For a while it looked like Ayn Rand's massive novel Atlas Shrugged would be getting the big-budget movie treatment, with Angelina Jolie interested in starring and various producers taking on the project. But toward the 11th hour, when the producers risked losing the rights if they didn't go into production soon, things got a little dicier-- unknown actors Taylor Schilling and Grant Bowler took on two major roles, with actor Paul Johansson both starring and making his directorial debut. It's not that you have to have a giant budget or big stars to adapt a book, but things were seeming a little rushed and desperate when production started last June.
The film still doesn't have a distributor, but as the producers prepare to release it on an on-demand basis on April 15, we're starting to get a look at how things turned out. A trailer and clip from the movie are both now available online, and you can watch them below. The trailer is intercut with a lot of shots of moving trains and dramatic music, but the clip seems to give a better sense of what we're working with-- people sitting in rooms, talking about business, all leading up to Rand's big ideas about self-sustaining brilliant minds triumphing over the needy lower classes. And neither of them even hint at the meaning of the tagline "Who is John Galt?", which I know is the focus of the book as well, but if that's going to be the selling point of the film you'd think they might want to at least get us intrigued about the mystery.
The book's fans seem to be very much on board-- check out all the thrilled comments on the trailer's YouTube page-- but it's hard to see what's in it for the rest of us. Check out the clip and trailer below and tell me in the comments why objectivist theory will in fact make a great thriller.
