F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ is being adapted into
a film by director Baz Luhrmann. And what is more interesting is that this year
the organizers of Cannes have chosen to open the festival with this film. The
film is releasing in 3D at the festival, two years after its completion.
Luhrmann’s landmark project ‘Moulin Rouge’ had opened the Cannes festival in 2001. It had gone on to win an Academy Award for the Best Picture that year. So Luhrmann is keeping his fingers crossed once more.
Coincidentally the novel had been completed by the author on the French Riviera in 1923, which is also the venue for the Cannes Film Festival. This is the novel’s sixth adaptation into a film that has been set in the New York of 1920s. The narration in the film has been given by Toby Maguire.
The Warner Bros venture stars Leonardo di Caprio (Jay Gatsby), Toby Maguire (Nick Carraway) who narrates the story and is a friend and admirer of Gatsby. Carey Mulligan plays Daisy Buchanan, the love interest of Gatsby. Joel Edgerton plays Tom Buchanan who is Daisy Buchanan’s husband. Isla Fisher is Myrtle Wilson while Jason Clarke essays the role of George B Wilson, and Amitabh Bachchan appears in a cameo as Meyer Wolfsheim.
In a statement, director Baz Luhrmann said, ‘It is a great honor for all those who have worked on ‘The Great Gatsby’ to open the Cannes Film Festival. We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts, not only because my first film ‘Strictly Ballroom’ was screened there 21 years ago, but also because F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside Saint-Raphaël.’
Luhrmann’s landmark project ‘Moulin Rouge’ had opened the Cannes festival in 2001. It had gone on to win an Academy Award for the Best Picture that year. So Luhrmann is keeping his fingers crossed once more.
Coincidentally the novel had been completed by the author on the French Riviera in 1923, which is also the venue for the Cannes Film Festival. This is the novel’s sixth adaptation into a film that has been set in the New York of 1920s. The narration in the film has been given by Toby Maguire.
The Warner Bros venture stars Leonardo di Caprio (Jay Gatsby), Toby Maguire (Nick Carraway) who narrates the story and is a friend and admirer of Gatsby. Carey Mulligan plays Daisy Buchanan, the love interest of Gatsby. Joel Edgerton plays Tom Buchanan who is Daisy Buchanan’s husband. Isla Fisher is Myrtle Wilson while Jason Clarke essays the role of George B Wilson, and Amitabh Bachchan appears in a cameo as Meyer Wolfsheim.
Plot
Di Caprio plays the role of a 32-year-old cryptic millionaire Gatsby who has
several secret business connections and throws parties at his luxurious
mansion. Nick Carraway played by Toby Maguire is enamored by his super-rich
neighbor Gatsby. But the closer he gets to Gatsby’s lifestyle, the more
Carraway discovers chinks in the millionaire’s armor, including his obsession
with wealth and luxury. The movie, an adaption of the great novel, is symbolic
of the era in America when glamor, celebrity glitz and gala parties on the
French Riviera, ruled the country.
In a statement, director Baz Luhrmann said, ‘It is a great honor for all those who have worked on ‘The Great Gatsby’ to open the Cannes Film Festival. We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts, not only because my first film ‘Strictly Ballroom’ was screened there 21 years ago, but also because F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside Saint-Raphaël.’
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