Baz Luhrmann’s 3-D version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby will prove to be the most interesting summer’s movie. The time would seem to be right for another Gatsby, one that retilts Fitzgerald’s jazz-age lovers to catch the light of the contemporary celebritysphere. “I liken Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship to one of those chemically dangerous relationships you see between celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton,” says Luhrmann. “Gatsby is hounded by his own celebrity. Remember that celebrity gossip and newspapers are a new invention. Celebrity was just being born in the twenties, and Fitzgerald was fascinated with it.”  What the Australian director did for Belle Époque Paris in Moulin Rouge! he’s now done for Jazz Age New York, which Fitzgerald himself characterized as a “steady golden roar.”

In Luhrmann’s hands, the attempt by Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) to win back lost love Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan) is set against a fizzing, sexy bacchanal influenced by Studio 54 in its heyday. DiCaprio’s Gatsby appears to have trace elements of his Howard Hughes in The Aviator and, in his ill-gotten gains at least, his plantation owner in Django Unchained. Mulligan promises to be more sensual than previous Daisys. For the film, which opens this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Luhrmann has blended a mysterious vibe with a genuine 1920s feel: The contemporary soundtrack features songs by Bryan Ferry, Jay-Z, and Florence and the Machine. Miuccia Prada and costume designer Catherine Martin created Mulligan’s wardrobe. DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire (who plays Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s confidant) have been dressed by Brooks Brothers, whose clothes Fitzgerald first wore at Princeton, and Brooklyn tailor Martin Greenfield. The exteriors draw on archival photographs of early-20s Queens, New York, including Northern Boulevard and the Corona Ash Dumps.

If Luhrmann has caught a whiff of the self-delusion in Gatsby’s belief in “the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us,” his excessive vision will have done Fitzgerald proud.

THE MOVIE’S POSTER

Inspired by the Jazz Age, with some pieces created specifically from Tiffany’s Blue Book boasts bracelets, earrings and headpieces with 1920s deco flair for The Great Gatsby.

Jordan Baker at Gatsby’s party.

Scenes from The Great Gatsby

Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan and Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby.

The First Edition of the book

Daisy’s chandelier dress and fur when she goes to one of Gatsby’s parties for the first time customade by Miuccia Prada.

Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan and Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby.

CAREY MULLIGAN AND LEONADRO DI CAPRIO

Jay Gatsby, or at least the last one on film, played by the one and only Robert Redford, in a script penned by Francis Ford Coppola.

The last star to play Daisy on the big screen was Mia Farrow in 1974.

Robert Redford and Mia Farrow

Jay Gatsby  played by the one and only Robert Redford, in a script penned by Francis Ford Coppola.

Mia Farrow as Daisy

Mia Farrow and Robert Redford on Great Gatsby.

Daisy has got to be a kind of hothouse flower,” Leonardo DiCaprio (Gatsby) observed to Luhrmann after Mulligan’s audition.Photo: Mario Testino

Mulligan found the roots of her character in Fitzgerald’s first love, Ginevra King, and his wife, Zelda.Photo:Mario Testino

As Daisy, Mulligan portrays a woman whose voice, Fitzgerald famously wrote, “is full of money.”Photo:Mario Testino

Mulligan came at the end of a long line of actresses auditioning for the part.Photo:Mario Testino

“It’s like she’s living in a movie of her own life,” says Mulligan of Daisy. “She’s constantly on show.”Photo:Mario Testino

Scott Fitzerald’s Novels

Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda

photos: vogue.com, tmagazine,fashionista

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