Back in June, it seemed as though the efforts to bring Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged to the big screen were on the shelf.
Now, Variety is reporting that a new director has been named and the project seems to be moving forward:
Lionsgate has brought on Vadim Perelman to rewrite “Atlas Shrugged” and direct Angelina Jolie in the starring role.
While Lionsgate needs to get a final script before formally committing to a start date with Perelman at the helm, the move puts the company in a strong position for an early 2008 production start, just a shade over 50 years after Ayn Rand’s famed novel was first published in 1957.
Pic will be produced by Howard and Karen Baldwin and Media Talent Group’s Geyer Kosinski.
Perelman will work from a draft of the script penned by “Braveheart” scribe Randall Wallace, who managed to boil down the Rand manifesto of 1,100-plus pages into a 127-page script. The drama revolves around what happens when great industrialists and thinkers go on strike and the world grinds to a halt.
Wallace will remain involved, and in a recent meeting with Perelman, the pair traded Russian dialogue. Perelman was born in Kiev, while Wallace has picked up the language researching his Catherine the Great pic “The Mercenary”; Rand was born in Russia. Perelman has brought his own take that will be incorporated into Wallace’s script.
Frankly, I remain unconvinced.
September 5th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Alright.
Don’t F it up.