Zack Snyder Confirms Ayn Rand’s ‘The Fountainhead’ as His Next Project

Director Zack Snyder confirms he’s going to work on an adaptation of Ayn Rand’s 1943 novel, The Fountainhead, next. The announcement came when the director of DCEU’s Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice answered a fan’s question on Vero. “Hello, I have a question, what is your next project? I don’t think you’ll just continue to post your opinions the rest of your live. I am really interested,” the fan wrote. Snyder simply responded with, “Fountainhead.”

The Fountainhead is officially Zack's next project instead of The Last Photograph. pic.twitter.com/pKS84l3uO8

— Chris  (@ChrisRa7en) May 28, 2018

The Fountainhead is a 1934 novel by Russian-American Ayn Rand. It revolved around Howard Roark, a young architect who was expelled from his school for not falling in line with his school’s lame ways. He works for Henry Cameron, a has-been architect that Roark admires greatly. Their partnership created beautiful work but Peter Keating, Roark’s old schoolmate, gets instant success because of his flattering ways. After Cameron retires, more ruined than before, his apprentice opens his own small office. But his stubborn ways forces him to close down. He then moves to Connecticut to try to find a life.

Stepping away from the comics

Snyder’s leave from the comic scene was not his choice. His last project was DCEU’s Justice League. Snyder departed the film mid-production, which was then handed over to Joss Whedon. Fans were disappointed with the outcome, imagining something far different from what was given to them. The film only earned $657 million worldwide. Fans even called out to Warner Bros. to release the original director’s cut, calling it “The Snyder Cut.”

Snyder has been working on The Fountainhead since 2016, outside his DCEU projects. Around the time Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice came out, he told The Hollywood Reporter, “I’ve always felt like The Fountainhead was such a thesis on the creative process and what it is to create something. Warner Bros. owns [Ayn Rand’s] script, and I’ve just been working on that a little bit.”

The first film adaptation of The Fountainhead came out in 1949. It starred Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal and was directed by King Vidor from a screenplay by Rand herself.