It's not that Lerner was jewish.... It's that the vast majority of the 'villain' roles were kind of a who's-who of jewish character actors.

Michael Lerner, Armin Shimerman, Patrick Fischler

meanwhile, Jon Polito's not jewish, but was playing a conniving, big nosed, moneygrubber...

This was a problem in the first film, it was fixed by the recasting (I don't know whether the problem or the fixing was intentional, only that the fixes did occur). This made more sense in the second, the story took place in America, it made sense that the heroes and the villains were predominantly non-jewish white folks.

The cast in Part II was so disappointing that it almost caused me to quit watching. Only the fact that AS is a work of art kept me from leaving.

I completely agree!

The story is paramount for me, but when I watch a movie, I want some glamor in the cast where appropriate. The second cast was completely without that quality which was for me a distraction.

I thought the first cast near perfect. The casting for Part II was terrible. Glamor to mundane. I was greatly disappointed. And the airplanes were poorly done. Other than these two points, I enjoyed the movie because I am an ardent fan of Atlas Shrugged.

F. Other
Of the choices, I suppose getting the message of the book right is the most important priority. However, it's more than that. The actors need to be able to display the passion and the character that makes one feel the same way reading the book as watching the movie. Those things did not come across in the first two movies. I think that's largely because in the book, one is able to read the person's thoughts in the narration and understand so many things that are not necessarily verbalized. That doesn't translate in a movie unless you show explicit emotions on a person's face or have them voice what they are thinking in a natural way that's not awkward. This is the piece I feel is missing and should be the number one priority.

According to Wiki, Fred Friendly worked for CBS, and was fired for running I Love Lucy instead of covering the Vietnam Senate hearings. He went on to start PBS. Never worked at ABC. Maybe it was CBS or PBS that was going to do AS? If it had been CBS that would have been a long time ago.

Really? I had a problem with it in the movie. I am sure she had brown hair...

"A sweep of brown hair fell back, almost touching her shoulders."

it's not important. I'm still for the all asian american cast

B - which will be a result of the rest being done ...to summarize, correctly.

Well, butter my biscuits! I was getting ready to say "Hunh-uuunh!" and add that she's blonde inside my head when I thought - you put that copy of AS there by the computer so you could use it when necessary. So use it. Her hair IS brown! Strangely enough, she's still a blonde inside my head.

Keep reading. Not so much a looter or moocher as
an ideological traffic cop, not letting projects having a theme with which he disagreed (or thought would not draw an audience) come to fruition. This, of course, is the prerogative of a
private company like ABC.

Thank-you. I didn’t know who Fred Friendly was. I’m afraid I am not up to par with television history.Interesting how much impact he has had on television according to Wiki. I’m just reading AS for the first time and I am 2/3 through it. Would Freddie-boy be what they refer to as a looter?

These 3 of most important..............
1a=E 1b=A 1c=B

Right Director + Right Cast = Getting the
message of AS right..........which is "the individual exists, the collective does not" thus "individualism is pro-life; collectivism is pro-death".

"...while the TRUE battle of ideals is between the philosophies of "collectivism VS individualism."

Bullseye !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good thoughts...................

Excellent............talk about "gets it"...WOW !!!!!

1. I believe it would still be extremely difficult to get a mini-series aired, even on today's wide
selection of media; too many in that field are against its philosophy.
2. The movie(s) or TV adaption will not change minds........the goal is to raise interest in the book.........and then in AR's ideas via her other fiction and non-fiction.

Ayn Rand made very clear that it was the principle of the popular myth of Robin Hood "stealing from the rich and giving to the poor" that Galt wanted to destroy and not the actual, historical Robin Hood who was fighting against serfdom.

"...that's one of the downsides of being Human."

"downside'? Emotions react to the thinking one has done or failed to do.............if the thinking is objectively rational (consonent with man's nature), the emotions are pleasurable; if not, then torturous. The mind is man's tool of survival; when used correctly (reality identification) the results, including emotions, are very satisfactory..................including seeing when to avoid or escape from the irrational.

The exec was Fred Friendly (???) and he axed it b/c of the philosophical message.......anyone surprised?

1-B
2-A
3-E
4-C
5-D
6-F the original Dagny Taggart and Henry Rearden

hmmm. I can't believe I'm voting in on this, but I think you've got a good one there. He was awesome as the devil worshiping vampire preacher murderer in Buffy. He was good in Serenity as well. I like it, bar!

Nathan Fillion definitely.

Definitely.

His past roles, especially as Captain Mal in Firefly and Serenity just fit the role of John Galt perfectly. The whole "me vs the rest of the world", seeing through the blinding fog brought about by the "everybody else says so, so it must be ok"... Just a perfect choice.

Plus he has that perfect stone face that I always pictured John Galt having. The "I know you think that way, but thinking doesn't make it true"

Getting the message of Atlas Shrugged right