Summary

• Netflix rejected Zack Snyder's pitch to adapt The Fountainhead due to it being taboo and controversial.
• Snyder first had the idea in 2016, but shelved it due to working in the DCEU; he later permanently postponed it in 2021.
• Combining Snyder's controversial style with the already controversial source material in The Fountainhead could create his most divisive project yet.

Zack Snyder reveals that Netflix rejected his pitch for a television adaptation of an infamous novel from the 1940s. One of the most divisive directors working today, Snyder is best known for directing Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen, and 300, as well as the installments in the DC Extended Universe – Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League. Since 2021, Snyder has directed films exclusively for Netflix, including Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon and its sequel.

During his recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Snyder revealed that Netflix rejected his pitch for a TV adaptation of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

Snyder says that Netflix, along with other studios, have rejected his adaptation of The Fountainhead because the book is too "taboo." Read his full comments below:

Yeah, yeah we've talked about it a lot. I mean nobody wants Fountainhead but that's what I wanted to do. I pitched them Fountainhead because I've written this super adaptation of that book. I think it would be amazing but no one wants to make it because they think it's taboo. Ayn Rand is taboo. I don't know. She's taboo amongst the intelligencia because they think she's a Fascist and they think the book's a Fascist propaganda piece. That's not why I like the book. I happen to like it because, to me, it's a direct comment on making a movie, right? A movie about an architect who won't make the buildings everyone wants them to make and the struggle he goes through to get the buildings made the way he wants to make them. Of course, I like that. I'm sure there's plenty of movie directors that don't like Fountainhead, but I just think it says so much. Ayn Rand wrote Fountainhead in direct response to being noted on a script that she had written. She had been studying this movie about skyscrapers and she kept submitting versions of the script and they kept noting her, noting her until it was unrecognizable. And then she was like this is what happens to work. It gets noted til it disintegrates or disappears. So yeah, that's one thing I had that I've always wanted to do. But I don't know that the world will allow that. Atlas Shrugged? Fair. I mean, you can play with that. I'm pretty exclusively a Fountainhead fanatic. Also, because it's melodrama too. It's the most melodramatic thing ever.

The Fountainhead Could Be Zack Snyder's Most Controversial Project Yet

The Fountainhead would be Snyder's first project to combine his controversial style with already controversial and inherently political source material.

Snyder first floated the idea of adapting The Fountainhead in 2016, though he shelved the idea as he continued to work within the DCEU. In 2021, Snyder said he permanently postponed the project, citing the current political climate. If Snyder's adaptation of Rand's The Fountainhead ever gets made, it has the chance to be his most controversial project yet, which the filmmaker seems fully aware of. The Fountainhead follows an intransigent architect who refuses to conform to traditional architectural standards. The novel remains controversial to this day due to its assertion that individualism is superior to collectivism.

The Fountainhead was adapted into the 1949 film starring Gary Cooper, with a screenplay by Ayn Rand.

Zack Snyder's movies, while never overtly political, tend to be controversial due to his visual style and lack of character depth. His adaptations of beloved comic books – such as Superman, Batman, and Watchmen – have especially courted controversy for his interpretation and fidelity to the source material. However, The Fountainhead would be Snyder's first project to combine his controversial style with already controversial and inherently political source material. For now, the world might simply be better off without Snyder's adaptation of The Fountainhead.

Source: Joe Rogan Experience