Bumped off its Oscar-worthy December 2012 release date earlier this year, while things appeared rocky for Baz Luhrmann's almost ludicrously ambitious 3D adaptation of "The Great Gatsby" a few months ago ("3D? For drama??" the conventional thought went), with award season expectations lowered, a dazzling new trailer for the film has arrived focusing on the bold spectacle the picture is trying to capture, but also some of the adversaries within. And seeing as Ang Lee has pulled off 3D/drama so spectacularly with "Life Of Pi" maybe doubts aren't so high as they once were.
Or maybe it's just that the jarring, modern pop song-flecked and almost cartoonish first trailer for "The Great Gatsby" didn't land well with online writers who were puzzled by its bold and unsubtle approach (has Luhrmann ever reigned it in though? See the modern cover of The Turtles' “So Happy Together" towards the end). But now that we're all getting accustomed to the grandeur that the Australian filmmaker seems to be aiming for we must admit, this new trailer looks pretty impressive (though Leonardo DiCaprio ostensibly recycling the accent from "J. Edgar" admittedly feels a little odd).
"It's extraordinary. It's completely different to ['Zero Dark Thirty']," actor Jason Clarke enthused to us in an interview recently. "Baz is a complete filmmaker. It's in 3D and I have never seen anything like this in 3D. Fuck, you remember the detail in 'Moulin Rouge!'? " he inquired, as a reference point. "It's not just like boom, boom, boom – the lampshades, everything is coming out."
Here's the official synopis.
"The Great Gatsby" follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz, bootleg kings, and sky-rocketing stocks. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without of 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.
Starring the top shelf cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, Amitabh Bachchan, "The Great Gatsby" opens in select theaters on May 10th, which means by the way, it won't debut at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off May 15th.
A train wreck on all levels – from garish visual style, to wooden performances, to just not having any damn respect or understanding of the original work of art that was Fitzgerald's novel.
I wish it was coming out now! This looks awesome!!
Carey Mulligan is gorgeous. I love her.
This looks insane. Like F. Scott Fitzgerald's Speed Racer. I'm in.
I love the book as well and I agree, that Luhrman is taking it in a direction that seems too far off. But aren't you guys a bit harsh on this? Are you actually this stubborn, this narrow-minded, to damn this film an "atrocity", just because it's different than the book and different from what you imagined while reading the book? Sure, Luhrmans approaches to his films have a tendency (euphemism) to be 'style over substance', but his films aren't empty.
Can't a film try to be different, to be exciting in a way the source material could not or did not want to be? Look at Andrea Arnolds "Wuthering Heights", look at Joe Wrights "Anna Karenina", Lynne Ramseys "We need to talk about Kevin", hell, look at Kubricks friggin' "Shining". Books are books and films are films. And even when you do a literary adaption, you don't have to follow it word by word. Personally, literary adaptations that are too close to its source material bore me. Maybe this film is a stinker (take Jackson's "Lovely Bones" as an example), but let's wait till we see it.
I permanently despise everyone involved in the production of this atrocity. Too bad the world couldn't have ended before pre-production started. Although, this film's existence will make tomorrow a little easier.
Doubts are still just as high, Ang Lee is a film director, Luhrmann is a self-indulgent stylist, delays are a bad sign 99% of the time & Fitzgerald's talent was in his prose not his plotting, something that can't be translated to the screen. Even still entrusting his work with this crew was a crime, tis a shame given how talented the cast is though.
It still can make "international" debut at Cannes.
I have the feeling that it should have been directed by Ang Lee. Directors seem to never choose the right Daisy. Mia Farrow portrayed her like a mad woman and Mulligan like a dumb woman. I love the novel too much to go through this.
I always thought of the novel as a chamber piece, a sad and melancholic reflection of the futility of attempting to reclaim the past. The garish elements were never primary: it was just the backdrop to the internal struggles of Nick. To focus on those elements to the this extent seems baffling. Also, what the hell is with the character posters? I get that this film needs to make a lot of money, but selling it as a comicbookmovie-style tentpole doesn't strikes me as particularly true to the novelist's intent, either. The line between Luhrmann and co. criticising garishness and indulging in it seems to be an uncomfortably ambiguous one.
LOOKS GREAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UHH…WTF?
TR8LR SUX
The new trailer is thoroughly delightful. Love it. Has to be my most anticipated movie of the summer.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan are fantastic. Love them.
This is going to do Titanic-level box office, folks. The doubters are gonna eat crow.
HELL. YES. I can't wait.
Just look at that effing green light. "Make it GREENER!"
This looks like a nightmare worthy of Barton Fink or the like: Celebrated author sells watershed novel to movie studio. Movie studio, blanching at content of said novel, inflates film to absurd "grandiose" proportion to appease MTV/comic book/reality TV-generation. Movie pisses off fans of novel, fares poorly with critics, tanks at box office. Novelist drinks self to death. Thank "God" Fitzgerald is already in the ground and his eyes/synapses were spared.
This looks incredible. Carey Mulligan is beautiful.
I think this is worse than the first trailer. Agreed that Edgerton looks awesome.
Alright- as the biggest fan of the novel and what is bound to be the biggest fan of the film (even for all its apparent flaws)- I have to voice a bit of concern. WTF is Leo's accent. Seriously. That shit has got to go. But on the flip side, this is the prettiest he's looked in a long time. So giveth and taketh? Also- what's with Mulligan's perpetual sad face? She out-saddens Michelle Williams and that's saying something. Lastly, Joel Edgerton looks like a BOSS… and I hope this launches him into the highest stratosphere or stardom. Come to think of it- dude is a better actor than DiCaprio and I say that as DiCaprio's #1 fan.
so this is the "Gatsby for dummies", trailer version. It looks horrid. And I really hope Carey Mulligan's performance would be better than what we saw here.
one man's opinion, but this looks like shit.