Skeptic Project

"Atlas Shrugged," Ayn Rand's classic novel celebrating rational self-interest and the moral right to keep the fruits of one's own labor, has become a surprise best-seller in the wake of the financial crisis. The 53-year-old book sold more than 450,000 copies in 2009, and now John Aglialoro, the chief executive of fitness equipment maker Cybex, is taking the "objectivist" Bible to the silver screen. Much as Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" exposed a flat-footed Hollywood studio culture that shunned a film (and $612 million in box office) it deemed too religious, so might Agilaloro once again expose a system overly rooted in the formulaic. "Shrugged" devotees are legion, and the $8 million production could be a grand slam. Not coincidentally, the film opens April 15.

-- Forbes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480239/

I don't know. But the better qustion is what is the diffrence between "The Passion of the Christ" and a snuff film?
Atlas Shrugged is suppossed to be a two parter.

What I don't understand is how people in this latest recession seem to be doing the opposite of what's in their economic best interest. The Tea Party wants deregulation when it's deregulation that caused this whole mess in the first place. And now people are interested in Objectivism when they are unemployed and most in need of help! It doesn't make sense.

"What I don't understand is how people in this latest recession seem to be doing the opposite of what's in their economic best interest. The Tea Party wants deregulation when it's deregulation that caused this whole mess in the first place. And now people are interested in Objectivism when they are unemployed and most in need of help! It doesn't make sense."

There's a good article in Rolling Stone about it.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/matt-taibbi-on-the-tea-party-20100928

"Do people just not understand the repercussions of the ideology they support?"

No.

They don't.

The only reason this no-budget turkey is being made is because Agliolaro has owned the movie rights for twenty years but they were going to expire if he didn't start filming in 2010.

Agliolaro's rights to the book were set to expire if principal photography didn't begin by June 12, 2010. Up until the last minute, relatively unknown actor/director/scriptwriter/producer Stephen Polk was set to direct the film, but he and Agliolaro clashed over cast and budget. Long story short, Polk wanted to mount a real production, while Agliolaro was more interested in putting together a quickie version. Two weeks before principal filming was scheduled to begin, Johansson was given the director's chair.

To understand why Agliolaro has been trying to put together a cheap version of Atlas, one need look no further than Fantastic Four. Big budget cinematic versions of the famous comic book were released in 2005 and 2007, but the first film adaptation came out in 1994. An embarrassingly bad quickie produced by shlockmeister Roger Corman, the movie was never intended for release; its purpose was to enable producer Berndt Eisinger to hold onto his film rights to the work. Oddly enough, it allegedly turned a profit when Marvel Comics paid to have it permanently shelved. This quickie version of Atlas Shrugged will likely do the same thing, either extending Agliolaro's control over the property or at least getting him a quick payoff from the estate of Ayn Rand.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/atlas-shrugged-the-movie-strangest-story-is-behind-the-camera/19528438/</p>