Development Hell: Various filmmakers have expressed interest in doing new adaptations, although none of these potential films has begun production. In the 1970s, Michael Cimino wanted to film his own script for United Artists. In 1992, producer James Hill optioned the rights and selected Phil Joanou to direct. In the 2000s, Oliver Stone was interested in directing a new adaptation; Brad Pitt was reportedly under consideration to play Roark. In a March 2016 interview, Zack Snyder also expressed interest in doing a new film adaptation.
Sleeper Hit: Rand had a devil of a time getting this book published. A reviewer at a publishing house fell in love with it and convinced his bosses to publish the book. They didn't do much advertising, and the book sold largely through word of mouth.
No Stunt Double: Patricia Neal said in an autobiography that the sudden unavailability of a stunt woman meant that she had to learn to ride a horse for the riding scenes, including the frenetic cross-country gallop to the quarry. Since she only needed to be seen close-up in the saddle during the brief angry confrontation with Roark and her character was only seen when actually riding in silhouette and in distance-shots, someone with real riding skills could have stood in for Neal at any time during production for this 'second unit' footage; there would have been no sense in risking injury to the star.
Self-Adaptation: Ayn Rand wrote the screenplay and had significant say in the creative process. Among other things, she absolutely insisted that Howard Roark's climactic monologue at the end of the film be reproduced from the novel in its entirety; it ended up being one of the longest monologues in cinematic history.
Barbara Stanwyck asked Jack L. Warner to buy the rights to the book for her. She was not told of the decision to cast Patricia Neal in the role she coveted until she read about it in the Hollywood trade papers. This led to her leaving Warner Bros..
Warner Bros. approached Frank Lloyd Wright (who had been the inspiration for Howard Roark), and asked him to submit some architectural designs to be used in the film. However, the studio balked when Wright requested his usual fee of $250,000, and decided instead to leave the designs to the film's art director, Edward Carrere.
