"It is we who move the world"

Cross-posted from the Atlas Shrugged movie blog:
A couple of reviewers — Richard Gleaves and Fred Cookinham — who saw the ten minute sneak peak of the Atlas Shrugged movie in New York City noted that the phrase “It is we who move the world” from Ayn Rand’s novel had been changed to “It is us who move the world.”
The change was not well received. Cookinham, for example, wrote:

Language has also fallen apart since 1957. In the clips, Rearden says to Dagny, â??It is us who move the world, and itâ??s us who will pull it through.â? The â??usâ? should be â??we.â? It is â??weâ? in the novel, and all the screenwriter had to do was copy it. But apparently he found it necessary to dumb down the language from 1957â??s English to 2010â??s pidgin.

Ouch!
Good news, though — the producers say it’s going to be fixed. See this exchange with screenwriter Brian O’Toole from the movie’s Facebook fan page:

Teresa Summerlee Isanhart: I really disagree that replacing “we” with “us” is a “dumbed down” effort. Honestly, I just don’t think Rand would have a problem with a change like that. …
Atlas Shrugged The Movie: â??@Teresa – Interesting enough, the US instead of WE was a choice made by the actor and so was not delivered as written but I guess it’s easiest to blame the writer. 🙂 I believe the line is scheduled to be fixed during the ADR session with the actor. Thanks for the continued support! Best, Brian O’Toole

This is wonderful news to those of us who enjoy the classicism and elegance of Rand’s original phrasing.

One thought on “"It is we who move the world"

  1. Very happy to hear that the “us” will be changed to “we”, and my apologies to Mr. O’Toole. From now on I will blame the actor.

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