Will Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ Finally See the Big Screen? And Who Will Star?

Steven Zeitchik at the Risky Biz Blog is reporting the long gestating film adaptation of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” is taking new steps toward the big screen. Zeitchick says Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media is circling the Baldwin Entertainment project and could come aboard to finance with Lionsgate, which got involved several years ago.

Angelina Jolie has been at the center of the chatter for about three years now as she was first attached to the role back in September of 2007 when Randall Wallace (Braveheart) was enlisted to adapt the 1,100 page 1957 novel for the screen. Now, Zeitchik says the list of potential actresses has grown to include Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway. At one point Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) was aboard to direct.

The role the ladies would be vying for is that of Dagny Taggart. The story follows Taggart’s struggles to manage a transcontinental railroad amid the pressures and restrictions of massive bureaucracy. Her antagonistic reaction to a libertarian group seeking an end to government regulation is later echoed and modified in her encounter with a utopian community, Galt’s Gulch, whose members regard self-determination rather than collective responsibility as the highest ideal.

Karen Baldwin is quoted saying, “This couldn’t be more timely. It’s uncanny what Rand was able to predict — about the only things she didn’t anticipate are cell phones and the Internet.”

Along with writing the latest draft of the screenplay apparently Wallace is also interested in coming on to direct with producers looking to shoot next year, driven in part by the timeliness, as well as by a clause in the option. The project would likely land in the $50 million-budget range but could go higher depending on talent and Zeitchik says additional studio and financier suitors could yet materialize and join the project along with Lionsgate and Relativity.

Get further details here.

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