When the economic crisis went into full swing, bookshops started to notice an odd trend: people who hadn’t read much more than a Grisham or Clancey novel in the last decade were suddenly rabid Ayn Rand fans. Atlas Shrugged, with its message of capitalism unfettered by government control, blasted back onto bestseller charts in the last year, making the long-gestating film adaptation seem a lot more likely. NowCharlize Theron is seriously interested, says the Risky Biz Blog, and because she and the producers are concerned that simply making a feature film wouldn’t do justice to the novel’s epic length (1100+ pages) it may instead become a miniseries for Epix, the new pay-cable network that Lionsgate is setting up with MGM and Viacom.
Theron was one of a small group of actresses (among them Anne
This is only the latest chapter in an effort to film the novel that is becoming almost as epic as the book itself. Loads of talent have been involved over the past four decades, and Angelina
Beyond the current surge of interest in the book there’s one more reason to get this going sooner rather than later: if a film doesn’t go into production by the end of next year, the book option reverts back to the Rand estate. At that point, you can bet that the price to renewing it will skyrocket.
