I could still be convinced to come out of my shrug existence without the total collapse of this country, but all I am saying is that it would take a highly unusual event for this country to get out of where it is and be worth living in again.

jbrenner: I don't consider it hysteria.

You misunderstand what I meant. I didn't mean to suggest that issues such as government spending are not extremely serious and worthy of our utmost concern. I meant that your claiming that a specific MOVIE would "save the country" is the same kind of high-school-level hysteria as claiming that a specific DEMOCRATIC-PARTY ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION would "save the planet".

Hysterical and silly.

Yes, JerseyBoy, this is one of those rare times that I disagree with Robbie. We are not mainstream.

I have no doubt that there was voter fraud, but this was not nearly as large a fraud as the failure to report Benghazi accurately. If any Republican had a Benghazi incident followed by such an obvious deception campaign, they would have been impeached. I would have accepted a line saying that "We acknowledge that this incident is unfortunate. There are some details that should remain classified for national security reasons." Instead they pulled out a whopper that would have made Bill Clinton blush.

Romney was not a solid candidate because of Romneycare.

Regarding my comments about salvation for this country, that is exactly what it would take. I don't consider it hysteria. Yes, those outside Atlantis use such terminology. And yes, I do not expect the US will survive. And yes, if the original novel couldn't save the US, the likelihood of any sort of adaptation to save the US is remote. The USA's chance right now is equivalent to a football quarterback's last-second heave from midfield into the end zone. It could happen, but I would assign it about a 1% probability. I have seen games won on the final play like that, but it certainly is rare.

Robbie53024 said "we" (i.e., Objectivists and others who liked AS1&2 and will therefore naturally like AS3 and flock to theaters to buy tickets) "are the mainstream." Are you saying Robbie53024 is wrong?

As for Obama vs. Romney in the 2012 election, I tend to believe the stories about rampant voter fraud that surfaced post-election. Additionally, voters couldn't discern clear differences between the two candidates when it came to hot-button issues like Obamacare — which, as we all know, was modeled after Romneycare in Massachusetts. So I don't think Romney's campaign money was misspent; I just think he was a loser-of-a-candidate by nature, and it would have made no difference how he spent his money.

Your assertion regarding AS3 and "salvation" is the sort of hysteria I'd expect, and often hear, from high-school students regarding "climate change", "global warming" and other non-issues ("Al Gore's movie is our last chance to save planet earth!"). Anyway, if the original novel couldn't save the US, then obviously neither would any sort of adaptation.

I have no concern about financing for the film at all. What I do have a concern over is whether or not the film can be attractive to a general audience. A well-financed campaign does not necessarily translate into effectiveness. Mitt Romney, for instance, had a lot of money, pretty close to that of Obama, and got almost no votes above what any other Republican would have gotten vs. Obama. I personally decided to vote libertarian, when given the correct Republican candidate, I could have been convinced to hold my nose and vote for a Republican. For instance, despite his being a former Federal Reserve member, I could have voted for Herman Cain because his variant off of the "Fair Tax" would have been good for the country.

The main reason I am concerned about the success of the film is that it might be a last chance for salvation from the financial abyss for the United States. Right now we're past the tipping point, but if this film were very successful, the United States might be able to make an Indiana Jones-like last minute bullwhip to grasp on to something that would keep the United States from plummeting into the abyss.
Barring some sort of last minute heroic save, this country is not worth saving.

I know you're not worried about the financing for the making of the film. You're worried about the financing for the MARKETING of the film. However, if you check the FAQs of the AS3 Kickstarter Campaign from several months ago, you'll see that one of the main purposes for the campaign was to raise additional financing specifically for the marketing of the film.

See:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atl...

and see:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atl...

Q: "Why Kickstarter? Why do you need the money?"

A: "The movie is actually already funded and is now headed into production this October. All additional funds collected through Kickstarter will be put towards expanding the production, distribution, and marketing budgets.

The Atlas Shrugged Movie Kickstarter campaign is not so much about money though as it is about marketing."

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

See, jbrenner? The producers have everything under control. Nothing to worry about.

I'm not worried about the financing for the film, JerseyBoy, and I know we are not mainstream. If we were mainstream, then Galt'sGulchOnline would have thousands of people on at a time.

jbrenner: "The number of people here in Atlantis (both producers and lurkers) needs to be MUCH higher for the movie to be a success."

Got an idea:

Maybe we can start a Kickstarter campaign to raise financing for additional marketing of the film!

Oh, wait. Aglialoro and Kaslow did that already. Sounds as if they have all the bases covered.

Never mind.

I don't understand why you're so worried. A few days ago on this thread Robbie53024 confidently asserted that "I think we're mainstream", the "we" referring to those who liked AS1 and AS2 and who will doubtless like AS3, thus ensuring its success at the box-office.

Relax.

Gossip site Cinemablend memed Variety (incorrectly, by the way), and Variety never claimed Jolie was "signed" — as in, putting her signature on a contract — but merely claimed she was "set to star" in AS.

"Set to star" simply means her agent (or other career confidante) asked her if she'd be interested in starring in a possible production. "Sure! I loved the book! I'd love to play Dagny!" she probably said. So everyone gets excited: "Angelina Jolie is going to star in Atlas Shrugged!" Except that isn't what happened.

A-list stars like Jolie always have "Play or Pay" contracts; meaning, if they SIGN the contract, then they get paid WHETHER OR NOT the production goes ahead. The idea behind this is that the star (and his or her agent) may have turned down other work in order to make time for a particular film. If the production of that film falls through, the star (and his or her agent) get paid anyway.

I doubt very much Aglialoro, et al., had the financial strength to agree to such terms.

Cinemablend admitted it got its news from Variety, but changed "set to star" to "signed to star." It's not semantics; it's Hollywood Code. Jolie was never "signed to star" or it would have cost Aglialoro a fortune when the deal fell through.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrug...

"In 1999, under John Aglialoro's sponsorship, Albert Ruddy negotiated a deal with Turner Network Television for a four-hour miniseries, but the project was killed after the AOL Time Warner merger. After the TNT deal fell through, Howard and Karen Baldwin, while running Phillip Anschutz's Crusader Entertainment, obtained the rights. The Baldwins left Crusader, taking the rights to Atlas Shrugged with them, and formed Baldwin Entertainment Group in 2004. Michael Burns of Lions Gate Entertainment approached the Baldwins to fund and distribute Atlas Shrugged.[11] A two-part draft screenplay written by James V. Hart[12] was re-written into a 127–page screenplay by Randall Wallace, with Vadim Perelman expected to direct.[13]

***Potential cast members for this production had included Angelina Jolie,[14] Charlize Theron,[15] Julia Roberts,[15] and Anne Hathaway.[15]***

Between 2009 and 2010, however, these deals came apart, including studio backing from Lions Gate, and therefore none of the stars mentioned above appear in the final film."

Note that the article says "POTENTIAL cast members had included Angelina Jolie . . ." etc. As I wrote, earlier, other starlets were considering the role (or were being considered).

DriveTrain: "We also had confirmation of that fact directly from John Aglialoro and Howard and Karen Baldwin themselves, who made the announcement at a panel discussion about the movie at the 2006 Atlas Society summer conference at Chapman University. I was sitting in that room, and I do not hallucinate.

No, you don't hallucinate, but Hollywood motion picture producers do routinely bullshit their audiences. That's a major part of their job. It's called "creating 'buzz'". You simply chose to believe them, rather than exercise skepticism.

Thank you, DriveTrain. It is a pleasure to meet you. As I have only been in such forums for about a month (and only in the Gulch), I had never seen what you are referring to as internet forum trolls. Maybe I should stick to posting during the day. I learned from The Hobbit that trolls are not very fond of daylight.

You were warned in private and in public and have been called out by both Robbie and by DriveTrain, someone that I am not even sure I have communicated with before. Thumbs down.

Agreed, jbrenner - I'm seeing a distinct pattern of continuous incivility from this troll, and it's an element of juvenile belligerence of which these forums had heretofore been refreshingly free.

I suppose the appearance of this type of thing was inevitable at some point, but a forum dedicated to a philosophy of reason leads one to expect better behavior - or at minimum, behavior that at least seems to understand that unprovoked, in-your-face hostility persuades nobody of anything, except of the proposition: "He's a belligerent ***."

Presumably we can now take that proposition as a given. Beyond that, nada. 'Perhaps it's time to follow the standard-issue advice vis-à-vis internet forum trolls...

*sigh*

This is false. As of September 2006, Jolie was indeed signed onto the Lion's Gate "Atlas" production in the role of Dagny. See:

http://variety.com/2006/film/news/jolie-...

and

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Angelina-...

We also had confirmation of that fact directly from John Aglialoro and Howard and Karen Baldwin themselves, who made the announcement at a panel discussion about the movie at the 2006 Atlas Society summer conference at Chapman University. I was sitting in that room, and I do not hallucinate.

At any rate, the entire purpose of this thread is brainstorming - those who have not familiarized themselves with the concept should do so now, because it's a useful tool - and my above post is conjecture within a thread dedicated to brainstorming for advertising ideas (hence its title,) Conjecture much like yours. Since I'm pretty sure neither of us is a personal pal of Angelina Jolie, short of getting granted an interview in which we can ask her the question directly, we're guessing in either direction. In any case, antagonistic trolling is unwarranted here, or in your responses to any of the rest of these people's posts.

All indications - from people who have spoken with her, then written about it - are that Jolie has an intense interest not only in the book but in doing that specific role in a film adaptation (refer to the linked articles.) And if there is one thing we know with certainty about Angelina Jolie, it's that she's not the type of person to let someone else's "influence" dissuade her from going after something she wants. Which is another reason she'd have been excellent in the role.

As I said on this forum - or the AS movie forum? - a few months ago, given that I and II already had actors for the principle characters swapped, seeking Jolie for the third would've been oddly consistent, (neither Schilling nor Mathis is likely to be back for the third anyway,) with a potentially huge PR and general quality windfall. The worst outcome would have been her saying "No." At the very least, the effort to pitch the idea to her should have been made, and doing so would've cost nothing.

jbrenner: "Frankly you are an arrogant ***"

You compared yourself to Quentin Daniels, Hank Rearden, Dagny Taggart, and Ayn Rand — and I'm the one who's arrogant? LOL!

jbrenner: "You love to take snippets out of context. If you had quoted me completely, you would have seen an entirely reasonable explanation..."

Many of us here have heard that same excuse . . . usually from corrupt politicians.

jbrenner: "I didn't go out and collect a poll..."

Your sample size wouldn't change the fact that you contradicted yourself during the course of your argument.

Frankly you are an arrogant ***, Jersey Boy. I am ignoring all your future posts. You love to take snippets out of context. If you had quoted me completely, you would have seen an entirely reasonable explanation based on my personal, admittedly small sampling of people I know. I didn't go out and collect a poll, and I am not going to do so to answer your inane diatribe.

I am writing a book on how to develop a nanotechnology minor program, something of a much higher priority to me. If I really wanted to write a book like AS, trust me, I would. It is not on my agenda. It will take me a couple of years to write the book I want to write. Lighten up, Jersey Boy.

If it makes you feel better, before reading AS, I had a few years that I behaved like the Wet Nurse. Lighten up, Jersey Boy, or I am going to have to start giving you thumbs downs. I have tried to deal with you politely in private, and you are just being annoying.

jbrenner: "Let's just say that I resonate with a number of the characters."

And all of them heroes. I've noticed that no one ever claims — or admits publicly — that he resonates with Eddie Willers. I guess it makes sense. No child of 9 would claim to resonate with mild-mannered Clark Kent; he always resonates with Superman. We expect nothing more nuanced from a child of 9. But from an adult?

jbrenner: "I have no shortage of content for writing such a book,"

You're claiming that you, too, could have written "such a book" as Atlas Shrugged — but were too tired ("battle fatigued") to do so?

Let me get this straight. You first compared yourself to Quentin Daniels; then to Hank Rearden; then to Dagny Taggart; and now to Ayn Rand.

Got it.

I put words in your mouth? Going forward, then, I'll quote you verbatim before replying.

jbrenner: "How do I know that if someone disagrees with the book, the cause is that he is a moocher/looter? I don't."

That contradicts your earlier statement:

jbrenner: "Certainly many non-Gulchers disagree with the book. They are predominantly looters or moochers."

The meaning of that statement is clear: if a non-Gulcher disagrees with the book, it is because he is a moocher/looter. Then you admit that you don't know if that's actually the case.

Thanks, Robbie. I completely agree.

Dittos to that.

Jersey Boy, you love to antagonize me. Most of the times that you do so, you put words into my mouth. I'll gladly speak for myself, thank you.

How do I know that if someone disagrees with the book, the cause is that he is a moocher/looter?" I don't. HOWEVER, when Romney said that he would not get the 47%, what he was wrong about is was in estimating how few moochers there were. I am not going to get into the discussion about, "But I paid into Social Security and Medicare ...", but when you add up all the government dependents plus the children, the number of actual producers in this country left over is very few. When I say that "they are predominantly looters or moochers", it is because the vast majority of people in this society choose their government dependence. I would consider the majority of people in this society as looters or moochers or children. I went to work at 6:30 AM yesterday, left to go home at 9:10 PM, and grabbed a pizza on the way home. And as for poetic injustice, while you were writing this message, I was being confronted by a 65-year-old homeless guy (moocher) looking for a dollar so that he could eat last night.

Note: I have not voted for any Republican OR Democrat in a general election in my lifetime. I would have voted for Reagan in 1984, but was two months too young.

Let's just say that I resonate with a number of the characters. I have a very wide range of experiences in government labs (pre-AS), academia (both pre- and post-AS), and as VP and chief technical officer of two startups (both pre-AS). I have fought many of the battles (internal and external) that most of the AS heroes fought and have personal notes on about 400 pages of the book as to how it relates to my life. My life is a microcosm of Atlas Shrugged: Now Non-Fiction. I have no shortage of content for writing such a book, but I think it would hurt me too much to do so. I have lots of battle fatigue.