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The Atlas Society and Atlas Shrugged Part 1

The Atlas Society and Atlas Shrugged Part 1

5 Mins
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December 17, 2011

Editor's Note: The following article was written for the March 2011 Atlas Society newsletter.

SCRIPT AND FILMING

As Atlas Shrugged Part I nears its theatrical release on April 15, the level of excitement is rising rapidly across the internet, among the fans of Ayn Rand’s great novel—and certainly here in our office at The Atlas Society. Since April, 2010, when our trustee John Aglialoro undertook his last-minute independent production of the film, we have been working with John and his team to support their efforts. We believe that the success of the film is a huge opportunity to spread our ideas—and to gain more visibility for all our work. I want to bring you up to date on what we have accomplished so far.

My role was to advise on whether the scripts were true to the philosophical themes, plot, and characters of the novel.

In late May, John sent me the initial script, written by Brian Patrick O’Toole with major input from John (who will share screen-writing credit). For the past ten years, I have been John’s consultant on all his initiatives to get the film produced, first with Turner Network Television, then with Lionsgate Studios. My role was to advise on whether the scripts were true to the philosophical themes, plot, and characters of the novel; I read and wrote detailed comments on at least six different scripts, all of which had major defects. In this case, thanks to John’s involvement, the script nicely captured the central story in Part I of the novel, and the themes came through loud and clear. That was fortunate, since there were only a few weeks until filming had to begin and no time for major rewrites. Nevertheless, there were problems we managed to fix before shooting began.

For our Sponsors’ Dinner on July 3rd, John prepared a short interview on the set for us to show attendees. He was then in the middle of filming, which was completed by the end of the month, when we posted our report on the project (“Filming of Atlas Shrugged Wraps Up” [http://www.atlassociety.org/filming-atlas-shrugged-wraps1], including the interview with John.

Filming the actors is only the first stage in production. Post-production involves filming all the external scenes to establish location, creating the score, and countless hours of editing. In preparation for editing, I gave the producers comments on the shooting script—the one finally used by actors and director. (Physicist Laurence Gould was generous with his time in advising me on the plausibility of the scene where Hank Rearden and Dagny discover the abandoned motor and speculate about how it worked.) In October, I watched the director’s cut, the first full version of the film, and again wrote comments recommending changes to make in editing.

"THE MAKING OF A MOVIE"

Meanwhile, the staff worked hard to put on our December 7th New York City event, “Atlas Shrugged: The Making of a Movie.” In the historic Hudson Theatre, this evening to remember was a celebration of John Aglialoro’s achievement in bringing Rand’s great novel to the screen. Its highlight was a showing of ten minutes of clips from the movie, the first scene anyone outside the production team had seen. John also used the occasion to announce that the film would be released in American theaters on April 15th, Tax Day, a date that underscores the struggle between producers and looters.

We expect a surge in demand from viewers who want to know more about the novel and its ideas.

Aglialoro joined other members of his production team—fellow producer Harmon Kaslow; screenwriter Brian O'Toole, who also manages the movie's Facebook  page; executive producer and second-unit director Mike Marvin; and post-production supervisor John Orland—in a panel discussion about the joys and challenges of the project. The panel was moderated by John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, who also spoke about the new Republican Congressmen inspired by Atlas Shrugged.

Also on the evening’s program:

  • I outlined the narrative elements and essential themes I looked for as a consultant on the script.
  • Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal explained the genesis and extraordinary impact of his 2009 article “ Atlas Shrugged: From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years .”
  • Atlas Society chairman Jay Lapeyre gave a special Atlas Award for our chairman emeritus Frank Bond.

The Atlas Society was pleased to have the support of Leadership Sponsors whose support made the evening possible: John Aglialoro and Joan Carter; Cliff and Laurel Asness; Frank and Shelda Bond; Scott and Leslie Jacobs; David Kelley; Jay and Sally Lapeyre; Ed Snider; Ashwin and Mari Vasan; and Fred and Sandra Young.

Reports about the event created an online buzz. Of special note was the powerful, and evocative account by Atlas Society trustee Walter Donway.

PROMOTING THE FILM

The producers are using online and social media to get the word out about Atlas. Edward Hudgins and I helped compile lists of influential organizations, blogs, and individuals who might post links to the movie’s website and use their own distribution channels to excite the public about the picture.

Your donations will help us at this crucial time to make the movie a powerful force in our politics, economy, and culture.

At this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, Ed and I made the rounds with Harmon Kaslow and Scott DeSapio, the movie’s Web site manager, to make sure they met representatives of organizations with an interest in the movie. The “tea party” group FreedomWorks sponsored a session for the first showing of the film’s trailer, with Kaslow and Kelley offering comments about the themes of Atlas.

We also worked with Alexander McCobin to set up a showing of film clips at this year’s Students for Liberty conference in Washington, D.C., where some 500 student leaders will also hear Ed, Will Thomas, and me explain the meaning and urgent significance of the movie. Ed is also organizing an advance screening of the whole film in here in Washington in early March.

As I write this in mid-February, the trailer of the film has drawn over half a million viewers just a few days after its release online. It has begun generating widespread commentary, pro and con. The left is already taking aim at the movie, and we are preparing our response. After the release in April, we expect a surge in demand from viewers who want to know more about the novel and its ideas.

We have waited years for precisely this opportunity to help realize the potential of Atlas Shrugged—just as we know you have waited years to see the film. The producers are counting on us as the resource for understanding the philosophy of open Objectivism founded by Ayn Rand and embodied in her great novel. They are counting on us for the intellectual ammunition to counter the inevitable attacks. We are leading the charge for a film that will bring a new, wider audience to our ideas. Your donations will help us at this crucial time to make the movie a powerful force in our politics, economy, and culture.

CONTRIBUTE NOW



David Kelley

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Kelley

David Kelley is the founder of The Atlas Society. A professional philosopher, teacher, and best-selling author, he has been a leading proponent of Objectivism for more than 25 years.

ديفيد كيلي، دكتوراه
About the author:
ديفيد كيلي، دكتوراه

أسس ديفيد كيلي جمعية أطلس (TAS) في عام 1990 وشغل منصب المدير التنفيذي حتى عام 2016. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، بصفته كبير المسؤولين الفكريين، كان مسؤولاً عن الإشراف على المحتوى الذي تنتجه المنظمة: المقالات ومقاطع الفيديو والمحادثات في المؤتمرات وما إلى ذلك. تقاعد من TAS في عام 2018، ولا يزال نشطًا في مشاريع TAS ويستمر في العمل في مجلس الأمناء.

كيلي فيلسوف ومعلم وكاتب محترف. بعد حصوله على درجة الدكتوراه في الفلسفة من جامعة برينستون في عام 1975، التحق بقسم الفلسفة في كلية فاسار، حيث قام بتدريس مجموعة متنوعة من الدورات على جميع المستويات. كما قام بتدريس الفلسفة في جامعة برانديز وألقى محاضرات متكررة في الجامعات الأخرى.

تشمل كتابات كيلي الفلسفية أعمالًا أصلية في الأخلاق ونظرية المعرفة والسياسة، والعديد منها يطور أفكارًا موضوعية بعمق جديد واتجاهات جديدة. وهو مؤلف دليل الحواس، أطروحة في نظرية المعرفة؛ الحقيقة والتسامح في الموضوعية, بشأن قضايا في الحركة الموضوعية; الفردية غير المقواة: الأساس الأناني للإحسان؛ و فن التفكير، كتاب مدرسي يستخدم على نطاق واسع للمنطق التمهيدي، وهو الآن في طبعته الخامسة.

ألقت كيلي محاضرات ونشرت حول مجموعة واسعة من الموضوعات السياسية والثقافية. ظهرت مقالاته حول القضايا الاجتماعية والسياسة العامة في هاربرز، ذا ساينس، ريزون، هارفارد بيزنس ريفيو، ذا فريمان، أون برنسيبل، وفي أماكن أخرى. خلال الثمانينيات، كتب كثيرًا لـ مجلة بارونز فاينانشال آند بزنس حول قضايا مثل المساواة والهجرة وقوانين الحد الأدنى للأجور والضمان الاجتماعي.

كتابه حياة خاصة: الحقوق الفردية ودولة الرفاهية هو نقد المقدمات الأخلاقية لدولة الرفاهية والدفاع عن البدائل الخاصة التي تحافظ على استقلالية الفرد ومسؤوليته وكرامته. أثار ظهوره في برنامج «الجشع» الخاص بجون ستوسل على قناة ABC/TV عام 1998 نقاشًا وطنيًا حول أخلاقيات الرأسمالية.

وهو خبير معترف به دوليًا في الموضوعية، وقد حاضر على نطاق واسع عن آين راند وأفكارها وأعمالها. كان مستشارًا لتكييف الفيلم أطلس شروغد، ومحرر لـ أطلس شروغد: الرواية والأفلام والفلسفة.

 

العمل الرئيسي (تم اختياره):

»المفاهيم والطبيعة: تعليق على المنعطف الواقعي (بقلم دوغلاس بي راسموسن ودوغلاس جيه دين أويل)،» أوراق السبب 42، رقم 1، (صيف 2021)؛ تتضمن هذه المراجعة لكتاب حديث غوصًا عميقًا في علم الوجود ونظرية المعرفة للمفاهيم.

أسس المعرفة. ست محاضرات حول نظرية المعرفة الموضوعية.

»أسبقية الوجود«و»إبستيمولوجيا الإدراك،» مدرسة جيفرسون، سان دييغو، يوليو 1985

»المسلمات والاستقراء،» محاضرتان في مؤتمرات GKRH، دالاس وآن أربور، مارس 1989

»الشك،» جامعة يورك، تورنتو، 1987

»طبيعة الإرادة الحرة،» محاضرتين في معهد بورتلاند، أكتوبر 1986

»حزب الحداثة،» تقرير سياسة كاتو، مايو/يونيو 2003؛ و المستكشف، نوفمبر 2003؛ مقال يُستشهد به على نطاق واسع حول الانقسامات الثقافية بين وجهات نظر ما قبل الحداثة والحديثة (التنوير) وما بعد الحداثة.

«لست مضطرًا لذلك«(مجلة IOS, المجلد 6, العدد 1, نيسان/أبريل 1996) و»أستطيع وسأفعل» (الفردانية الجديدة، خريف/شتاء 2011)؛ مقالات مصاحبة حول جعل سيطرتنا الحقيقية على حياتنا كأفراد.

أطلس شروغد