Production has wrapped on “Atlas Shrugged, Part I,” which is based on the widely read 1957 novel. Paul Johansson (“One Tree Hill”) directed and the cast includes Grant Bowler, who previously appeared in “True Blood” and “Ugly Betty,” and Nick Cassavetes. The film got made with only fifteen millions but with people such as Harmon Kaslow in the producer chair such sums can go a long way. “Our goal was to, above all, produce a film that is true to the book and maintains the message of Rand’s timeless novel. We aim to please the millions who have read the book in addition to attracting a new audience to her amazing work,” Kaslow has said in a press release.

The film was shot on location in the Los Angeles area in under forty days. I should also tell you that the screenplay was done by a writer called Brian Patrick O’Toole, who’s quietly been earning his stripes as a writer of gorey, creature-feature adaptations among which “Cemetery Gates” is counted as a highlight.

Talking about highlights, back in my days at Columbia University I remember seeing a dogeared a copy of Atlas Shrugged in a classmate’s dorm room. Is there a more widely-read novel on college campuses? For some it might even be called the first political enlightenment, although I wonder if Atlas Shrugged and her other tomes will make as much of an impression on future generations of students.

“Atlas Shrugged, Part I” is slated for a Spring 2011 release.

And now, let’s go to the videotape.

(photo: still from “Atlas Shrugged, Part I”).