Baz Luhrmann – director of Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge!, as well as Australia, is going to tackle The Great Gatsby.
I like Luhrmann just fine – I’m immensely fond of Moulin Rouge! – but he is not unflawed as a director. He has a tendency to dump herky-jerky-played-for-laughs scenes into his movies (I turned off Australia 15 minutes in when he did one), and I’m not convinced drama is his metier.
Interesting casting, though – DiCaprio and Maguire seem like a good start.
On the HBO series Entourage, the main character Vincent Chase was asked by Martin Scorcese to star as Nick Carraway in an obviously fictional film version of that novel. I think it was titled “G”.
First off, I don’t really understand the need to tread over this ground again. Aren’t there enough Gatsby productions? Though, I loved what Baz Luhrman did with Romeo + Juliet and that’s been done once or twice before. But I worry he’ll use it as an opportunity to cast a bunch of pretty, ticket-selling actors and water down the story and make it Lurhman-style flashy. I have little hope for this adaptation if he casts any of the generic male and female leads whose names are being thrown around.
Second, I find DiCaprio the most blandly competent actor around. His line readings are fine, his performances fine, but I can’t remember the last time I watched a movie with him in it and didn’t think that the movie would not suffer one bit with another actor, and could indeed only be improved with another leading man. Look at Inception. He was perfectly alright in the lead role. His bland competence didn’t take anything away from the movie, or add anything to it. But his Inception character didn’t need to be fully fleshed out. Jay Gatsby needs to be many things at once, and DiCaprio doesn’t really seem able to pull that off.
Third, I don’t know if I can think of an actress working right now who would play Daisy perfectly. The few who could manage are a little too old now. Anyone else able to suggest a name?
Michelle Williams or Kirsten Dunst? (It’s been a while since I’ve read the novel – I can’t recall how old she was).
About 23, if I rememeber correctly? I do quite like Michelle Williams but I think her and Dunst would have the same problem; both actresses have a very sweet quality that comes out on screen. Daisy is beautiful and can act bubbly sometimes, but is cold. You need someone who can be sarcastic and steely underneath elegance.
In the book Daisy is dark-haired, so the actress needn’t be fair-haired.
The linked article, in fact, mentions that fact (that Daisy is a brunette) in the lead.
Natalie Portman, maybe?
Oh I know, but after so many castings of a blonde as Daisy even I default to that in my mind. Just throwing it out there.
My intense dislike of Portman makes it hard for me to consider her! Damn mental block.
I’ve heard they may cast Blake Lively. I love Blake Lively but the idea is ridiculous.
Interestingly, her co-star on Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester, might be a perfect choice…
Ugh. I’ve never liked Luhrmann’s movies, so if I were looking for someone to adapt The Great Gatsby it definitely wouldn’t be him. But to be honest, in the years I’ve been a Gatsby fan I’ve never really tried to track down any of the movie versions. The book is self contained and there’s nothing that really begs to be expanded in movie form.
I’ve only seen Blake Lively in one thing, and thought she was quite good in it: *The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.*
I do hope they find a brunette, though.
the raven-haired Ms. Twicks
Anna Kendrick is a brunette who may be able to act. She is charismatic.
Anne Hathaway? A brunette who can act.
Really the trick with Daisy is to play a self absorbed but oh, so beautiful and charismatic and vulnerable BITCH. Daisy is really interested in no one but Daisy, but “oh, poor Daisy.”
I found reading Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, with its description of one Mrs. Zelda Fitzgerald, completely changed my views on Daisy.
Interesting suggestion.
Hmmm. Interesting. Maybe Keira Knightley? Here she is looking a bit Daisy-like in Atonement: Photo and Video Storage | Photobucket
Here’s Mia Farrow in the role in the 1974 film: http://www.moviemarket.com/library/photos/251/251926.jpg
Well, I’m psyched. Not necessarily because I love Luhrmann. In fact, my first thought was “This work is too subtle for that ham-handed maniac.” On the other hand, I really love DiCaprio, and I think he is perfect for the role of Gatsby. As for being “blandly” competent, as somebody suggested upthread, I disagree vehemently. He’s a very smart, nuanced actor. Compare his various performances in the past decade–Gangs of New York, The Departed, Shutter Island, and Inception for starters–and I think you get a pretty good idea of his range and abilities.
I was just discussing Daisy’s hair-color with another Fitzgerald scholar Sunday night, when we attended the Public Theater’s version of Gatsby, called GATZ, an eight-hour-long verbatim reading of the novel (sold out for the run, unfortunately for you—although the $300 tickets that the scalpers got for my ticket is pretty intimidating, too). Anyway, my friend asked me if Daisy’s hair is specified as blonde or what, and I told him to listen to the dialogue when the baby makes her appearance. Daisy claims that her baby’s hair color is both identical to her own and is “yellow,” so I don’t see how Daisy is a brunette in the novel. (In GATZ, she was played by a very dark-haired Latina, though they often cast contrary to type in this production. Gatsby himself, for example, was bald, which oddly enough worked.)
Keira Knightley is probably sick of doing costume dramas, but she’d be my first choice. Or maybe Emily Blunt. She played bitchy really well in The Devil Wears Prada.
I also read that Amanda Seyfried is in the running. Not sure about her acting chops, but she has a good look for the character.
Bump to say he went with Carey Mulligan. I liked her in An Education – anyone know how her American accent is?
She had one in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, and it sounded OK.
