James Taggart was a whiner. Think about it: whine, whine, whine, in every scene he was in.

Of course I've read it. I also happen to believe some of the actors involved could actually deliver the lines. Maybe you don't agree.

Who said anything about tongue-in-cheek? If you're thinking that's the way so many of the James Bond movies seemed to play, take heart. Daniel Craig plays James Bond deadly serious. In fact, of all the men who played Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR, Daniel Craig gave the most hard-nosed honest-to-God serious portrait of the lot. That's why I picked him. (And Dame Judi Dench DBE never had a better death scene than she did in Skyfall, as Dame Barbara Mawdsley DCMG, a/k/a "M.")

I like Harrison Ford, but he's too old for Rearden. How about Wyatt?

Kiefer Sutherland. He is a very versatile actor. Yes, he would be good as Robert Stadler, but maybe even better as James Taggert. What do you think?

Has the person that came up with the above list actually read Atlas Shrugged. I'll accept Daniel Craig and Banderas as a possible as long as he understands his character is not meant to be tongue-in-cheek when he gives the money speech. Would actors such as Robert Redford, Joseph Cotton, Katherine Hepburn, Capucine, Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, William Holden, Robert Taylor, Richard Todd, Leslie Howard (Perfect John Galt if Redford not available), Horst Buchholtz, Clint Eastwood, Alan Ladd, et.al. Danny DeVito is the brother of Dagny? Do you imagine her as 3' 8"? Need to check their gene pool.

John, Ragnar and Francisco were college friends with two majors - Physics and Philosophy. It would be difficult to figure which of the two majors Dolph would choose as his favorite. If he were giving a lecture, which would come across as the most convincing - rocket science or epistemology? Or, have you mistakenly cast him in the Danny DeVito part or vice versa?

How about a big role like AS3's depiction of Hank Rearden ?<sarcasm>
Seriously I'd cast him as a character with no lines who died before the book starts. In other words, he doesn't belong in AS at all. OTOH, he'd be an improvement on Poo-hah-hah as Galt.

Kate
Blanchette would be great as Dagney.How about Sean Penn as Jim Taggert! Jeff Bridges as Ellis Wyatt?

I take it you're thinking of his appearance in "Presumed Innocent."

So I had heard. But I never would have believed it.

Hank Rearden: Harrison Ford

Ellis Wyatt: Adrian Pasdar

Hello ibecame:
I liked your list so much that I scrapped mine. My only comment is forget Sutherland and keep Picardo.

Alexander Skarsgard gets my vote for Ragnar. Just seems like he would be perfect for the role.

Got a laugh from Danny DiVito as James Taggert--what a visual gag that would be.
As a contribution to this thread, I'd like to say that Kate Blanchette would make an excellent Dagny.
From the roles I've seen her in so far, she can play any female lead.

Love the idea of Ricardo Montalban.

Weren't Angelia Jolie and Brad Pitt originally supposed to play Dagny and Hank? That would have been awesome and probably would have reached a pretty large audience. (I am assuming the liberal motion picture industry blocked this for obvious reasons...)

If Leo Di Caprio would go for a part like that.

Danny DeVito? No! How about Brad Pitt as he was in Inglourious Basterds, or Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar, both projected that cool hardness of deception!

Some actors/actresses can be separated from their "real lives" and their acting parts. If they are good actors/actresses. A Schwarzenegger was a horrible governor, and is a horrible actor, as well as has a horrible character in real life.

Oh, yes, I understand perfectly.

But I had another, much more oily man in mind to portray Floyd Ferris: Peter Cushing.

Chris Hemsworth as Ellis Wyatt
Tom Hiddleston as Floyd Ferris

40-some years ago, when I first read the book, this game was as popular among its fans as it is now. Some of my picks at the time:

Hank Rearden: Charlton Heston
Ellis Wyatt: Clint Eastwood
Francisco: Ricardo Montalban
Floyd Ferris: Jonathan Harris

Harris might not be familiar to most of you. He played Dr. Zachary Smith on the series "Lost in Space". A more weaselly character has never graced the TV screen, and Harris played him to perfection.

Danny Devito would be better as Wesley Mouch than Jim Taggart.