Leonardo DiCaprio: Great Gatsby was ‘very risky’

After a star studded opening gala at this years’ Cannes Film Festival, ‘The Great Gatsby’ is finally making its way onto UK screens. Filled with opulent sets and a fusion hip hop/jazz soundtrack (curated by rapper Jay Z no less), director Baz Luhrmann takes on what some consider to be one of the most un-filmmable adaptations of an extremely beloved F. Scott Fitzgerald literary classic.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the enigmatic, yet tragic, Jay Gatsby, the rest of the iconic characters are rounded out by Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan and Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan.

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We spoke to DiCaprio in New York, and he admitted that the books classic status made him apprehensive about taking on the role.

“It’s a very risky undertaking,” he said. “Everyone has their version of ‘The Great Gatsby’. I can’t tell you how many people have come to me in my own life and said ‘this is my favourite book of all time’.

“There’s not many projects that you’re part of where people have that expectation going into the theatre. They’re gonna want to see you dramatise things that they have stuck in their head. When you make a movie you have to be very specific and people may disagree with what you’re saying. There was tremendous amount of skepticism going into this.”

Choosing Leonardo as the iconic Gatsby was the only possibility for director Baz Luhrmann. From then on the rest of movie slowly fell into place.

“Gatsby is really like an American Hamlet,” explains Luhrmann, “you gotta have someone who has that screen charisma and deal with the complexity of the character. I thought [Leonardo] may not go there, not because he’s not brave, but just because he had to look like that! [pointing to a poster with Leonardo looking very very dashing]

With DiCaprio and longtime buddy Tobey Maguire on board, Baz Luhrmann went on an extensive search to find the object of Gatsby’s obsession, Daisy Buchanan.

“Everybody wanted that role of Daisy,” explains Luhrmann, “she’s a bit like Lady Diana, where she has the ability to make you feel like you were the only person in the world, and that was her function. Carey came in and she really caught that in the rehearsal session. As soon as she left the room, Leonardo and I were convinced. “

Though Carey Mulligan nabbed the much-coveted role, she wasn’t as enamored with the character itself. 

“I don’t really relate to her,” muses Mulligan, “I like playing parts where I can look at the script and have no idea how I’m going to play her and (then) try to figure it out. I don’t think she’s completely shallow. She has the conviction in what she has in the moment, but she can change her mind in a heartbeat. I try not to judge her and think rationally why she would do the things she would do.”

Initially Ben Affleck was to take on the role as Gatsby’s foil Tom Buchanan. But due to a little indie called ‘Argo’ he had to pass on the role, which was then given to the up and coming Australian actor Joel Edgerton.

“I was going down the road with Ben Affleck.” remembers Luhrmann, “but [he] was bursting into being a director and was trying to figure out if he could do ‘Argo’ and play Tom Buchanan. And we both knew that he couldn’t do both. At that moment, Joel comes into my office and had a Tommy Hilfiger suit with the label still on, which he had gone and borrowed down the street. And he just walked in character as Tom Buchanan. I guess he returned the suit back to Tommy Hilfiger afterwards.”

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With reports on set that Baz Luhrmann would whip his extras into a frenzy, it was easy for the cast to get caught up in the dazzling world created for the screen.

“Baz is a bit of Gatsby himself,” says DiCaprio, “he is a manifestation of his own dreams. He is vigilante about being his own unique artist and creating a world around him that supports him. I’ve never met a director with more energy and enthusiasm in what they do. He was the same way with I met him when I was 18 when I went over to Australia to read for ‘Romeo + Juliet’. He’s a risky filmmaker, he doesn’t take on simple stories, but I admire that in him.”

“I want the audience to feel like they were reading the novel in 1925,” explains Luhrmann, “Back then, it felt immediate, it felt visceral…in the moment. Gatsby celebrates and is an indictment of the American dream. A guy from nothing can make himself into his dream, consequentially the dream can shatter like glass.”

With its strong overseas box office and imminent success in the UK, Baz Luhrman’s own dreams are far from being shattered. In fact we can only await what cinematic adventure of impressive proportions he will take us on next.