Although she hasn’t been in anything that could be charitably called a hit in many, many, many years, Angelina Jolie still seems to have some pull in Tinseltown. I’m not sure why, as recent movies like The Good Shepard, A Mighty Heart, and Alexander show her name isn’t enough to bring people in to see mediocre movies. But for someone reason, her desire to have Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged” turned into a film is enough to get the thing made.

Because every movie needs a writer and director, Variety says Lionsgate has hired Vadim Perelman to be such a person for Atlas Shrugged. A script draft has already been written by Randall Wallace of Braveheart fame but Perelman will rework it. The classic novel deals with individuals of the mind who go on strike and refuse to contribute to the furtherment of society. Jolie will play Dagny Taggart, a railroad executive who looks great in a skirt. I’m not sure that part is in the book, but it will probably be in the movie.

You will probably remember Perelman from his first movie, also a book adaptation, House of Sand and Fog. Unfortunately, he hasn’t done much since then, but he does have an Uma Thurman movie In Bloom coming out soon. That movie is also based on a book. So maybe Perelman’s experience in the whole book to movie genre will help restart Jolie’s stuttering career.