The Great Gatsby Film Adaptation

It has recently been reported that Baz Luhrmann has met with Leonardo DiCaprio, Rebecca Hall and Tobey Maguire with an idea of casting the trio in a new film adaptation of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. At the time of first writing this post, this was all only rumour. Now, a year later in October 2011, filming is underway with an official cast, so carry on reading for a recent update.

The Great Gatsby, first published in 1925, is set on Long Island’s North Shore and in New York City during the summer of 1922. After its republishing in 1945 and 1953, it quickly found a wide readership and is today regarded as a literary classic. It’s a book I was made to read in my English A Level, and is one that I really enjoyed working on.

Baz Luhrmann is best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge and I think he could do something really amazing with this novel. In any case, I am re-reading the book in anticipation for this adaptation.

Update for October 2011:

The film is now being filmed with Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby and Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan and Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan.