When it was announced that Baz Luhrmann would be directing a film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," anyone who knew the Australian director's work sort of knew what to expect. They might not have guessed that he'd make the whole thing in 3D (which he has), but they knew you'd get something lavish, operatic and heavily styilized, with party scenes that finally lived up to some of Fitzgerald's descriptions.
But did what they imagined in their mind's eye look like this? We doubt it. The first trailer for Luhrmann's opus has just debuted over at Apple, and it looks pretty nutty. You can tell already the extent that Luhrmann's shot for 3D, and you can tell that this is clearly not going to be set in anything like the real world: it's reminiscent of "Sucker Punch" more than anything else. Visuals aside, Leonardo DiCaprio looks like he's got the role he was born to play, and we like what we see of both Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton, but we're not yet sold on Tobey Maguire, who seems bland, even for a reasonably bland character. The film also stars Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan (whose cameo figures more than most of the other cast members) and newcomers Elizabeth Debicki (she's the one in the Louise Brooks wig who looks like Cate Blanchett & Mia Wasikowska had a baby) and Callan MacAuliffe.
So we're intrigued, certainly, but far from convinced. What do you think? Has Luhrmann finally gone too far? Or is this a vital, fresh spin on an old classic that's still yet to have its definitive screen version? Watch the trailer below (along with the first one-sheet from the film), or in HD over at Apple, and let us know. The music, by the way, starts with Jay-Z & Kanye West's "No Church In The Wild" off the "Watch The Throne" album, before segueing into Jack White's "Love is Blindness."
