Thank you John Aglialoro.
On September 6th, 2014, I stood up in front of a packed house in Las Vegas, NV, and stated, “This is not the movie that’s been playing in your head since you closed the back cover. This is however, without question, a celebration of Ayn Rand’s ideas.”
That packed house was filled with some of the staunchest Ayn Rand advocates on Earth. It was the “Galt’s Gulch Online Producers Only Premiere” of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? and it was the first official showing of the film.
I then proceeded to introduce the other VIP guests on hand at the event, Producer Harmon Kaslow, Consultant David Kelley, Associate Producer Joan Carter and then, as I introduced Producer John Aglialoro, the words came out of my mouth, “the man of the hour.”
It was not a fitting introduction.
In 1991, a Library of Congress poll revealed that Atlas Shrugged is the second most influential book ever written.
Second only to the Bible.
That’s a hard legacy to live up to.
Imagine the courage required to take on the job of adapting such a book to film.
Imagine the passion for the ideas expressed in that book that would compel you to spend millions of dollars of your own money to propagate those ideas to as many people as possible.
Imagine the integrity of the man who would take on such an endeavor - knowing full well that he would be met with, not only resistance, but harsh criticism every step of the way.
Imagine knowing you would never live up to the legacy of the book but that you had to try… you had to give it everything you had... because it just had to be done - the ideas just had to make their way to the masses - come hell or high water.
Imagine.
Most of us will never know a battle like that of Producer John Aglialoro’s 22 year battle to bring Atlas Shrugged to the silver screen - 22 years of “No.”, “It can’t be done.”, “You’ll never make your money back.” 22 years of climbing an unscalable mountain.
I, however, have had the distinct honor of standing by this man for the past 4 years… watching him knock down barrier after barrier through sheer determination… listening to him wax poetic of his love for Ayn Rand and the importance of Atlas Shrugged… walking with him, steadfast as the walls around him collapsed - at times due to sabotage from within. All the while, never once considering stopping.
I am proud. Proud of every step, of every word, and of every moment this man has permitted me to be a part of. It has been an awe inspiring adventure and I would trade it for nothing.
Are the movies perfect? No. Do they live up to the legacy of the book? Of course not. But, what they do accomplish, what they do deliver on, is the ushering of Ayn Rand’s ideas to the forefront of public discourse. The sales of the book will go up this year, more people will be introduced to Ayn Rand’s ideas, and those ideas will be propagated further and wider than they ever have... just like with the release of each of the previous Atlas Shrugged films.
Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt?, the final film in the trilogy, is now in theaters. If you’re in an area where the film is playing, grab a friend, head to the theater, and take part in this wonderful moment in the history of Atlas Shrugged. Buy some popcorn, introduce your friends to Ayn Rand, and say thank you to John Aglialoro - the man who made it all possible.
Thank you John Aglialoro. Thank you.
Scott DeSapio, Associate Producer
Atlas Shrugged
That packed house was filled with some of the staunchest Ayn Rand advocates on Earth. It was the “Galt’s Gulch Online Producers Only Premiere” of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? and it was the first official showing of the film.
I then proceeded to introduce the other VIP guests on hand at the event, Producer Harmon Kaslow, Consultant David Kelley, Associate Producer Joan Carter and then, as I introduced Producer John Aglialoro, the words came out of my mouth, “the man of the hour.”
It was not a fitting introduction.
In 1991, a Library of Congress poll revealed that Atlas Shrugged is the second most influential book ever written.
Second only to the Bible.
That’s a hard legacy to live up to.
Imagine the courage required to take on the job of adapting such a book to film.
Imagine the passion for the ideas expressed in that book that would compel you to spend millions of dollars of your own money to propagate those ideas to as many people as possible.
Imagine the integrity of the man who would take on such an endeavor - knowing full well that he would be met with, not only resistance, but harsh criticism every step of the way.
Imagine knowing you would never live up to the legacy of the book but that you had to try… you had to give it everything you had... because it just had to be done - the ideas just had to make their way to the masses - come hell or high water.
Imagine.
Most of us will never know a battle like that of Producer John Aglialoro’s 22 year battle to bring Atlas Shrugged to the silver screen - 22 years of “No.”, “It can’t be done.”, “You’ll never make your money back.” 22 years of climbing an unscalable mountain.
I, however, have had the distinct honor of standing by this man for the past 4 years… watching him knock down barrier after barrier through sheer determination… listening to him wax poetic of his love for Ayn Rand and the importance of Atlas Shrugged… walking with him, steadfast as the walls around him collapsed - at times due to sabotage from within. All the while, never once considering stopping.
I am proud. Proud of every step, of every word, and of every moment this man has permitted me to be a part of. It has been an awe inspiring adventure and I would trade it for nothing.
Are the movies perfect? No. Do they live up to the legacy of the book? Of course not. But, what they do accomplish, what they do deliver on, is the ushering of Ayn Rand’s ideas to the forefront of public discourse. The sales of the book will go up this year, more people will be introduced to Ayn Rand’s ideas, and those ideas will be propagated further and wider than they ever have... just like with the release of each of the previous Atlas Shrugged films.
Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt?, the final film in the trilogy, is now in theaters. If you’re in an area where the film is playing, grab a friend, head to the theater, and take part in this wonderful moment in the history of Atlas Shrugged. Buy some popcorn, introduce your friends to Ayn Rand, and say thank you to John Aglialoro - the man who made it all possible.
Thank you John Aglialoro. Thank you.
Scott DeSapio, Associate Producer
Atlas Shrugged
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However, I have carefully listened to both sides and would encourage everybody to do the same.
The following is the JBS review of Mark Levins book.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/bo...
As to the lack of George Soros lacking a hand or any success with this matter, consider the following:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/con...
I’d like to quote Tom DeWeese, a long time constitutionalist, with his comments on the Article V/Conn-con proponents. The following link is to his full article for those interested.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/op...
Jumping in to Tom Deweese:
Second, as I listen to Article V proponents make their arguments about how they're going to bring about change — that they are going to bring all of these states together, hold a convention, and pass their amendments, they seem to ignore the very existence of the Progressive movement that today controls nearly every aspect of our governing process. What do Article V proponents think these forces are going to do while the convention process is going on? Here's what my research has found. Progressive groups such as the Open Society Institute, the Center for American Progress, and the American Constitutional Society, to name a few — all groups funded by George Soros — are behind a movement for a more "Progressive Constitution." They are simply not going to let conservatives have the playing field to themselves. They will use every trick, spending every dollar in their bulging war chests, to assure they control the process. Tim Baldwin has written with great vigor in support of the Article V Convention. But I think it is interesting to note that his father, Chuck Baldwin, former Constitution Party presidential candidate, author, columnist, and a personal friend of mine, was quoted in a World Net Daily column in 2009 entitled "Globalists 'Salivating' over Collapse of America" where he said, "The globalists who currently control Washington, D.C., and Wall Street are, no doubt, salivating over the opportunity to officially dismantle America's independence and national sovereignty, and establish North American Union — in much the same way that globalists created the European Union. A new Constitutional Convention is exactly the tool they need to cement their sinister scheme into law." Yes, Chuck was talking about a Con Con, but what will be different in an Article V Convention of the States if the Progressives get into the process?
Third, I have a great concern over how the Article V Convention is being promoted. I have been an activist all of my life. I have seen pretty much every tactic used by powerful forces who are trying to railroad the people. The tactics always seem to be the same. Use the facilitation process to bring people into the fold, control the debate, and attack the opposition with accusations of deceit and fringe ideas. I have many times been awarded a tin foil hat by such forces for advocating ideas contrary to their vision for America. So, I'm a little sensitive to such tactics when I see them. And I know that the Tea Party is well aware of such tactics. That, in fact, is one of the things that motivates true Tea Party patriots to take action against rich, powerful, D.C.-based groups that try to usurp or control the Tea Party. Yet, these are exactly the tactics I see being employed today by Article V proponents. Some of my associates have attempted to speak out at meetings where Article V is being promoted, and are not allowed the floor. That should sound familiar to Ron Paul supporters who have had microphones yanked out of their hands or turned off at state conventions. A couple of my friends have even been asked to represent the anti-Article V position. But, while the Article V proponent is given all the time he wants, the opposition is usually allowed only a few minutes to make their case. If the TeaParty is opposed to such tactics by County Commissioners, legislative committees, or Republican leadership at state conventions, then why don't they question it at their own meetings? A full, open debate is always healthy in a free society. A deliberate attempt to silence opposition should cause people to question the motives of the perpetrators.
Finally, the proponents of Article V take great comfort in reciting the powerful names of those supporting their efforts. As I said, many are very respected leaders of the Conservative movement. But, how dare they deride in such nasty fashion those who oppose them? They've called Phyllis Schlafly an old lady and out of touch. Phyllis was fighting for the Constitution when most of these Article V proponents were still in school. She risked everything she had to stop the Progressives' Equal Rights Amendment. Homeschool advocate Mike Farris has called the John Birch Society evil. JBS has been unwavering in its dedication to the Constitution through the dark days of Communist infiltration of the 1950s to today's fight against Agenda 21. The fact is, I was forced to part ways with Mike Farris and his tactics in the 1990s. At the time I was heavily engaged in a three-year war to stop the destruction of our public school system through the "reforms" known as Goals 2000, School-to-Work, and The Workforce Investment Act. Today, these "reforms" have morphed onto Common Core. When we had a chance to stop them in the 1990s, Mike Farris refused to support my efforts against the Workforce Investment Boards, saying they didn't affect homeschoolers! I considered that a betrayal to every student in the nation.
It is with great pain that I acknowledge that some people I really respect have joined the Article V effort. But I can’t join them because, to me, something really smells about this Article V movement. Its arguments don’t past scrutiny. Its tactics are underhanded. Its source of funding is not in the open. I think honest Tea Party members and dedicated freedom activists should ask a lot of questions before risking our precious Constitution to their lot.
Thanks, Tom for calling for cooler heads to prevail.
The Article V/Con-Con folks also seem to not acknowledge the States role in allowing the feds to grow unchecked and with that, expect the same entities to behave properly at a Con-Con?
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/con...
I have found the JBS position to be much more fully researched and expressed rationally, maturely, and without the snide attacks made upon someone with a different opinion.
And as for the emotional accusation that somehow questioning the wisdom of an Article V/Con-Con would be saying that We the People should do nothing, I refer the readers to an alternative to the risks of changing the Constitution: Nullification. It has worked before, I have seen it.
The following link is to The Tenth Amendment Center and has some great material about the remedies available to the States. In short, don’t amend the Constitution – enforce it.
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2014/09/...
A "Con-Con" is a reference to a Constitutional Convention, which is an old, outdated buzz-word term used by both the Eagle Forum and the John Birch Society to spread doubt and fear. This country has only had one Constitutional Convention, and that was in 1787. It was exactly what our young, struggling nation needed then, and we certainly don't need another one now. The Constitution we have is completely adequate to address the needs that we're discussing here, so please note the critical difference and try to use the correct terminology when discussing the goal and purpose of the COS Project.
I would also point out that, although George Soros and other left-leaning interests may be working to mount an Article V challenge to our freedom, they have had virtually no success, at least none that have achieved the legislative level. The COS Project, on the other hand, which is in no way affiliated with Soros or any other parties interested in expanding the role of the federal government, has helped pass and is continuing to assist in the passage of state-level legislation that, when the constitutionally-mandated threshold is reached, will require Congress to call a Convention of States that will be strictly limited to PROPOSING amendments to the United States Constitution that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, that limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and that limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress.
This doesn't sound to me like anything George Soros would be interested in supporting, now does it? More homework, maybe?
And lastly, how can a convention be "dangerous" (another JBS buzz-word) whan all it can do is PROPOSE amendments? Once a slate of amendments is proposed, the convention will adjourn, and the proposals will be sent to the state legislatures of all the states for debate and ratification or rejection. That's all 50 states, with two chambers in each state (except for one, I believe). In the unlikely event that the COS were to produce some "dangerous" proposal, all it would take would be for one chamber in each of 13 states to stop any nonsense.
In short, it's not the COS Project that's dangerous, it's people who spread bad information and, in doing so, encourage We the People to do nothing while the federal government grows increasingly distant and non-responsive to the needs of the states and the nation. It is the subtle motives of those people that should be suspect, not ours.
https://conventionofstates.com/
Thank you for your honest and heartfelt words.
Well done Sir, well done!
Respectfully,
O.A.
dialogue was stilted and the entire film underwhelming. Then there was that cheesy love scene between John and Dagny. Also, the man who portrayed Francisco was too old; he was hardly of an age to have been a love interest of
Dagny's. Big mistake to do the book in three parts
with 3 different casts, two would have been better as significant continuity was lost the way it was done.
either! -- j
If you don't have a Kindle device or the Kindle reader on your pc, install the pc-based reader from http://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/pc/downl...
After the reader is registered it will show up as an option in the download menu at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NIXZ... as something like "<your name> Kindle for PC".
When you run the program you can set the path where the downloads go at tools > options > content, but you can keep the default path they bury in the system folders. The filenames for the AS ebook are B00NIXZFAQ_EBOK.azw and B00NIXZFAQ_EBOK.mbp.
You can change the name of the download name displayed at amazon from "<your name> Kindle for PC" to something else by running the program and selecting tools > manage your kindle, which takes you to the amazon web site, then select "Your Devices" and select the device name you want to edit.
Film in the trilogy but what really sucks here in Minnesota it is only playing in 2 theatres
And I live in Duluth,MN which is about 2 hours from where the film is playing but hopefully it will show here eventually.
Library of Congress poll be damned, in reality Atlas Shrugged is THE most influential book ever written, even beating out the Bible!
For starters consider that Steve Wozniak said of Steve Jobs "I think Atlas Shrugged was one of his guides in life", and then consider the impact of Steve Jobs and Apple on our current world. And that's just ONE Atlas fan. Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal is another. As is Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. That's just 3 fans, each of whom has changed our world.
I have to disagree. The movies absolutely do live up to the legacy of the book!
They live up to the legacy of the book because they have the courage to stay true to the book, even when that makes them easier targets for jibes from ignorant or malicious detractors (who seem to be in unlimited supply).
They live up to the legacy of the book because they accomplish magnificently the essential function of art, of rendering abstract concepts into tangible, perceptual form. Many scenes from the movies and the selection of so many of the actors are nearly perfect at this.
From my very small involvement with ASP3 I came to appreciate a tiny fraction of just how incredibly difficult is is to make movies, especially on a low budget. Where the book is a mind-blowing intellectual accomplishment, the movie trilogy is a mind-blowing accomplishment of getting things done in the real world, of managing logistics, practicalities, schedules, people, budgets, all the while retaining an unwavering fidelity to the spirit of the book.
To make a movie out of a grand epic like Atlas, where a transcontinental train system, copper mines and steel mills are central to many scenes, with many Science Fiction elements such as Rearden Metal and Galt's motor, and a whole hidden valley with an alternate society, would be a challenge even with a big budget. To have managed it as these movies have is simply astounding!
Rand would have been thrilled to bits to see these movies, both at the final product as well as at the way they came about, and that they were made by just the sort of people and free-market mechanisms she wrote about.
I have no doubt that the movie trilogy will be an enduring classic and generate steady profits for many decades just as the book is and does.
Sadly it is the published book that does not now live up to the legacy of the original work! Most versions of the book currently in publication have Leonard Peikoff's MOOCHING and SPOILER-RIDDEN Introduction at the beginning of the book which, as he himself writes therein, "spoil the book for anyone who reads [it] before knowing the story". But that is a rant for another day!
I know there are some old timers here that have waited their entire life to experience the Trilogy, and i'm happy they finally got to experience it. Consider that a 60 hour audiobook was condensed into roughly 5 hours of video.
Everyone who was in my life between 2010-2014 has had me shove Atlas Shrugged down their throat, quoted ad nauseum, scenes from the film by David Kelley explained on YouTube forwarded to them, etc. It's taken time ... but now after year 4 of nonstop harassment, some of them are actually considering going to see Part 3.
We traveled 59 minutes to the nearest theater showing Atlas Shrugged Part 3. It was well worth the drive because much time was needed for discussion on the drive home.
I know the road to get this final installment in theaters was against all odds .... I truly am appreciative. I've purchased all of the shirts, my wife proudly wears the Rearden Metal Bracelet every day of her life since I got it for her for Christmas in 2011. The films and the book have provided endless conversations and arguments and discussions and mental flights of fancy to my life since discovering the trailer. I know i'm a newbie compared to everyone else, and i've seen the complaints on the movies, but i'll say this to any of the complainers .....
The first time you complain because nothing will live up to your expectations and your favorite scenes may have been omitted or "cliffs noted" breezed past. When you watch it the second time, these movies are masterpieces.
A week before Pt 3 came out, I went out and bought Pt 2 on Bluray and watched it with my family and some friends and we were totally captivated by it and astonished at how fantastic it was .... and even better there were some deleted scenes on the bluray.
If Part 3 comes to a closer theater, I will go see it again. Otherwise I'm looking forward to owning it on Bluray.
I'm also going to make it a note to purchase any used copies of Atlas Shrugged Pt 1,2,3 whenever i'm at a MovieStop or Used Movie store and give it away to someone.
I really enjoyed Mike Maloney's reading of The Aristocracy of Pull on YouTube as well, and experienced the same emotions he did.
I'm just so darn thankful for the new understanding of life that Atlas Shrugged provided me, and regardless of whatever criticism you may have received for the films .... the people in my life that i've persuaded into watching the movies have appreciated them tremendously.
The films brought my family closer together philosophically and we are able to use the characters to explain situations we encounter in our daily lives to share information and insight.
I know that I reference Rearden, Taggart, D'Anconia, Galt on a daily basis at least once if not more. Even today.
Once again, thank you very much for making these movies a reality. Your efforts were not wasted. They changed lives.
- Jonathan Lippe
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