Being ancient, most of the actors named are unknown to me. However, when it comes to Ellsworth Toohey, he was portrayed as an elegant fop in the 1st version. I see him more as an Alexander Woolcott type played by Vincent D'Nofrio. I'm afraid my other choices would be long dead. Time betrays us all, eventually.

Dagny's Mother - me!

I love Angelina Jolie.

There...I said it.

I always felt that AS should have been a mini-series to have time to really tell the story and explain the philosophy behind the story. So far, none of the actresses who have been cast as Dagny have been strong enough. Yes, Angelina Jolie would do it well and Brad Pitt would make an excellent John Galt. After that, all that is needed are excellent actors, not necessarily ones we would recognize.

Random: Where is the banker and Gulch creator-Midas Mulligan?!

As far as I am concerned the actors in AS 1 were the best choices. AS2 and AS3 were terrible choices, and I have lost interest in seeing Ayn Rand's works on the screen after AS1. I would probably still go see the movies, but I have no idea at this point which actors would be good

I would consider Calista Flockhart for Dagny. She's currently doing a convincing job of playing a self made media mogul on Supergirl.

Judge Narragansett -- Morgan Freeman
Wesley Mouch -- Kevin Spacey

And what happens to Eddie at the end? In the trilogy of movies, Ragnar's Air-Land Militia lays on a rescue mission for him. That seemed a cheat.

I suggest Eddie would make this deal with the wagon-train captain: to drive toward Phoenix, Arizona and the last known abode of Dan Conway. Then Eddie would go to work for a resurgent Phoenix-Durango Railroad--which would at last connect with the Gulch, perhaps through what would be known as the Conway-Taggart Tunnel through the Red Mountains. (In historical fact, the Uncompahgre River Valley did have narrow-gauge rail service, from a railroad that operated out of Durango, Colorado.)

Rearden, Past and Future?
http://www.ohsorare.com/rearden-past-...

I know this is very late, but I just finished watching AS3 and simply had to vent about the casting.

First and foremost, the complete change of cast from each part of the series to the next. ARE YOU %^&*IN' KIDDING ME?!! This is a travesty! You just don't do this when making a movie in parts. Imagine if in the Hunger Games films, Jennifer Lawrence had been replaced by Jennifer Garner in the second movie, and Jennifer Lopez in the third. If you can't get at least the main actors under contract for the whole series, don't even start.

And if you must change actors, can't you keep a shred of continuity? Samantha Mathis (Dagny in part 2) is 14 years older than Taylor Schilling (Dagny, part 1), looks all of that and more. Laura Regan is 7 years younger than Mathis. Someone watching the movies without having read the book is going to think they somehow got out of order.

Then there's Galt. John Galt is a man who has the force of character to convince captains of industry--hundreds of them--to walk out on their companies and join his strike. I don't know who they could have gotten who projects that kind of charisma, but there's got to be someone fresh out of drama school somewhere who'd do it better than Kris Polaha.

Polaha would be fine in the right role, which for him would be Eddie Willers. Willers represents "the best of the average man"--diligent, competent, reliable and honest, but not a genius, innovator or leader. But of course Polaha couldn't play Willers, because they made him a black man in Part 1, and at least kept that much continuity through the series.

Which brings me to another peeve. One black character in the whole movie, and he's basically Dagny's stooge? The setting is supposed to be the present or near future, not 1957; those bureaucrats shouldn't all be old white guys. And why not a black or two among the striking industrialists? Any of the actors who played Eddie Willers would have made a perfectly good Ken Danagger.

Atlas Shrugged should be an unfolding soap opera lasting years. Ditto Fountainhead.

Andrew Napolitano would be a good Judge Narragansett.