Gatsby ushers in added dimension for opener
Director Baz Luhrmann returns with stylized 3D version of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic
The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann’s stylized 3D version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American story of wealth and romance, will open the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio — who will make a rare visit to the festival — as Jay Gatsby, a glamorous and mysterious millionaire living on Long Island in the 1920s. Tobey Maguire plays Nick Carraway, a neighbour who is fascinated by him, and Carey Mulligan plays Daisy Buchanan, Nick’s cousin and Gatsby’s love interest.
Luhrmann — who has previously been in Cannes with Strictly Ballroom in 1992 and Moulin Rouge! in 2009 — said it was an honour to be chosen as the festival’s opening- night film.
“We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts, not only because my first film Strictly Ballroom was screened there 21 years ago, but also because F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside St. Raphael,” the Australian director said in a statement.
It will be DiCaprio’s first appearance on the Croisette since the 2007 documentary The 11th Hour, which he produced. Also due in Cannes are rapper Jay- Z, who scored the film, and Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan.
The Great Gatsby is only the second 3D film to open the festival, following in the footsteps of the animated Pixar movie Up in 2009. The Cannes premiere, on May 15, comes five days after the movie opens in North America and the same day it opens across France.