'The Great Gatsby' comes to life in Baz Luhrmann's hands

Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 4:37 PM Central
Last updated Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 4:03 PM Central

by John Couture

Believe it or not, I'm a pretty big Baz Luhrmann fan. This is odd, because I'm not usually drawn overly stylistic directors like Tarsem and I certainly don't flock to see every musical released.

And yet, the way that Luhrmann weaves the past with the present in such a stylistic way speaks to me on many levels. I thoroughly enjoyed William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and I was entertained greatly by Moulin Rouge. So, when I heard that he was tapped to bring the roaring '20s and The Great Gatsby to life on the big screen, I thought it was a perfect match.

I would certainly list Gatsby among the best American novels ever produced and the film with Robert Redford playing the titular playboy is a classic in its own right. And yet, I always felt that something was missing from the big screen adaptations.

Try as they might, the previous big screen incarnations of The Great Gatsby always felt like period piece movies. And yes, here 90 years after the setting of the story, they are truly from a different period, but I always figured that the roaring '20s would be more glitz and less stiffness if you know what I mean.

Well, enter Baz Luhrmann.

The first trailer (below) blows all previous film versions out of the water. In fact, if F. Scott Fitzgerald were alive today, I'm sure he would be ecstatic with Luhrmann's interpretation. And all of that I gleaned simply from a two minute trailer.

Leonardo DiCaprio is expertly cast as Gatsby and Tobey Maguire's wide-eyed innocence will assuredly give new dimensions to Nick Carraway. And as hard as it is to imagine that anyone could top Mia Farrow's Daisy from the 1974 version, I think Carey Mulligan will not only usurp Farrow as the definitive Daisy, but she might even generate some of that old Oscar buzz along the way.

What do you think? The Great Gatsby is set to open in theaters on Christmas Day.