Tag Archives: The Great Gatsby

Gambling On Gatsby

Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is the only Australian film selected to screen at
this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it will be the opening film.

Aside from a talent for spending money and throwing parties, Baz Luhrmann and
Jay Gatsby, the tragic hero of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, have little in
common. But after a customary six-month release delay, this May we finally get to
see the flamboyant Australian’s $125 million Warner Brothers adaptation of the
classic novel. So while, in the novel, Gatsby’s guests waft dreamily about his blue
gardens, Baz says: ‘Great parties are like chemical equations that explode.’

The film’s fusing of American lyricism and Lurhmann’s visual fireworks has already
inspired both controversy and expectation. Nobody but Luhrmann’s circle and a
handful of studio executives has yet seen the film, but that hasn’t stopped the media
from weighing in (the Daily News: ‘How Baz Luhrmann will ruin The Great Gatsby’;
the New York Times: ‘A Pre-defense of Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby’).

While the sceptics flag up the expensive six-month delay in the film’s release and the
fact that the hip-hop star Jay-Z is scoring much of the film’s -soundtrack, Luhrmann
optimists savour the prospect of the director’s creative spectacle meeting the book’s
‘epic grandeur’ (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s description). The bigger question is whether
Luhrmann’s version, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as
Daisy Buchanan and Tobey Maguire as narrator Nick Carraway, can improve upon
Jack Clayton’s 1974 take starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Although it was
neither a critical nor commercial success, it remains a cultural and style reference.

When I met Luhrmann in a stylishly subterranean basement in the Ace Hotel in
downtown Manhattan, he was keen to stress that he was drawn to the project
because of an appreciation for the book. ‘Universally, Gatsby’s a bit like Gone With
The Wind and like Titanic. People vaguely know it and some people who are
Fitzgerald nuts know it very well. It’s amazing how many people know the Redford
film but therefore don’t know the book because they’re poles apart… The novel is
exquisite. You learn the history of Gatsby, everything about his life during the
journey and telling. You know where he’s come from, you know who he was and you
know what he is.’

It could end up being the role of a lifetime for Leonardo DiCaprio, whose more recent
screen outings have not always matched the subtlety of his performances in early cult
classics (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Basketball Diaries and, of course,
Luhrmann’s own 1997 Romeo+Juliet opposite Claire Danes). DiCaprio was 22 when
he first teamed up with Luhrmann. ‘Leo was a prince when we madeRomeo+Juliet.
Now he’s a king. Any time I’ve spent with him, he’s only ever had one focus in his life
and that’s acting and the quality of it.’

For his own part, the director divides critics with films that include Moulin
Rougeand Australia. He has a reputation within the industry as a perfectionist who
haemorrhages money in pursuit of the ideal. In a navy-blue suit and with salt-and-
pepper hair, on the surface Luhrmann resembles another commuter leaving Grand
Central Station. In person, he sweeps you into his world with a gale force of charm —
he is among the most charismatic men I’ve ever encountered. His powers of
persuasion are legendary — whether it’s persuading the Fitzgerald estate to buy the
rights to The Great Gatsby, or schmoozing the biggest musical artists of our time
to let him use their songs in Moulin Rouge.

While blazing a trail in the Australian theatre scene, hich included directing La
Bohème at the Sydney Opera House in 1990, Luhrmann acquired the nickname of
Count Von Groovy. These days the world is his fiefdom. ‘I have a philosophy — I
dream in Paris, I have fun in London, I like to live in New York and I like to dance in
Brazil. LA for work and Sydney is home.’

‘I love to affect culture,’ he says with typical understatement. Luhrmann may not be
shy in highlighting his role as a trendsetter, but his esoteric cinematic recipes have
resulted in mainstream cultural menus being transformed. ‘When I started
withStrictly Ballroom, everybody kept saying ballroom dancing will not be popular
in America. Strictly Come Dancing came directly from Strictly Ballroom. The
graphics and clothes from Moulin Rouge have been absorbed by other cultures.
They’re still doing bordello clips in pop. Every week there’s a new nightclub opening
saying it’s Moulin Rouge-ish.’

Romeo+Juliet was loathed by many critics but won him powerful friends in Britain:
‘Some people said it was MTV Shakespeare. But Lord Puttnam said it’s done more for
Shakespeare education [than anything else].’ And while Fitzgerald purists may flinch,

as Shakespeare purists did with Romeo+Juliet, it’s hard to begrudge a new
generation the chance to fall in love with another classic. There’s talk among his
creative team that Luhrmann’s plans include another Shakespeare movie mash-up.
‘My problem is death. I have more things in my cupboard I want to make. There’s the
Shakespeare canon, there are cinematic musicals, there are edgy psychological
works.’ He even hints he’d like a shot at directing 007. ‘Sometimes having a brand is
a burden,’ he says, ‘because sometimes I’d like to be a shooter and knock off a movie
just for the fun of making someone else’s script or a Bond film.’

Should his colourful depiction of 1920s Long Island find favour with audiences and
critics, Luhrmann will be able to do whatever project he chooses. But whatever the
outcome of the Gatsby gamble, the celebrations promoting the film will be legendary.
‘Gatsby was someone who liked parties. So look out for that!’

Aaddendum: Leonardo DiCaprio will join his Great Gatsby co-stars Tobey
Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton and Elizabeth Debicki at the Australian
premiere of the film in Sydney on May 22. The cast, along with director Baz
Luhrmann, will walk the red carpet at Hoyts at Fox Studios after the world premiere
of the film in New York on May 1, and after attending the Cannes Film Festival,
where it is the festival opener, on May 15.

The Great Gatsby is released in Australia on May 30.

Tom Teodorczuk – THE SPECTATOR – 30 March 2013

Will Baz deliver on The Great Gatsby

Whether you hated or adored Baz Luhrmann’s film Australia, are you looking forward to his remake of The Great Gatsby?

My sense is that Baz’s fans are eager to embrace his reinterpretation of the classic F.
Scott Fitzgerald novel, which was adapted on screen most memorably by director
Jack Clayton in the 1974 movie which starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.

But will folks who haven’t been enamoured of Luhrmann’s previous, highly theatrical
efforts, or those who loved the novel and earlier screen versions accept his transition
to a more conventionally-framed romantic drama set in the 1920s, albeit in 3D?

Luhrmann’s extravaganza (reported budget $127 million) opens in Australia on May
30 after its US debut on May 10 and the international premiere opening the Cannes
Film Festival on May 15. There seems to be genuine excitement among executives at
Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow, the co-producers, who saw a 2D cut of the
movie in Los Angeles last month.

That optimism is backed up by one member of the crew who tells SBS Film, “I think
it’s the real deal. It might turn a lot of heads. It’s an unusual Baz Luhrmann film, the
straightest and most normal film he’s ever done.” But he adds a caveat, “For those
who aren’t fans of Baz Luhrmann, I’m not sure this will change their minds.”

That person has seen the 2D version but quotes a colleague who has seen the 3D
rendering as saying “it’s a smack in the face,” meaning a positive impact. The
technician describes the performance of Joel Edgerton as the wealthy Tom
Buchanan, whose wife Daisy (Carey Mulligan) has an affair with Jay Gatsby
(Leonardo DiCaprio), as a “tour de force”.

Insiders say one of the most impressive scenes is a confrontation in New York’s Plaza
Hotel where all the principal characters gather to escape the “heat” of the Buchanan
house. However, some of the CGI-created shots were described as “painterly” and not
realistic, similar to the fake scenes of Darwin in Baz’s Australia.

The on-screen chemistry between DiCaprio’s Gatsby and Mulligan’s Daisy is said to

have quite a frisson, far more credible than the romance between Nicole Kidman and
Hugh Jackman’s characters in Luhrmann’s last film. One sequence in which the two
actors ad-libbed, with spontaneous laughter, impressed the crew, as did another
scene in which Gatsby throws his coloured shirts around his bedroom.

Baz and Leo reportedly disagreed at times over how the actor should play Gatsby,
hardly an unusual occurrence on a film set when highly-strung creative types don’t
see eye to eye.

Some of the more mature crew members watched Clayton’s movie during the
production. A few of their younger colleagues tried to sit through the
Redford/Farrow version but gave up after 20 minutes, possibly bored by the
filmmaking style of the 1970s.

Elizabeth Debicki is said to be a knockout as golfer Jordan Baker, who is pursued by
the book’s narrator Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), a bond trader and former Yale
classmate of Tom’s.

Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan, who plays Jewish mafia head Meyer Wolfsheim,
gave a glowing account of his experiences during filming. “The sets were an eye
opener for me,” the Indian actor wrote on his blog.

“Grand and colossal in its presence and opulence… All about was like an imagination
fructifying to reality. The sincerity of all that worked, including the main stars, the
earnestness of the director, his crew and the unimaginable detail of authenticity, all
added up to an experience which when I returned to my room, could not fathom!!… I
can say that in my 44 years and 180 films I had never worked in such a set up.”

But the expectations among many filmgoers in the US and here are, to put it mildly,
are mixed. When Deadline.com posted the latest trailer, the reactions were sharply
divided.

The positive comments ranged from “No other word for it – sensational!,” and “Not
sure I want to see it in 3D, but this looks spectacular” to “Leo’s a hard worker and
this seems to be a really creative for him and Baz. Pumped!”

The naysayers were vitriolic. ”An overblown, confusing and boring movie made from
the most overrated piece of fiction of the last century. Sounds like a winner!” said
one.

“This will end up exactly like every other Baz Luhrmann film – an indecipherable hot
mess. All style, no substance,” opined another sceptic. “Awful would be too kind…
poor Scott … another film travesty of his great American novel! So, so sad,” said
another.

So what might the romantic drama earn at Australian cinemas? Well, for all its detractors and carping critics, Australia raked in $37.5 million, a fine result, although Rupert Murdoch admitted 20th Century Fox ended up making a small profit on the film thanks to the Australian taxpayer via the 40 percent producer rebate.

The Gatsby remake is said to skew heavily towards females, which might limit its box
office potential slightly. Roadshow is banking that the film, which runs nearly two
and a half hours, will appeal to Baz’s admirers who enjoyed Strictly Ballroom,
Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, if not Australia quite so much, as well as the
legion of DiCaprio fans and those who read the novel.

On the upside, no other female-oriented mainstream film is opening in June so
Gatsby has a lot of clean air. Maybe $25 million-$30 million is achievable.

Aaddendum: Box Office Mojo/Wikipedia on Baz’s global takings [in $US, not
counting DVD etc]:

1992 Strictly Ballroom: Budget: $3m – US + Aust Box Office: $33m.

1996 Romeo + Juliet: Budget: $14.5m – Global Box Office: $147m

2001 Moulin Rouge: Budget: $52.5m – Global Box Office: $179m

2008 Australia: Budget: $130.5m [but $78m after Australian Government rebates] –
Global Box Office: $211m.

Don Groves / 15 April 2013 / SBS FILM