Since last September, Vadim Perelman has been signed on to direct an adaptation of the massive, over 1,000-page Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged, first published in 1957. But as you may have guessed, it’s not a simple task to compact a thousand pages of story into — what I am assuming will probably be — a hefty 165-200 minute long film.

CS spoke with Mr. Perelman, who gave them an update on the project, saying that he’s just polishing up his rewrites on the script. It was last reported that Randall Wallace (Braveheart) had condensed the story into a 127-page script, though Perelman makes no mention of whose script he’s rewriting. Perelman also said that LionsGate would like to start filming in December, but again, it depends on the status of the script. I assume that they’re probably aiming for a Fall 2009 release for awards season or possibly even a Holidays ‘09-’10 date.

I’ve not read Atlas Shrugged, but from what I can tell, it deals with a society in New York City that basically abandons and even punishes creativity and independent accomplishment. The story serves as a platform for the Russian-born Rand’s individualistic philosophy Objectivism. While reading a description, I got a very “futuristic past” vision, where it takes place some time in the 1930s to the 1950s, but it has a lot of futuristic/science fiction elements going on. Maybe like a mix of The Rocketeer and BioShock? That’s just the visual I get, I really have no idea what it will actually be like.

Vadim Perelman also directed The House of Sand and Fog which was a beautifully tragic story and if all his films are like that one, I see a lot of success in his future.

As for cast and so on, last September Angelina Jolie signed on for the lead role as Dagny Taggart and is still attached to star. Brad Pitt has been rumored to star as well, but nothing is confirmed. I think with how much those two are in the media via their personal lives, it’d be best to keep them out of the same movies. Take a note from Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.