Changes

Yet different producers have attempted a film adaptation for a long time. At one point, according to the trade paper ''Variety'', Alfred S. Ruddy attempted for several years to do his own adaptation. Among the names of actors and actresses that were mentioned in connection with Ruddy's efforts were those of [[Clint Eastwood]], [[Robert Redford]], and [[Faye Dunaway]].<ref name=imdb/>

Yet different producers have attempted a film adaptation for a long time. At one point, according to the trade paper ''Variety'', Alfred S. Ruddy attempted for several years to do his own adaptation. Among the names of actors and actresses that were mentioned in connection with Ruddy's efforts were those of [[Clint Eastwood]], [[Robert Redford]], and [[Faye Dunaway]].<ref name=imdb/>

Now an independent film company, Baldwin Entertainment, is now trying to produce an adaptation, currently rumored to release in 2011.<ref name=imdb/> Writer Randall Wallace has been hired to write the script, from a treatment provided by James V. Hart. For years, persistent rumor had it that [[Angelina Jolie]] would appear as Dagny Taggart, and then came a rumor that [[Charlize Theron]] had been promised that role, and that the producers were discussing the idea of a mini-series&mdash;probably the only kind of dramatic project that can possibly do the novel justice. Before this recent announcement, multiple other actress' names had been mentioned, including those of [[Julia Roberts]], and [[Anne Hathaway]]&mdash;though some fans of the novel insist that [[Cate Blanchett]] would be the best actress to interpret that role.

The Baldwin Entertainment company recently tried to produce an adaptation, but gave it up. Then a brand-new company, calling itself The Strike Productions, took the project over.<ref name=imdb/> They have hired their own writer and director, and more to the point, the cast of the film consist entirely of actors and actresses who have appeared, if at all, in projects with which very few, outside of dedicated [[motion picture|movie]] "buffs," are likely to be familiar. The project is currently filming and is scheduled to release in 2011.

Karen Baldwin, the head of Baldwin Entertainment, is quoted as saying that the novel is more timely than ever, though she would not elaborate on the reasons for that assessment. Current budget estimates run as high as $50 million US.<ref name=brevet>Brevet, Brad,  "Will Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ Finally See the Big Screen? And Who Will Star?", RopeofSilicon.com, 1 April 2009. Accessed 21 April 2009. <http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/will-ayn-rands-atlas-shrugged-finally-see-the-big-screen-and-who-will-star></ref><ref name=risky>Zeitchik, Steven. "With 'Atlas Shrugged,' Hollywood may have its first anti-bailout movie." ''The Hollywood Reporter'', April 1, 2009. Accessed April 26, 2009. <http://www.riskybusinessblog.com/2009/03/with-atlas-shrugged-hollywood-may-have-its-first-antibailout-movie.html></ref>

Followers of the novel are not pleased, especially since the film is now a distinctly low-budget ($5 million US) project with no actors or actresses with true "marquee" value. But some, who ''are'' familiar with director Paul Johannsen (who has also cast himself as John Galt) and his work, are willing to grant him the benefit of doubt.

 

As might be expected, several minor characters in the novel will not appear. They include Robert Stadler, the nominal head of the State Science Institute, and Cheryl Taggart, an impressionable young woman who marries James Taggart and then commits suicide on the strength of her realization of what sort of man she married.<ref name=imdb/>

==Recent popular mention==

==Recent popular mention==