her words are captured on the screen.
Anyway, that’s enough from me for now. I will be back tomorrow with some philosophy and perhaps an article on the writing craft. This blog is still very damn new, and I hope that people start reading soon and contributing so it can grow. If you come to this site, and see that there isn’t much on it yet, please don’t leave without commenting. I want to get this blog up and running because I believe it will be a valuable community when it is.
Thanks for your time
Greg
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