Well, here's some news I've been hoping to write up for a long while now ... director Vadim Perelman has officially dropped the adaptation of Atlas Shrugged, which is presumably still set to star Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart. Perelman signed on to the project last September, and as recently as April ComingSoon.net reported that the project was still a go. It may or may not still be moving forward, but I have it from the most reliable source possible -- Perelman himself -- that it will not be going forward with him at the helm.

CHUD wrote up this piece about Angelina Jolie supposedly telling MTV that Perelman was never signed to direct at all -- something Perelman finds interesting, since he had a signed contract that attached him, and Lionsgate (not Perelman, as CHUD asserts, though Perelman has done interviews about his attachment to the project) had put out many press releases announcing him as the director. Perelman was attached, and I can say with as much certainty as one can possibly have about a situation like this that the decision to step down was on Perelman's side.

I've been mulling over the whole issue of the Atlas Shrugged film adaptation, which, at the moment at least, seems to be churning ahead to start filming later this year, and I wanted to talk about something several commenters have mentioned: whether it would be better to film Atlas as a miniseries, as opposed to a two-hour-or-longer movie. Of course, attempts have been made to bring Ayn Rand's most famous book to the screen before, and they've never made it past the script stage.

Why? Well, first of all, there are a lot of politics around this book. The Ayn Rand Institute and Leonard Peikoff have been notoriously protective of it for years, and trying to make a film that's going to please both the hardcore Objectivists (those who follow Rand's philosophy) and the average moviegoer who just wants to be entertained is, in my opinion, just an exercise in futility. Then I read this interview over on The Atlasphere with John Aglialoro, producer and CEO of Cybex, International, who paid $1 million for the film rights to Atlas.

Despite the talk and the buzz, I never thought it would actually happen. If any novel merits the term "unfilmable," certainly Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is it. I mean, the climax is a 60-page radio broadcast! And the entire thing is what can charitably be called a screed, preaching Rand's extremely unliberal "objectivist" political philosophy. So when I heard that Vadim Perelman (The House of Sand and Fog and the upcoming The Life Before Her Eyes) was developing the project, with Angelina Jolie attached to star as Dagny Taggart, my reaction was quite simply: Pfffffft.

But it looks like I pfffffted too soon. Comingsoon.net talked to Perelman this week, and he told them that he's finishing up the script, and that Lionsgate wants to start shooting in December. So, uh: it looks like this might actually happen.

I would commit atrocities to get my hands on a copy of Perelman's screenplay. I can only imagine what it does to condense the thousand-page-plus book into even a very long movie. What worries me most is that the novel doesn't really exist without Rand's politics, if that makes any sense: they're so integral to the story that cutting them out would make everything else pretty much pointless. And I'm not sure Hollywood -- even the relatively adventurous Lionsgate -- has the stomach for a politically faithful adaptation.

Variety reports that Paramount has secured the life rights to Kathi Lynn Austin for an action flick starring Angelina Jolie. Austin is an intelligence operative who has worked with the UN Security Council and whose career has been spent tracking down some of the world's most dangerous arms dealers and terrorists. Jolie's manager, Geyer Kosinski, will produce the film that "was pitched to Paramount as a story that was similar in spirit to The Bourne Identity". The story centers on a fictional arms dealer who was based on an infamous Russian dealer named Victor Bout. Bout was a former KGB major and earned the catchy nickname, "The Merchant of Death" (Nicolas Cage's character in Lord of War was said to be loosely based on Bout).

Jolie is still shooting the period drama The Changeling with Clint Eastwood for Universal and it has been announced that she will finally get to play the iconic tough girl, Dagny Taggart in the adaptation of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. According to Variety, Kosinski has been looking long and hard for a property with some serious franchise potential for Jolie. It makes sense, since both Tomb Raider and Mr. and Mrs. Smith failed to ignite long term franchises. Jolie is a natural when it comes to action films, so the exploits of a globe-trotting super-spy just might do the trick. Paramount is already lining up a short list of writers to kick start the film into production as soon as possible. But, like so many other films, this one is going to have to wait until the strike finally comes to an end.

When Ryan spoke with Angelina Jolie last June, she had told us that her big-screen treatment of Ayn Rand's classic political novel Atlas Shrugged wasn't exactly ready for production. Last October, Lionsgate secured a writer for the film, but Jolie told us that "... we have not had all the pieces come together. There's not been a director that's right to come on, or all of those elements. So until it does, you know, I certainly don't want to be a part of something that's just put together to hit 'this date'". So here we are two months later, and Variety is now reporting that Vadim Perelman has been hired to direct the literary property, and also to perform a re-write on the script. Perelman will be updating the original draft written by Braveheart scribe Randall Wallace. If you're familiar with the 'heft' of Ayn Rand's novels, then you have an idea of how difficult it will be to trim down a 1,100-plus page novel into a two hour film.

Rumors of the project had been kicking around since last year, when in the height of all that "Brangelina" nonsense, there was talk that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie would be working together on the film (rumors that have long since been discredited). But now that a director is in place, it seems the project is closer to becoming a reality. Vadim Perelman will be in Toronto later this week for TIFF to present his latest, In Bloom, with Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood. Since Angelina Jolie is expected to be accompanying Brad Pitt to the festival, maybe they can make it a working vacation. Jolie is still shooting the comic-book adaptation Wanted and is already scheduled to start work this fall on Clint Eastwood's The Changeling. According to Variety, Lionsgate is planning a start date for Atlas Shrugged in early 2008 -- so much for taking a year off, huh Ang?

I had a chance to speak with Angelina Jolie at the press junket for A Mighty Heart on Friday, and I asked her about a few of her upcoming (or potentially upcoming) projects. As for the one the fanboys care most about -- Sin City 2 -- she laughed when I asked her if she would do it, and then she smiled and simply said "It might be resurfacing." She had a little more to say about the adaptation of Atlas Shrugged, which is moving forward very slowly, despite having the Plan B powerhouse of Pitt and Jolie behind it. Angelina told me that the project is still on the table, but "the thing with Atlas is just, we all feel that it's one of those projects where if you can't do it right, you really can't touch it. So we have not had all the pieces come together. There's not been a director that's right to come on, or all of those elements. So until it does, you know, I certainly don't want to be a part of something that's just put together to hit 'this date.'"

Having spoken with Dan Futterman beforehand, who is working on some romantic comedy vehicles, I also told Angelina that it occured to me that she did relatively few comedy projects. Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Life or Something Like It were the only ones I could think of. "I'm really not funny," she said. "Archie [Panjabi] thinks I'm funny. Archie and I had a lot of laughs. Yeah, I really don't think I'm that good at comedy. I don't think I'd be very good at it. I think there are other actresses that do it really great. And they should, cause they'd be better, you know." We also talked about how she approaches accent work and some other stuff, which I'll be writing up in a full report as soon as I have time. Stay tuned to Cinematical.

One of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood has decided that she's ready to start spending more time with the family. Angelina Jolie told reporters in Cannes that she will take a year off following two months of work later this summer. I believe the exact quote was: "I take two months off, then I work for two months. Then I take a year off." Ah, but that only gives the paparazzi more time to catch Jolie in mama mode: "Look, there she is with Brad in the garden! And there she is playing jump-rope in the middle of some remote jungle!" While the folks from People Magazine look forward to capturing those ever-so-precious Jolie-Pitt moments, the rest of us now wonder which film(s), exactly, she'll be working on prior to taking that break.

Taking a quick look at the woman's upcoming film slate, it appears the work she's doing now is for the action flick Wanted. After that, she has both The Changeling (for Clint Eastwood) and Atlas Shrugged on her plate. Is two months enough time to shoot multiple films? Is Atlas Shrugged far enough along that they'll be ready to shoot in two months? Last I checked, the film hired a writer (Randall Wallace), but didn't even have a director. Chances are Atlas Shrugged is being, well, shrugged off for the time being. As far as hubby Brad goes, I wouldn't jump to any conclusions -- the guy is currently in pre-production on three films (Burn After Reading, Dirty Tricks, State of Play), with two more to follow after that. Thus, Angelina's "year off" might find her traveling to a number of different movie sets while Brad brings home the bacon. So much for Tomb Raider 3, huh?

Back in September, the rumors were confirmed that Angelina Jolie had officially signed on to star as Dagny Taggart in the adaptation of Ayn Rand's paperweight of a masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged. There had been hopes that the pic would mark a re-teaming of Brangelina, as gossip predicted that Brad Pitt would be in tow. Well, as it turned out, Angelina was flying solo (bad pun, I know).

Well, the next stage of production on the film has begun, as Variety announced that writer-director Randall Wallace has agreed to pen the screenplay for Lionsgate. The film has taken the scenic route to production, with different stars including Clint Eastwood and Faye Dunaway attached at some point along the way. But now, Jolie's manager is one of the producing partners along with Howard and Karen Baldwin (Ray) -- so I guess that means it has a better chance of becoming a reality? Wallace is best known as the writer of Braveheart and director of We Were Soldiers (we won't hold the Mel Gibson connection against him), and apparently will start work on the Atlas Shrugged script immediately. Wallace is known for tackling epic themes in his scripts, so this seems like a good choice for him. Jolie and Wallace will be working together again in the upcoming The Mercenary, which is a period piece set in Russia during the American Revolution.

Odds and ends from Thursday:

• I'm not exactly sure how a sassy girl can turn a guy's life upside down, but that's apparently what will happen to Jesse Bradford, as he's just signed on to star opposite Elisha Cuthbert in My Sassy Girl. Directed by Yann Samuell, pic is a remake of a South Korean romantic comedy about some small-town guy and the "reckless, brazen" (yet somehow "sassy") girl that disrupts his entire life.
• Though at one point considered a wild rumor, Angelina Jolie is now officially set to star in Atlas Shrugged, based on the 1,100-page book by Ayn Rand. Jolie will take on the powerful Dagney Taggart, a role she's been interested in for quite awhile having been a fan of Rand's for years. No word yet on whether Brad Pitt will join her, though I suspect Lionsgate (who's producing) will do what they can to land them both.
• I can't see how a script called Little Lover Boy has anything to do with aliens, but according to Variety it most certainly does. Universal has acquired the spec comedy from writer Rick Overton, with Mary Parent, Scott Stuber and Mosaic Media's Jimmy Miller set to produce. Story is said to follow a "small-time crook who gets abducted by aliens, swipes their spaceship and teams with an alien pilot for a Robin Hood-inspired intergalactic road trip." Sounds fun enough, though I have one question: How do these aliens not have The Club?