"The Strike"
FUN FACTS
1. Atlas Shrugged took 12 years to write.
2. The working title of Atlas Shrugged was, "The Strike." It was actually Frank O'Conner, Ayn Rand's husband, who recommended "Atlas Shrugged" after the book was finished.
3. We're making another movie.
WHAT!? :)
Working on the Atlas Shrugged films presented us with some of the most challenging moments of our lives. It was rewarding too of course, but Challenging - with a capital C. Why? Those of us on the crew with any knowledge of the material were vastly outnumbered by those with none... by 1 to 100. I could count us on one hand. And at times, one finger.
The result? The movies do not adequately convey the message of Atlas. Period.
And, THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF MAKING THE MOVIES - to accurately convey and propagate the message.
But, what if we had another shot? What if we could do it all over again from the beginning? What if we could put together the ideal team of artisans whose sole purpose it was to finally bring Atlas to life as it was meant to be?
I spoke at length yesterday with John Aglialoro, one of the Producers of the films and sole owner of the movie rights to the book.
If you're at FreedomFest today in Vegas, John's going to be on a panel. You may want to attend.
We're making another movie.
Scott DeSapio
Associate Producer, Atlas Shrugged 3
1. Atlas Shrugged took 12 years to write.
2. The working title of Atlas Shrugged was, "The Strike." It was actually Frank O'Conner, Ayn Rand's husband, who recommended "Atlas Shrugged" after the book was finished.
3. We're making another movie.
WHAT!? :)
Working on the Atlas Shrugged films presented us with some of the most challenging moments of our lives. It was rewarding too of course, but Challenging - with a capital C. Why? Those of us on the crew with any knowledge of the material were vastly outnumbered by those with none... by 1 to 100. I could count us on one hand. And at times, one finger.
The result? The movies do not adequately convey the message of Atlas. Period.
And, THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF MAKING THE MOVIES - to accurately convey and propagate the message.
But, what if we had another shot? What if we could do it all over again from the beginning? What if we could put together the ideal team of artisans whose sole purpose it was to finally bring Atlas to life as it was meant to be?
I spoke at length yesterday with John Aglialoro, one of the Producers of the films and sole owner of the movie rights to the book.
If you're at FreedomFest today in Vegas, John's going to be on a panel. You may want to attend.
We're making another movie.
Scott DeSapio
Associate Producer, Atlas Shrugged 3
Previous comments... You are currently on page 3.
Today Rand's prose doesn't suit most people, doesn't suit most audiences. Life changes and people change with it. I realize years ago Atlas Shrugged was voted the 2nd most influential book in the western world, after the Bible but, if you polled people today, neither AS nor the Bible would rank in the top 20. It's a comic book world. I can't think of any literary works that have widespread appeal.
If we want to get the masses to pay attention to Rand's message it's not going to be through her books, it will be through visual storytelling, it's going to be through appeal to emotion. Once we capture their emotions we can insert the message. AS 1-3 failed to capture their emotions. Your phrase will have zip impact on the masses. The Romantic Manifesto had no impact on me. It's on my shelf and it's going to stay there. It's a polemic. Polemics don't work. Story works. Drama works. Avatar, as silly and unscientific as it was, works.
If one does not dramatize the message, the message will not have widespread impact.
Dig a little bit into the "Romantic Manifesto" by Ayn Rand, and you will find that her statement "...art is a re-creation of reality, according to an artist's value judgments..." This little short phrase will suffice to teach a writer, sophisticated ways of putting his character's philosophy and feelings into a great story.
1. At least twelve hours long...could be a season series of two hours each.
2. Some history of Dagny, Francisco, and Eddie's early days.
3. The Thanksgiving dinner where Hank finally lets his family have it.
4. And most importantly, Jeff Allen, the tramp who has dinner with Dagny on the train, explains the downfall of the Twentieth Century Motor Company. It's the finest piece of writing against Communism that I have ever read. It needs to be included in the movie in its entirety.
Great News! I will be very interested in updates.
Regards,
O.A.
Of course they do. They just don't like her ideas.
Do you think the millions upon millions of Americans who have never paid a dime of net tax in their lives don't understand Rand?
Of course they do. They just don't like her.
We live in a time that mirrors the period of Rand's story so, people will have a gut understanding of a contemporary telling of the story. The problem is to sneak past their dislike of her message and deliver a dramatic story that makes them feel it. We can ignore ideas. We do that all the time. We can't ignore feelings.
Be that as it may, any story that will be universally accepted, must be written about the people who believe, and of course those who don't believe in Ayn Rand's philosophy. That premise is the basis of conflict.
The current election cycle is a fantastically practical way of demonstrating philosophical opposites. I compare the Clintons' unbridled lust for power to Shakespeare's General Macbeth and his wife. Of course, today’s good guy is Donald Trump, and I compare him to Shakespeare's Henry V, which I would call in today’s common lingo, a righteous dude. When he defends his goal of ruling France as a result of winning a battle, his men and the audience are with him 100%. He won that ancient battle as Eisenhower, Patton and MacArthur won the World War II. Neither three modern generals inveigled their way into a winning position; they fought for their victory. Can you picture Bill Clinton as a general trying to win a straight up battle? Possibly he might have take a survey to find out what the enemy thought about the whole idea. Or Hillary Clinton as a Mata-Hari type spy trying to keep secrets for five seconds.
In other words, a story of today must be written about people of today, as living expressions of universal ideas (hatefulness, greed, lust or rational philosophy.) Those concepts and the conflicts they create in a story have thrilled audiences of the past. Therefore, a writer must use words and actions based on a character’s ‘sense and value of life’ rather than any heavy and pendulous philosophical ideas, to wit Ayn's 100 page soliloquy on her philosophy in Atlas Shrugged.
Paraphrasing Macbeth as he ponders the act of killing King Duncan, by saying, "If it were done when tis done then well it were done quickly. If the assassination should trammel up the consequence and, catch with his surcease, success... That but this blow may be the be-all and the end-all here…" This soliloquy indicates that he's really concerned about that thing called conscious, as it controls his actions, and the possible result of those actions. Of course, he disregards conscience and goes through with the assassination even though it is based on the most heinous of ideas such as killing a king. Naturally, he pays for his intransient actions in the end.
Compare Bill Clinton in the same scene, agonizing over the repercussions of making advances to his female intern. He might even do just that for about two seconds before he goes in for the attack.
The audiences in 16th-century England, were not as sophisticated as we are today, but they knew a good metaphor when they saw or heard one; and they could learn from that experience. We don't have to use flowery Elizabethan dialogue today, but it is still possible to show how a character and his philosophy control the art of storytelling.
What I really want is a TV series that focuses on average people you don't see in the book. They would be living their lives, but having to work around gov't plans to allocate resources along political lines. Average people who are kids playing, young people in love, adults, elderly, all finding ways to help each other in mutual trades while the gov't is on their cases with the master plan. Ideally, you'd see selflessness juxtaposed with seflishness (the good kind) in way that doesn't hit you over the head too hard with the message. You could have a story arc where they hear about the power failure in NYC, not realizing that history would view it as a watershed turning point where people reject central planning.
I'm happy for any new popularizations of AS.
It should be possible to upgrade the film on the cheap. A character driven film doesn't need a $60 million budget, it needs drama, good dialogue and great acting. Great acting doesn't mean "star" in fact, there are lots of great actors who'll never be stars.
Damn, this could be fun.
Atlas Shrugged would make a good TV series too.
Among the brilliant scenes were the nature of money speech by Francisco and Dagny's scene with Jeff Allen, both in part II, The second always brings tears--I'm a sucker for discovery scenes.
Also, a suggestion: Shoot the movie in Venezuela. It's cheaper and much of the script will write itself.
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