For nearly 20 years now, Ayn Rand’s mammoth ode to capitalism and self-interest, Atlas Shrugged, has labored to find its way to a place it probably doesn’t belong anyway: the movie screen.  Why so long a journey?  Well, while some people (Alan Greenspan!  John Mackey!) consider it the intellectual equivalent to The Lord of The Rings, that trilogy’s success didn’t exactly wrap up with a 100-page speech to the masses.

But now, in a roll-the-dice move that would make John Galt proud (or Howard Roark laugh), the current option-holder of Shrugged, entrepreneur John Aglialoro, has set a, gulp, June 11th start date on the production.

And while that’s only weeks away, and he’s currently lacking a single cast member (no word yet on Angelina Jolie or Charlize Theron as Dagny Taggart), Aglialoro has at least selected a director: Stephen Polk.  Okay, if not Aglialoro, is Polk worried about the film’s casting?  Nope!

Polk said they are not intimidated to film a storied book even if stars don’t align.  “For more than 15 years, this has been at studios and there has been a whole dance around who’ll play the iconic roles,” Polk said.  “Making it an independent film was the game-changer.  Everybody is saying, how can you shoot this movie without a star?  We’re shooting it because it’s a good movie with great characters.  We’ve been in pre-production for months, but kept it a mystery.  Part of the reason is because there’s so much crap about how you need a great big budget and stars.  We aren’t looking for big names to trigger press or financing.”

For those of you wondering how Polk, whose acting credits far outweigh those of his directing (29 to 1), landed such a gig, what follows is the trailer for his last (and first) film, ‘08’s Cherly Ladd and Barry Bostwick-starring, Baggage:

 
Okay, now, given the above, we still can’t be sure how the resulting Atlas Shrugged film is going to turn out.  But here’s something I do know: it’s gonna have a hard time stopping critics from seizing upon one of the novel’s central images: the train wreck.

Best of luck to both Polk and Aglialoro!

’Atlas Shrugged’ Rights Holder Sets June Production Start

Previously on Dangerous Minds:

Ayn Rand Assholes

Frank Llloyd Wright on Ayn Rand, “What’s My Line”

Not a nickel or penny for that matter.  Nothing. Ever again.

I was absolutely incensed by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s editorial against universal health care that appeared in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal. In a classic example of a smug, rich guy doing the “I got mine, buddy, go get your own” routine,  Ayn Rand-loving, Internet-trolling asshat Mackey actually has the nerve to suggest that instead of universal health care, people simply eat organic food bought at Whole Foods. You know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. As yesterday’s TPM headline read “Who Needs Healthcare? We’ve Got Whole Foods!”

Is this a joke? A ridiculous misguided publicity stunt where we still haven’t heard the punch line? Fodder for a future South Park episode? Not to get all Al Goldstein on you Mackey, but FUCK YOU. And to the WSJ editorial editors, for shame that you let something this blatantly RIDICULOUS appear on the pages of a supposedly respectable newspaper. It’s an embarrassment, like giving Marie Antoinette (or Betty Crocker) editorial space to declare “Let them eat cake” and then argue the point!

What a creep! But that’s not to say that something good might not come of this mortifying episode. Like a boycott of the most over-priced supermarket chain in history!

A woman named Mieke Eerkins sent out the following letter on Facebook, which I am excerpting here with her permission:

Subject: Whole Foods- Shocking News

I wanted to share this with my more liberal friends who probably shop at Whole Foods, and hope you’ll pass it on if you agree with me. I am shocked and disappointed to learn that Whole Foods Market’s company position is in opposition to health care reform, and in general, supports Republican ideologies. Apparently, for years now (as he admits), the CEO has been posting right-wing rhetoric in newspapers under a pseudonym, but yesterday, he published an op-ed piece openly under his real name that is pretty extreme right-wing on health care reform. The CEO’s statement in the Wall Street Journal is in direct opposition to what I thought they believed in, and certainly in opposition to the beliefs of many of their customers (including me). I had no idea he supported a Republican ideology! How can a store that pretends to be in favor of healthy living turn around and say that only some privileged people deserve access to health?

The Whole Foods CEO’s exact words: “Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care?