Who Plays John Galt?

I maintain a certain fascination with - if not necessarily adherence to, by any means - Ayn Rand. Yes, yes, I know... an antisocial nerd with a soft-spot for Objectivism? Shocker.

Look, I'm no Objectivist, but I'd be lying if I said that the broad sweep of it - particularly the whole "live for yourself," "to hell with the Greater Good," "traditonal-morality and social-stability are secondary to the freedom of visionaries to realize their potential" aspects - didn't appeal tremendously to what I recognize to be both the best and worst aspects of my personality. Yes, I recognize that the "philosophy" is a lot more about the author's own pathology and self-justification... but on the other hand "The Fountainhead" IS probably still the most absurdly-potent "Artist Versus The World" story ever, and more-indirectly, "Trees" is a really good song.

Basically, I appreciate it just enough that seeing Objectivist lingo and imagery being whipped out by the Tea Party as of recent is like a stabbing pain in the gut for me - it's akin to watching a caveman using an M-16 as a club. "Atlas Shrugged" as the banner of barely-literate "family values" yahoos for whom "elitist" is a curse-word? Have these people no concept of irony whatsoever? Sarah Palin is Dagny Taggart like I'm Erroll Flynn. Egh. Anyway...

I've always maintained that there's a good movie somewhere inside "Atlas Shrugged," but that to find it would require a top-down reworking, merciless trimming and oversight by filmmakers who could "respect" the story without needing to worship the philosophy (such as it is.) For the longest time, Angelia Jolie was trying to get it off the ground, but apparently that's been stalled. Instead, an indie outfit decided to put a version together as a "keep the rights" move, and they've now released a trailer...



...which looks like a Syfy/Asylum level production. Love the ominous "Part 1", too, indicating that they're keeping the interminable, meandering length of the thing. This could be the "Battlfield Earth" of political movies.

Incidentally, want a sobering glimpse of just how much political thought in the U.S. has degraded over the last few decades? Google "Ayn Rand" and "abortion," and marvel at what "conservative" USED to mean in this country.