Amanda Seyfried, Blake Lively & Abbie Cornish Also In Contention
Do these names seem familiar? Yep, its the go-to crop of actresses that seem to circle every major project and you’ve probably seen them crop up as potential leads for Alfonso Cuaron‘s “Gravity” and Ridley Scott‘s “Alien” prequel. So not really much of a surprise then that another high profile project, Baz Luhrmann‘s “The Great Gatsby” now has these usual contenders being linked to the part of Daisy. If you had asked us to guess what names would be considered, these faces probably would’ve been right up there.
Deadline reports that while Baz Luhrmann is pretty much set on Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire for the male leads of Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway after workshopping the script with them, he’s still not set on his Daisy — who has been read by Rebecca Hall — and is eager to hear some different actresses try the part on for size. The contenders are expected to fly into New York in the coming weeks to read opposite DiCaprio.
Among the names being batted around are Keira Knightley, Amanda Seyfried (previously linked to the project), Blake Lively, Abbie Cornish, Michelle Williams and Scarlett Johansson but Luhrmann is apparently keen on Natalie Portman and no surprise there. She was also considered a top contender for “Gravity” and “Alien” and will continue to be sought after for any project requiring a young female lead. Portman obviously has a lot of heat on her right now thanks to her excellent turn in Darren Aronofsky‘s “Black Swan” but having recently turned down both “Gravity” and “Pride And Prejudice And Zombies” it appears she’s being very selective with her next part.
Luhrmann was said to be choosing between ‘Gatsby’ and a New York-set musical for his next film, but this one seems to have taken frontrunner status. The project is currently set up at Sony.