Renewed vigor to bring Atlas to the screen

It looks like we might be getting closer to seeing Atlas onscreen. Like everyone who likes the novel, I have my thoughts. 

I would like to see the same visual techniques that made Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow so effective used in it - the green glow of Rearden metal would be particularly compelling. Atlas, like LoTR, deserves to be a three-parter. If producers don't think there's an audience for it, they're out of their minds, and the book is broken into three parts. I don't think it would be an effective representation of the book or Rand's ideas to jam it into a three- or even four-hour production.

Casting will be key for many reasons. If big money gets behind the production - and I get the sense that it is - Atlasphiles and Objectivists will go berzerk if left-wingers fill the roles. I've always been happy with Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart, because Jolie has stated her admiration for the novel before. Some of the names batted around as Dagny - especially Julia Roberts (old and left-wingy) and Anne Hathaway (left-wingy) would infuriate fans. As for the other key characters, a star will be made if a relatively unknown Latin actor is cast as Frisco; Hank Rearden's tough, because people think of him as older (I think most people think of Harrison Ford) but he's only in his 40s and is described as "looking younger."). I don't think the actors have to all be conservatives or libertarians, but the producers better proceed with caution if they consider actors with loudly-voiced leftist views playing anyone other than looters and moochers (Alec Baldwin would be perfect as James Taggart - a great lefty actor with a great screen presence). 

Anyway, from the story:

Rand’s popular but polarizing book — it’s derided by many literary critics but has a huge public following — tells the story of Dagny Taggart, a railroad executive trying to keep her corporation competitive in the face of what she perceives as a lack of innovation and individual responsibility