After Justice League and the apparent falling out with Warner Bros. and DC Films, many wondered what was next for 300 and Man of Steel director Zack Snyder. And now his next project has been revealed. It will be an adaptation of Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead.
During an exchange on the social media site Vero, a fan asked the director what his next project would be. That is where he opened up about The Fountainhead.
The Fountainhead is officially Zack’s next project instead of The Last Photograph. pic.twitter.com/pKS84l3uO8
— ςняιѕ яανєи (@ChrisRa7en) May 28, 2018
The Fountainhead centers on Howard Roark, a man who refuses to compromise his views on architecture to the architectural establishment. The novel focuses on the philosophical themes of objectivism and individualism. Ayn Rand explained she chose the field of architecture because it combines technology, art, and business and were great vehicles for the themes she explores in the novel.
Snyder had previously been working on the war film, The Last Phonograph, that he was directing and producing with his wife Deborah Snyder.
Deadline speculates that The Fountainhead adaptation could be the second film Zack Snyder and his Cruel & Unusual Films works on outside of Warner Bros. The director previously had a deal with Warner Bros. to make all of his films at the studio since his debut with 2004’s Dawn of the Dead.
This won’t be the first time the novel will be adapted to the screen. Back in 1949, the novel was made into a movie with Ayn Rand writing the script. Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal starred in the film with King Vidor directing.
So far we don’t have any other information related to the project including who else might be a part of it.
The project is sure to draw controversy as Ayn Rand was a major figurehead on libertarian and conservative politics in the 1950s and 1960s. Her works still influence many today with economist George Reisman describing Rand’s influence, “Ayn Rand…in particular, must be cited as providing a philosophical foundation for the case of capitalism, and as being responsible probably more than anyone else for the current spread of pro-capitalist ideas.”
The Fountainhead was published in 1943 with 7,500 copies in the first printing. By 1945 the book reached number six on The New York Times bestseller list. And then by 1956 the book had sold over 700,000 copies. The book has currently sold over 6.5 million copies and been translated into more than 20 languages.