Go Dana Perino! hahaha!

I agree

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.

Taylor. I hated the change in cast in Part 2. Part 2 should be done over with the case from Part 1.

WAY wrong argument for this topic.

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.

Did not like either Francisco ... they didn't have "Latin Salsa" danger vibe. Could probably cast someone from So You Think You Can Dance who would be better. That character needs to be like a dancer, very charismatic and showy.

And LOVED Reardon and Wyatt V1.0 ...

Taylor...she is it. She had attitude!

You are so right on about Galt... Neither showed anywhere near the overwhelming "is" of the Galt character, which must be a strong, dominant, mature, and especially, considering he has the admiration of the most powerful (and no-nonsense) captains of industry, deep thinking man... Add to this you need to match the chemistry of Dagny to Galt... This is going to take a lot of work (and likely money) to get the *right* actor...
TO me... someone like Chris Hemsworth could pull off both the "track worker John", the "make the looters squirm" John, and the "one with the business titans" John. Lookswise - he fits. And he can act.

PS: But even with bad actors/actresses Rand's story would be able to stand and entertain!

Taylor rocked it in Part 1. I bring friends over to watch Part 1 and then warn them that Part 2 has totally different actors that lose the desired impact of the plot. The age of the actors in Part 2 really makes the movie stodgy. Also, not even older people want to see Samantha's cleavage - cleavage for the sake of cleavage is just dumb. And, Samantha needs less of the whiny housewife attitude.

Concur!

Samantha also has the cheekbones that look worn, old, and weak. It makes me think of her as a weak, tired character.

Dana Perino. Or Taylor.

Taylor was hands down, infinitely more Dagny than Samantha. Samantha reminded me more of Vivian than Dagny. Dagny is supposed to, also, be aesthetically pleasing. This is a not a quality I would apply to Samantha.

Taylor, hands down. I know she won't come cheap, as she has other projects going on right now, but... sometimes you have to remember that quality is far and away more important than cost savings. Think of it this way - would Dagny pay more for tracks made of Rearden Metal or save a few bucks and buy cheap imported steel?

And speaking of Rearden... Grant pulls off the image and feel of Hank. I would say, unequivically, go with what worked so well in AS1. And if there is to be a ASIV, you would probably do well to get a tentative contract commit from them now, rather than re-invent the wheel yet again!!!

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.

Taylor all the way. And the rest of the Pt 1 cast. In fact, re-shoot Part 2 for consistency!!

i thought the cast should have stayed consistent from the beginning.

Please bring back Taylor Schilling, as she portrayed Dagney exactly as I had envisioned her when I read Atlas. Samantha did fine, but Taylor did much better. I don't care whether you bring all the original cast from Part 1 back, EXCEPT the Francisco actor from Part 1 was terrible, and the one in Part 2 (Esai Morales) was GREAT so you should use him.

Re John Galt, I have defiite misgivings with your using D.B. Sweeney, as he does not have the presence. The guy in Part 1 was not much better. You've got to have someone with some serious PRESENCE to play John Galt. Perhaps Tim DeKay (from White Collar TV show), or a white, American version of British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor from Serenity (now that fellow's got presence - almost stole the entire movie!).

Taylor Schilling is the better choice hands down. We also need to get Grant Bowler back to play Hank!

Taylor

Taylor Schilling from Part I is the perfect Dagney.

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!