Rene Russo could pull it off, but given that the character is in her thirties and Russo is now 55 . . .

If Angelina Jolie didn’t have such big lips, she might work, but as it is, it is hard to forget what she looks like long enough to see what the character she is playing looks like. So far, this hasn’t been a problem, but with Dagny, it would.

Jewel Staite is hot, but she’s no Dagny Taggart. The only view I have in my mind for a Dagny Taggart is more strong, rugged, and angular than Jewel Staite, who is very conventionally pretty.

Of those listed, I think Julia Roberts fits the bill the best. But even so, she’s too much…

I’m thinking Rene Russo.

Other three don’t have same screen power.

Other real candidate is outside of the list, and she’s Jodie Foster.

Dagny Taggart has to be played by someone who can act so well that you do not notice what she looks like.

For those of you who have seen Harry Potter 5, think about the woman who played Dolores Umbridge. She is actually a very attractive woman, but she acts so well that past the first minute, you can no longer see her prettiness of face, all you can see is the ugliness of her character.

“Her leg, sculptured by the tight sheen of the stocking, its long line running straight, over an arched instep, to the tip of a foot in a high-heeled pump, had a feminine elegance that seemed out of place in the dusty train car and oddly incongruous with the rest of her. She wore a battered camel’s hair coat that had been expensive, wrapped shapelessly about her slender, nervous body. The coat collar was raised to the slanting brim of her hat. A sweep of brown hair fell back, almost touching the line of her shoulders. Her face was made of angular planes, the shape of her mouth clear-cut, a sensual mouth held closed with inflexible precision. She kept her hands in the coat pockets, her posture taut, as if she resented immobility, and unfeminine, as if she were unconscious of her own body and that it was a woman’s body.”

“Few people liked her face: the face was too cold, the eyes too intense; nothing could ever lend her the charm of a soft focus. The beautiful legs, slanting down from the chair’s arm in the center of his vision, annoyed him; they spoiled the rest of his estimate.”

And as a girl:

“Dagny was only a figure hurrying in and out of the apartment, a slim figure in a leather jacket, with a raised collar, a short skirt and long show-girl legs. She walked, cutting across a room, with a masculine, straight-line abruptness, but she had a peculiar grace of motion that was swift, tense and oddly, challengingly feminine.”

From these, I still prefer an actress that can carry off the intensity of purpose of the character. A pretty idiot wouldn’t be able to do it. My personal preference would be someone like Jodi Foster.

If you would have mentioned Paris Hilton, that would have been a great April Fool’s choice.

At first glance at the photo, I thought it was a picture of Kimberly Williams-Paisley (of “According to Jim” fame). She could be an interesting choice.

If we are going strictly by appearance and/or acting ability, I would say any of the above would be fine.