| | AGES OF THE CHARACTERS:
Several years ago, I worked this out. Here's an excerpt from a story timeline that I posted at The Atlas Society site:
We are told that John Galt, Francisco d’Anconia, and Ragnar Danneskjold all entered Patrick Henry University at age 16. This means that they were born the same year...We learn in Part I, Chapter 5 that Francisco is 36 years old...
From this point, the other characters’ relative ages can be determined. In the same chapter, we are told that Dagny is two years younger than Francisco (hence Galt), or 34 when the novel opens. We are also told, in the first chapter, that her brother Jim is 39, or five years older than Dagny – which corresponds with the fact that Dagny began work at 16, and Jim the same year, at age 21. Hank Rearden is 45 at the start of the tale – thus eleven years Dagny’s senior, and nine years older than Galt, Francisco, and Ragnar... Eddie Willers is introduced at age 32, or two years younger than Dagny... Philip Rearden is 38 – seven years younger than Hank, two years older than Galt or Francisco.
So you are looking for actors who can appear, relatively speaking, in those age ranges: mid-thirties to mid-forties. While films can take liberties, anything well outside of the parameters set by Rand in the novel will not ring true for fans, or thwart their expectations.
It would also be a very good idea to go back to the novel and read Rand's own actual descriptions of the characters. You may be in for a shock. I can't tell you, for example, how many people view Dagny as a blonde, rather than a light brunette with shoulder-length hair -- or think of Francisco as looking Spanish, when he actually looked more "Roman" or Italian. Many readers don't realize that Rearden is blond, and is 11 years older than Dagny, in his later forties.
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