Galt's Gulch
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Who is Dagny Taggart?

Posted by sdesapio 10 years, 9 months ago to Entertainment
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Beautiful, tenacious, and fearless, Dagny Taggart has inspired women and men alike for over 50 years.

As Atlas Shrugged Part 3 heads to production, some major decisions still lay ahead. For the past several months, we've read all over the web everything from "Taylor was PERFECT!" to "Samantha IS Dagny!" to "You should have case [INSERT NAME HERE]!"

Now it's time for you to tell us directly. Who is Dagny Taggart?

Taylor from Part 1? Samantha from Part 2? If you had to pick someone else, who would it be? Beyond her ability to embody the character of Dagny Taggart, what else should be considered when casting Dagny? Should she already be an advocate of Ayn Rand's ideas? Should she have at least read Atlas?

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  • Posted by Storo 10 years, 9 months ago
    Thinking about who I might see in the part, I think Kate Beckinsale just might be able to pull it off. She's a bit more mature than Taylor, but she has the look that I think might work. What do y'all think?
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  • Posted by hrobison 10 years, 9 months ago
    While I enjoyed both actors, Taylor Schilling captured the intelligence, glamor and sex appeal - that surely captured all these amazing talented men - and finally John Galt.
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  • Posted by overmanwarrior 10 years, 9 months ago
    If Taylor is available, it should probably be her to pull everything back together to Part 1. But for continuity reasons, Samantha should pick right up where they left off. She did a wonderful job and played a realistic Dagney that I enjoyed a lot. It should not be a new actress.
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  • Posted by $ winterwind 10 years, 9 months ago
    The enormous Taylor/Samantha debate is almost irrelevant to me.

    What IS relevant is that I be able to believe that the actress has read AS, understands it and can discuss it intelligently [that is, didn't just read the Cliff Notes], and loves it.

    Rand said, I think, that Dominique Francon was her in a bad mood. I want to believe that the actress playing Dagny could be the woman who posed for that great photo of Rand as a young girl, looking up and out, watching the future.
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    • Posted by tcorm 10 years, 9 months ago
      Haha, I see that in Dominique Francon! :) I agree. It's HUGE that it's not just them learning a script but totally, intimately knowing the character through having read (and believed in) the book and its principals.
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      • Posted by Heatherwags 10 years, 9 months ago
        I agree with both of you. This is no ordinary role and the third Dagny is the most critical. Whoever receives the role needs to typify Dagny, not just look like her, or read words from a page.
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  • Posted by eriksmitha7 10 years, 9 months ago
    The actress who played Dagny in Part 1... The entire cast of Part 1 was so much better than part 2... I LOVE Part 1. I kind of hate Part 2 solely based on the cast being horrible.
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  • Posted by pmcconathy 10 years, 9 months ago
    I agree Taylor from Part I is my choice for Dagny. I would like to see as many of the other Part I actors to return for Part III as well. They seemed like a more dynamic group in general. I am really looking forward to Part III in 2014. Have already purchased both Part I and II as soon as they came out.
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  • Posted by galmicky 10 years, 9 months ago
    Taylor! Taylor! Taylor! Taylor! She really has that ability to give life to Ayn Rand's philosophy. We'll also need the original Hank and D'Anconia for the underlying love story to work. Part 2 was really missing the 'magic' factor brought in by most of the original cast. We need Graham back as Ellis Wyatt too. Try to get as many back as possible!
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  • Posted by wholder 10 years, 8 months ago
    Sorry everyone, but I liked Samantha more than Taylor. I think Taylor was too 'young girl', didn't strike me as being as the owner of the world's largest railroad. If choosing someone new I think it should be someone who's read the book and agrees with the principles. Not knowing who that might be, the first actress that came to my mind is Jodie Foster. Or Sandra Bullock. I prefer Hank from part 2.
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  • Posted by JoseyWales 10 years, 8 months ago
    Taylor and Samantha were both good - if I had to choose, I would probably go with Samantha. I thought she gave the role a little more authenticity - a littler older and starting to showing the effects of the relentless onslaught of government interference.
    I would definitely go with Grant Bowler (Hank from Part 1). Beghe's voice is just too annoying.

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  • Posted by nelleski 10 years, 9 months ago
    I am so happy to see Taylor's popularity. She is a natural for part III, the CO mountain scene especially! Definitely Taylor and definitely cast from the first movie - especially Hank! Once completed, reshoot part II scenes with Taylor and Hank and run it as a TV triology - over and over!
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  • Posted by Freedom2 10 years, 9 months ago
    Taylor from Part 1 was perfect! HOW you will put the whole story together with DIFFERENT actors for several parts is beyond me and probably something John Galt would not be able to fix ! HOW DID YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!
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  • Posted by Chez 10 years, 9 months ago
    I like Taylor from part 1. But anyone you screen for the role has to really be the character, when she said "THAT TRAIN WILL RUN IF I HAVE TO DRIVE THE DAM THING MYSELF. " i dont think that actress really spent any time on a train in her life. She didn't say it with conviction, like it was her damn train no matter what.
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  • Posted by imagesh 10 years, 9 months ago
    Folks, please remember the budget level of these movies... 90% of casting suggestions I see are completely impossible! Casting options are only 2 or 3rd tier character actors or "B" star power that has been off the radar for a while. Taylor is now out of financial range due to success in "Orange is the New Black".
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    • Posted by Ob1 10 years, 9 months ago
      the irony: this thread is supposedly a conversation among Objectivists of one flavor or another, heh. Yep, most of us prefer Taylor in an ideal universe- (whatever they do, we hope they choose someone other than Samantha Mathis, the right qualities were not there in the lifelong tragic facial set, sorry) My personal ideal would be Amanda Tapping ( SG-1) , but there too may be out of reach- mentioning as a type of actress to search out for this part. Hope they find someone with the same fire, steel & good looks, with a REAL GRASP of Dagney's character!
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      • Posted by imagesh 10 years, 9 months ago
        Exactly! I've seen some good suggestions that show an understanding of the economic reality of low budget production, but also some absolutely unrealistic ones. Even Samantha Mathis has had summer success with "Under the Dome" (if they don't kill her character off) which would up the stakes in her negotiations. Besides, you can't blow your casting budget with ONE actor, as who would you then surround them with? Imagine Jolie or Theron with the two previous casts playing off them! No, the producers are left with various permutations of the guest star roster from, say, "The Love Boat" (look it up, younglings) and will have to make the best of it.
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        • Posted by Ob1 10 years, 9 months ago
          ...Nearly snorted coffee on my screen laughing, the image was too funny. The true low budget approach is to recut old clips from a zillion shows to tell the story. For a moment I saw Hervé Villechaize from Fantasy Island pointing up shouting exultantly- " THE PLANE!...THE PLANE!"
          Well, Objectivists, I think AS Productions gets it. News Flash.. Schilling may not be in budget. Hope they can think on their feet & find brilliant choices in casting & screenplay.
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          • Posted by imagesh 10 years, 9 months ago
            It's to the producer's credit they found Taylor before things took off for her. Listen, it's HARD to make a movie, any movie, let alone two indies going into a third. And, these films are a difficult fit for low budget, not only on scope, but on casting. Your average art indie film will easily attract a quality cast "above market value" if the themes resonate with liberal actors. Craft a role that calls for a drug user, a prostitute, a social worker, or any of the standard heart-tuggers and you'll have no trouble finding an actress hoping for peer recognition. But, put out a unique role where a women is a WHOLE PERSON, smart, passionate and (the worst offender) successful in business without using her sex as a tool and you'll turn that Oscar quality talent pool instantly off. Sad, and ironic.
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  • Posted by $ Tap2Golf 10 years, 9 months ago
    She should at least have read the book and been inspired by it as a whole and, also, by Dagny's character. It is important that Ayn Rand's ideas and strength come through...so the part should be played by someone who has some understanding of Rand's philosophy. Also important that Dagny's maturity shows growth from Part 1 and 2.
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