Cameras began rolling over the weekend on a five-week shoot for “Atlas Shrugged Part One” with Paul Johansson directing from Brian Patrick O’Toole’s script. Aglialoro would have lost the feature rights if the film wasn’t in production by Saturday.

A spokesman for Aglialoro — the CEO of exercise equipment producer Cybex — said there will be at least one more “Atlas Shrugged” shot after the current film’s completed. Rand’s massive novel is divided into three parts, each consisting of 10 chapters.

It’s about time. There’s been talk of a movie for 40 or so years. Who’s in it? Well, it’s not Angelina Jolie.

Johansson (“One Tree Hill”) portrays Galt. The lead role of railroad executive Dagny Taggart has gone to Taylor Schilling (“Mercy) and the part of Henry Reardon is being played by Grant Bowler (“Ugly Betty”).

Michael Lerner (“A Serious Man”) portrays lobbyist Wesley Mouch and director Nick Cassavetes has signed on for the Richard McNamara role. Other key cast include Matthew Marsdan as James Taggart and Graham Beckel as Ellis Wyatt.

Not sure if Johansson has the look of Galt that I have in my mind, but Schilling definitely can pull off Dagny Taggart.

Now I just hope it’s good in the “Lord of the Rings” sense, and not just OK in the “Chronicles of Narnia” sense.

While Hoffman spends considerable time critiquing Ayn Rand’s signature and portrait on the back of the tome, Hoffman notes what’s conspicuously missing from the original cover of “Atlas Shrugged” — the image of Atlas that has become synonymous with the book.

Hoffman writes:

In truth, I was so distracted by Rand’s pensive melancholic expression that, at first, I paid little attention to the front cover of Atlas Shrugged. The cover art is from the original publishing by Random House Inc., in 1957. Alas dear friends, the first question that plagued my mind was: “Where is Atlas?” The front cover at first appears to be a barrage of chalky hues, the title like thick strips of white beach islands in a misty sea of Crayola colors. But I focus my eyes and discern that where I do not find the hunched muscular pillar of Atlas, there is an abstract picture of a train charging forth from a tunnel. At least, I believe it to be a train, though there are only reflective train tracks, a small geometric tunnel and a large red circle whose borders fade to blurred purples, blues and greens. Is this the skewed headlight of the impending machine? Where is its body? The disembodied train light is just as frightening as it is alluring to me. Where are its passengers? Where is it from? Where is it going?

If you don’t look closely enough at the original cover of Atlas Shrugged, the thick wash of color can mesmerize and disorient you. It’s beautiful in an ominous way. The sinking dark tunnel, alerting the bright red of the train light, and looming dark mountains overarching the scene — will I open this book and never come out?

Will you never come out? Well, not the same way you went in.

In retrospect, the wisdom of this approach might seem obvious. However, Allison navigated through the overheated mortgage market and the ensuing banking crisis by relying, in large part, on a philosophy that many others are now turning to: “I got interested in [Ayn] Rand in the late 1960s. I read Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. I had already been interested in economics, and as I finished college, I got interested in finance. I saw the banking system as central to a capitalist economy.”

Rand’s seminal work, Atlas Shrugged, is currently #42 on the Amazon bestseller list in paperback and #135 in hardcover. That’s pretty remarkable for a novel that was first published 52 years ago. Allison calls it “the best defense of capitalism ever written” and made it required reading at BB&T. Since 2005 the BB&T charitable foundation has given millions of dollars to dozens of universities to establish academic programs devoted to Rand’s philosophy.

Allison also tells Hemingway that Rand’s philosophy is not solely based on greed, but on a code of ethics:

While aspects of Rand’s philosophy might legitimately be called controversial, Allison points out that she is misunderstood more often than not. Rand is often viewed as “extreme” because her defenses of capitalism and “rational self-interest” are seen as promoting greed and selfishness. Yet Allison is quick to note that the strong values and ethics that Rand’s philosophy promotes allowed BB&T to steer clear of shortsighted and greed-driven decisions.

“A lot of people miss the fact that Rand has a very strong ethical system,” he observes. “Rand says you can derive ethics from reality. If anything, Rand is more rigorous in her ethical system than most codes are. If you’re dishonest, you are disconnected from reality, and that has consequences.”

Check out the rest here. It’s definitely worth the read. If only more of our bankers thought the way Allison does.

First, he notes:

… a major factor accounting for the resurgence in “Atlas” is the fact that it has become clearer than ever in this current economic mess that government control of the country’s economy — which now includes concrete steps being implemented for the direct running of American companies and banks by the government — is causing the very catastrophe Rand described more than half a century ago.

Whether or not one accepts all aspects of Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, as spelled out in her many novels, papers, speeches, interviews and non-fiction books, the essence of her philosophy is of increasing relevance in today’s world in which government control at all levels of government has dramatically reduced the sphere of personal freedom to but a small fraction of what it was even at the time “Atlas Shrugged” was written.

That’s all true. But then Barr adds:

Even though it is good news to see “Atlas” enjoying a revival of sorts, we need to do much more than buy a few more copies of the book in order for us to have any realistic hope of reversing the trends about which its author wrote and which we the living, now suffer under.

It would have been nice for Barr to spell out what he means by “do much more than buy a few more copies,” such as explaining how to put Rand’s philosophy into action (does he mean Going Galt?).

One would certainly expect that the Libertarian candidate for president might have some ideas. Or maybe he needs to reread his own copy.

Still, it’s good that CNN noticed:

“Where is John Galt?” reads a sign in the back of a vehicle heading down Interstate 85 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The quotation is wrong. As any reader of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” can attest, the correct line is “Who is John Galt?” but the point is well taken.

In the midst of the credit crisis and the federal government’s massive bailout plan, the works of Rand, a proponent of a libertarian, free-market philosophy she called Objectivism, are getting new attention.

He then goes on to note what we already know — Rand’s novels are flying off the shelves.

For a work written half a century ago, Atlas Shrugged remains surprisingly timely. In an eerie echo of today, many (if not most) critical economic and political decisions are made not by the President or Congress, but by a host of civilian advisors who spend as much time jockeying amongst themselves for position and influence as they do trying to solve the country’s problems. In the novel itself, the focus on trains, mining, steel, and manufacturing, especially within the United States, all seem very quaint and archaic in our digital/silicon/networked/globalized civilization, but every few pages, Rand will have a passage that is not only relevant but often prescient.

Webster goes on to recount many examples of the novel playing in real life today, from TARP to Tim Geithner to Detroit bailouts to the subprime mortgage mess (caution reading, there’s some spoilers).

He does admit that the novel speaks to a certain shade of the political spectrum:

Still, whatever its flaws, anachronisms, and idiosyncrasies, Atlas Shrugged remains as relevant today as it was 50 years ago and perhaps more so than in recent years. If your inclinations are towards the liberal/progressive side of the political spectrum, you will likely hate the novel and will not get through it; you of conservative or libertarian bent will likely enjoy it, though you may have trouble getting through the last 400 pages (which should have been about 40 pages instead).

Read it here.

“It seems everyone I know in DM (Direct Marketing) reads Ayn Rand, and some call themselves ‘Objectivists.’

“Ayn Rand and DMers are of the belief that everyone works from their own self-interest all the time. Even people who donate to charity are operating from a place of self-interest.

“Ayn Rand thought consciously working from one’s own self-interest is a good and natural thing. In fact, it is something to celebrate and calibrate oneself to. She pointed out the difference between being an egoist versus being an egotist, which are often confused with each other. Read her pieces on selfishness.”

Marketing is in one’s self interest, to be sure. Working harder and better is too.

“And what would Rand think about all this renewed attention? I think she would just shrug and say ‘I knew it would happen.’ She was smart that way.”

He actually recounts how he first discovered Rand’s novels, starting with “The Fountainhead.”

“Long ago I stopped reading novels, focusing only on biographies and histories. However, there are two novels I read every few years: ‘The Fountainhead’ and ‘Atlas Shrugged.’

“‘Atlas Shrugged’ is about as close to a bible as I have ever found that I can believe in. It is about the freedom to do as you choose as long as that choice does not interfere with the desire of others to do as they choose. It speaks of a world free from government intrusion, from rules and regulations that stifle creativity, where people are judged by the deeds they accomplish, not by how needy or corrupt they are. It is, in effect, the description of a utopian world where one does the right things because those are the right things to do — not because someone is forcing them to do them. It is very difficult to sum up the power of Rand’s works. They must really be read to be appreciated for their true power.”

His opening is pretty good, too:

“I think this is rich: suddenly, out of the woodwork, suddenly, thanks to the recession, everyone is becoming a fan of Ayn Rand’s masterpiece ‘Atlas Shrugged.’ It is so bizarre that her 1957 novel should, 52 years later, be ‘discovered’ by the masses, after decades of influencing thinkers around the world.”

Christopher, if you’re not completely dead set on avoiding novels, pick up a copy of “Anthem.”

“But ‘Atlas Shrugged’ provides a way out: it provides a defense of the individual’s moral right to pursue his own happiness, which is the precondition for upholding the individual’s political right to pursue his own happiness.”

Hence the reason we’re working to send a copy to our lawmakers.

In her timeless book Atlas Shrugged, author Ayn Rand chronicled the fictional doings of many great industrialists who were dealing with the greedy hand of government, including Hank Rearden. In an early chapter, Rearden was asked by a relative who his man in Washington was, but he had no answer.

A productive person driven by his own self interest, it never occurred to Rearden to look to Washington for help in growing his business, or for handouts meant to keep it afloat. Success for him resulted from being profitable, and profits were the certain signal that he was giving customers of his massive steel corporation what they wanted.

The story of Rearden takes on greater meaning today as evidenced by the return of Atlas Shrugged to the best-seller lists. Many Americans intuitively understand that our collectivist shift toward bailouts of companies and individuals is exactly what Rand warned us about over 60 years ago. Simplified, if the government allows the unproductive to partake in the gains created by the productive, the productive just might disappear.

So who’s your man in Washington?