We told you it would happen and here we are, five months later and a few steps closer to Atlas Shrugged: Part Two. A teaser trailer and cast updates were released for the sequel based on Ayn Rand’s novel, and with them comes the promise of another grand failure.
The film is the second in a planned three part adaptation, and those unlucky enough to have experienced the first one will find some surprises here. The dystopian storyline continues in the follow-up to the epic 2010 flop, but the lead actors have changed – Samantha Mathis replaced Taylor Schilling as railroad tycoon, Dagny Taggart, the part of Henry Rearden – originally played by Grant Bowler – went to Jason Beghe, and D.B. Sweeney stepped in for Paul Johansson in the role of John Galt. Johansson also directed the first film, but this time the job went to Duncan Scott.
Based on the alterations, the producers behind the Atlas Shrugged trilogy, John Aglialoro and Harmon Kaslow, seem to believe that the first film tanked because of hiring the wrong cast and crew, not because of its low production values, boring plot, and clunky, stilted dialogue. Not that we get to see any of the new meat in the teaser – instead, we get a ridiculous montage of Fox News pundits and other talking heads discussing Rand before the footage cuts to a clip from a 1959 interview with the author in which she predicts America’s bleak future. I hope the first Atlas Shrugged was among her disturbing visions. See trailer below:
Atlas Shrugged: Part Two should release on October 12th.