Ever since it was announced that Baz Luhrmann would be filming an adaptation of The Great Gatsby, I’ve been in something like the five stages of grief. I mean, we’ve all witnessed what became of Romeo and Juliet after being pressed through the sieve of Luhrmann’s sensibilities. It went in a tragedy and came out a tragicomedy music video. Which is a little fantastic, I have to admit, but not quite … right. And now my beloved Gatsby, like Romeo before him, has been officially Luhrmannized despite my many pleas that I would do anything if Luhrmann would just remake Streets of Fire instead. Another thing I have to admit is that I’ve watched this trailer more than once since it debuted yesterday, and I might just be approaching acceptance. Anticipation, even. Here’s a look at Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby:
thank god i’m not the only one who thinks he’d do a FANTASTIC “streets of fire” remake. 🙂 as long as it still has diane lane in it. and the need to fit michael pare in there somewhere too.
it’s part of my “it’s a blizzard! let’s have a michael pare marathon!” memories.
Um…Hello! Eddie and the Cruisers? The Philadelphia Experiment? I would totally get in the way back machine you and watch some Michael Paré films!
*with*
Let’s do this thing, ladies. *jangles keys to the time machine*
I loved both Moulin Rouge and Romeo and Juliette. I love the look and the feel and the whole sensory experience of a Luhrmann film. And I love Gatsby. This should be so fun!
It’s a credit to the guy that you know a film is his within the first few frames, for sure.
Oh! Also! I loved the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack. And whatever happened to the Butthole Surfers anyway? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkXdeUjM1pc
I hate Baz Luhrmann.
Romeo + Juliet looks amazing, but that’s it. Leonardo Di Caprio just isn’t very good, Danes seems like a nice girl, but not worth dying for, and a couple of the supporting cast look like they belong in a bad Red Hot Chili Peppers tribite band. Mercutio is quite good though. His death scene is probably the only truly great part of the film, and that’s largely because of the swelling storm in the background that Luhrmann had nothing to do with.
The casting was awful and inappropriate and for some reason the opening chorus is done twice. Both are quite cool (love the idea of it done as a news report) but the fact there are two just seems like he couldn’t decide which idea he preferred and just did both. There’s more to Shakespeare than quick edits and open shirts.
Also, Romeo + Juliet sounds like the start of a maths sum. Romeo + Juliet = Tragedy!
Gatsby looks like it’s going to have the same problems. Looks fantastic visually, but none of the cast really seem appropriate. DiCaprio again… he’s a good actor, but he still only looks about 18. It fit in Romeo and Juliet, but it feels wrong for Gatsby. The same really applies for Maguire. And I love Carey Mulligan, but she doesn’t look like Daisy to me.
My fear is that …. well, let’s back up. So Luhrmann has this highly stylized, nonrealistic look to his films (or is it hyperreal or surreal? I’m not even sure what to call it except that I know it looks like a storybook page come to life) combined with his special brand of quirkiness/funniness that works really well with some subjects (Moulin Rouge) and not others (Australia). And my fear is that his aesthetic will not work well with The Great Gatsby as a whole. I’ll give it a chance … even though that scene in the film trailer with dripping wet DiCaprio as Gatsby straining to stay composed is so melodramatic it makes me laugh every time.
The thing with period films is the setting is already strange and exciting they don’t need or want visually jazzing up. I may be spoilt, because period sets are something the BBC does very well, but I prefer accuracy rather than stylistic bells and whistles.
I’d like to be thrown into a realistic, accurate 1920s West Egg, and have the characters look vaguely the way I imagine them than Luhrmann’s stylised candylands and talented, but inappropriate, casts. Substance over style.
Is this becoming our Pride and Prejudice? I hope so.
Shhhh! Luhrmann may hear you and film a P & P adaptation and my head will explode!
eyaculacion precoz…
[…]Cynthia Hawkins | Baz Luhrmann Debuts The Great Gatsby Trailer | The Nervous Breakdown[…]…
I taught Gatsby in my writing class this year, and we talked about the film in class. The problem with Gatsby as a film is simple: what would be the climax of the film — the Daisy killing Myrtle/George killing Gatsby sequence — appears quite early in the book. There’s a loooong denouement, which works beautifully in the novel, but doesn’t translate to the screen. It’d be like killing Dracula, and then having another 40 minutes left in the movie.
Excellent point. Also, you just totally blew the ending for me. Thanks!
Wait, they made a movie of Dracula?!
I wouldn’t have thought vampires would work well on screen…
They don’t.
I quite like Dracula: Dead and Loving It.
I generally dislike films with vampires or zombies. I still haven’t watched my dvd of Vampires Los Muertos (starring Jonathon Bongiovi…)
Wait…you really don’t know how Gatsby ends? Oops. My statute of limitations on spoiler alerts times out at 75 years. ; )
Just joking! My English degree would be revoked if I didn’t know Gatsby.
Phew. I thought you were, but one never knows…