What is sad is that this book is even being made into a film at all. Ayn Rand had her day and the economic collapse and BP oil spill have landed a one-two punch that, hopefully, will render her philosophies dead. Atlas Shrugged should be left on a dusty shelf in a library where it belongs.

A note to Mr. Johannassen, director of 'Atlas Shrugged':

Congratulations on wrapping up production of the movie, Atlas Shrugged. As the writer of another film in development that was inspired by Ayn Rand, I understand what an accomplishment it is to have completed shooting your film.

However, after watching an interview with you conducted by ‘Libertas Film Magazine,’ I was disturbed to hear you repeat, a couple of times, that ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is about the nobility in man’s spirit.

Nobility? Really?? Is this is how you and your producers are going to frame ‘Atlas Shrugged’?

While Ms. Rand’s novel is about many things — laisse faire capitalism, objectivism, individual rights — I don’t think it’s about the nobility in man’s spirit. Rather, I think it reveals something much darker lurking there.

Consider that Atlas Shrugged repeatedly sells hundreds of thousands of copies each year despite being over fifty years old, and that several years ago it was listed by the Library of Congress as being one of the most influential American books, second only to the Bible. Indeed, many conservative political and business leaders cite the book as being ‘profoundly influential.’

If, as you say, Atlas Shrugged is about the nobility of man’s spirit, wouldn’t we expect those sectors of society that have embraced it, along with many of Ayn Rand’s other philosophies, to reflect nobility?

Places like the floor of the senate where Republicans held up unemployment insurance benefits for cash-strapped families while simultaneously working to extend tax breaks for the rich. Or Wall Street where Goldman Sachs made millions of dollars while selling securities that were secretly designed to fail. Or in West Virginia where a coal mine operator skirted regulations and left 25 dead, or BP, a corporation that did the same thing and left 12 dead along with the worst environmental disaster in American history.

Are these the places where you see the ‘nobility of the human spirit’?

Mr. Johansson, please take back the word ‘nobility’ when discussing Atlas Shrugged. To describe this book and the ideas it has spawned as ‘noble,’ is to do a grave diservice to those things which really deserve the honor of the word.

In the meantime, I truly wish you luck on the post-production of your film.

James Lantz, writer/director
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