Leonardo DiCaprio to Star in $126M 'Great Gatsby' Luhrmann Production
Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” features a star-studded cast and is raising the level of grandeur – following the opulent nature of Jay Gatsby himself.
Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures announced the start of production of the $126 million dollar budget motion picture in Sydney, Australia.
With over 400 cast and crew working on the movie, filming will take place over 17 weeks, with another 30 weeks to be spent on post-production.
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Luhrmann “will create his own distinctive visual interpretation of the classic story, bringing the period to life in a way that has never been seen before,” Warner Bros. said in a press release.
The high-octane cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, who will play Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway respectively, were joined by Joel Edgerton and Carey Mulligan who appear as Tom and Daisy Buchanan.
Indian superstar Amitabh Bachchan will play the role of Meyer Wolfsheim, Isla Fisher and Jason Clarke were cast as Myrtle and George Wilson. Elizabeth Debicki will play Jordan Baker.
Production got underway Monday with sound stages and locations in Sydney being transformed into the dazzling Jazz Age New York and Long Island.
One way the director is breathing life into “Gatsby” is with a fleet of vintage cars from Volo Auto Museum in Illinois. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the shipment includes two 1929 Duesenbergs and a 1929 Packard to be used by DiCaprio’s character, Jay Gatsby, and are rumored to be worth nearly $3 million each.
“Fitzgerald loved the movies and was a passionate believer in the power of cinema. The vision and the goal of our remarkable cast and creatives is to do justice to the deftness of Fitzgerald’s telling, and illuminate its big ideas and humanity,” said Luhrmann.
He added, “This is our challenge and our adventure.”
According to the release, “The Great Gatsby” follows Nick Carraway as he arrives in New York City in the spring of 1922 from the Midwest – in an era of “loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings.”
The movie bears witness to all Nick sees “within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.”
Luhrmann, director of “Moulin Rouge” is directing “The Great Gatsby” but also co-writing, co-producing, and co-designing the movie through his company, Bazmark Films.
“The Great Gatsby” will be released November 2012.
The movie will be distributed in 3D and 2D by Warner Bros. Pictures and will also be released in select locations by Village Roadshow Pictures.
