Baz Luhrmann is supposedly arranging workshops for his possible future project, "The Great Gatsby", the news of which just made me roll my eyes skeptically because he's someone who's obviously more visually gifted than he is in terms of telling an effective or nuanced story. His movies, "Moulin Rouge", "Australia", "Romeo + Juliet" are all about the razzle-dazzle and elaborate screensets. I'm really afraid that he's drawn to "The Great Gatsby" for the allure of rollicking 20's decadence and operatic mansion parties, instead of the magnificent quiet power of its literary genius. I'd really prefer someone like Stephen Daldry behind this, one with a dab hand for acting and dialogue.
To add further insult, Luhrmann has supposedly workshopped the movie with Tobey Maguire, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Rebecca Hall. Ok. Ok. Ok. I just have so many issues with each individual choice, I don't even know where to begin. Firstly, at least kudos to the producers for considering a brunette actress for Daisy. Most people forget that Daisy, like all of Fitzgerald's muses, is a brunette, not a blonde. But if he's casting Rebecca Hall for her trademark traits - shy, English-rose loveliness and inner refinement - then he doesn't get the character at all. A wide misconception that's far worse than Daisy's hair color is who the character is supposed to be. Despite her elegance, easy manners, and captivating charisma that makes her such a prize for men like Tom Buchanan and Gatsby, Daisy is not a fundamentally refined person. That's what Nick Carraway has always known about it, and what Gatsby finally, fatally realizes. "He must have found what a grotesque thing a rose is." Daisy is a china teapot - just as pretty and effervescent, and just as empty. When you look at Rebecca Hall, she's the epitome of everything Daisy isn't - soulful and serene, a total class act through and through. Daisy isn't any of these qualities. She's fickle, disloyal, vain, shallow, and careless. A callous flirt. The source of her magnetic power stems from the false confidence she feeds from her loveliness and a lifetime of privilege and wealth. Think about how easily she breaks when Tom and Gatsby finally demand that she choose one of them. Like I said, just like a teapot.
So no. The idea that Daisy is much more than a charming, pretty girl is one of the most repetitive fails in movie history. Mia Farrow? Mira Sorvino? So gentle and sweet! So wrong for Daisy. They need to cast Daisy essentially in the same mode as Zelda Fitzgerald - that's who Daisy is based off, after all. I think Keira Knightley is a good choice, not just because her career has stemmed mostly from her ability to look good in period-wear, but because aside from actually playing Zelda in a future adaptation of The Beautiful and the Damned, I think Keira Knightley's onscreen persona closely resembles what I think of Daisy - they're both stunning and precocious women, with that je ne se quais casual air of entitlement that's natural for someone who's practically aristocratic - but with a hint of vulgarity underneath. Whenever I watch a character of hers, like the Duchess of Devonshire or Cecilia Tallis, I never come away with a admirable impression. There's always a languidness to her movements that suggests a flexibility in moral character, something about her infamously pursed lips that suggest flirtation or smugness, etc. End line, I think whoever they consider for the role of Daisy should be more Keira and less Rebecca Hall. Keira Knightley is so indisputably beautiful to look at, but she would also be able to arouse the audience's disdain for her, as Daisy does in the book.
Daisy: Rachel McAdams
I think Rachel McAdams would be appropriate - she's just so good at portraying indecisiveness. A lot of her characters are always fluctuating; soulful or shallow, love or hate, and she always does it so beautifully. The scene that comes to mind is when she tries to leave Ryan Gosling in "The Notebook" after their seven-years-later reunion, and she's crying in the car as she drives away. You hate her for leaving and yet you feel her anguish and conflict of feelings. Also, she managed to convince us that infidelity is true love in that movie.
She has an incredible ability to bring sympathy and understanding to the most selfish and superficial of characters (Regina George of "Mean Girls" is another great example). She would totally get my vote - these qualities would be essential for a convincing Daisy.
**My theory is that she's one of the greatest criers in recent acting history. She does all this bitchy and shallow stuff, but then a single tear of pathos and longing fills her eye, and then you're hers for the rest of eternity.
Jordan: Michelle Williams
And for some weird reason, I feel like Michelle Williams would do a really good Daisy as well. I'm thinking of a cross between her glamour puss Edie Sedgewick-proxy in "I'm Not There" and every other heartbreakingly vulnerable character she does...my only problem with her as an actress is this quality of detachment and dourness she always has. But for the next best role she could be Jordan. Michelle Williams just needs to be in bigger movies, period, and that little fashionista would probably rock 20's wear to pieces. But is she capable of frothy and fun?
As for Tobey Maguire, do I even need to say anything? Nick Carraway is already notoriously tricky to cast since he's basically a narrative vehicle for the audience - and Luhrmann wants to compensate for that by casting a complete charisma vacuum like Maguire? He seriously thinks it's a good idea to subject the audience to Maguire's dead eyes and dead droning voice for two hours? Tsk tsk.
Nick: Andrew Garfield
Someone on an IMDB thread mentioned Andrew Garfield, and I thought it was an excellent suggestion. For once, Garfield is actually more of the right age than Maguire, even more so when they get around to shooting. It is important to note that everyone in "The Great Gatsby" is under 30 - I think the extreme youth of the characters is very underrated element. It's part of an emerging American theme, most recently manifested in "The Social Network" - kids who got rich too fast too soon; smart enough to make money but lacking in the necessary qualities to manage it. Nick is 29 in the book, as is Tom, and Gatsby is presumably the same age. Daisy is 23, as I recall, and Jordan 21. Andrew Garfield is 27 right now, so he's totally the appropriate age, and would handle his character's job well, which is to arouse natural sympathy and be a nonjudgemental moral ballast for the rest of characters. He's someone you can easily imagine being everyone's confidante because he's so easily likeable and upstanding. *Ha! The irony of replacing Tobey Maguire with his Spiderman successor just hit me.
And Leonardo Dicaprio. Well obviously I hate him and all that. He specializes in artificial loud-mouth intensity, so I don't know how that's more wrong for Gatsby. He's a dreamer, and Dicaprio is just too....solid and practical for Gatsby, I suppose. In fact, I'd say Dicaprio would make a better Tom Buchanan - he's actually too confident for Gatsby. Gatsby's like the opposite of Daisy in some ways - at heart he's actually a very good, meek guy who has both insecurity and optimism in spades - but he tries way too hard to acquire that sort of effortless elegance and ease that Tom and Daisy both have. Gatsby is only mysterious because he deliberately shrouds himself in isolation and hearsay, but as a individual, he fails to have any real influence over anyone who actually matters. No one ends up being convinced by his flashy persona, not Nick or Tom or any of the partygoers who can't even be bothered to show up to his funeral. Back in his hometown he'd be the shizzle fo sho, but standing upright next to the ultimate blue-blood Tom Buchanan, Gatsby just wilts.
Gatsby is basically F Scott Fitzgerald Fitzgerald incarnate. So the conclusion is, if the producers should cast for Daisy like they're casting for Zelda, they should cast for Gatsby as if they'd cast for Fitzgerald. So I went to IMDB to see who would be playing Scott in the aforementioned production of "The Beautiful and the Damned" with Keira Knightley - and alas, no one seems to be cast yet. The movie's one piece of trivia did mention that "Leonardo Dicaprio was supposedly rumored for the role of F Scott Fitzgerald." GAHHHHH. The universe is totally against me.
Either way, I really can't think of who could play Gatsby. There's no way they'd go with an unknown actor though; not everyone can be David Fincher and just create three or four new stars within the span of a single movie.
Tom Buchanan: Armie Hammer/Tom Hardy
Actually, I really just want half the cast of "The Social Network" to be in another Great American movie. Rooney Mara can play Jordan, or if she can even play Daisy if she's really harboring that unseen reservoir of edgy talent that Fincher claims she does. Andrew Garfield can be Nick and Armie Hammer can be Tom Buchanan. He'd be perfect for it, too. Tom Hardy would also be a good choice for Buchanan, since being a cocky badass is like a contractual requirement for each of his roles. It would be totally believable that anyone would choose that sturdy mass over even a long-lost childhood love who's pined over you for five years.
Jay Gatsby but not really: Ben Whishaw
After some thought, I realized that this is one of those times when I wish Ben Whishaw was thirty pounds heavier and a bit stockier - i.e. normal-sized, because Whishaw's two trademarks are 1) wistful romantic sincerity and 2) nervous inadequacy, both of which fit Gatsby to a T. There's always something so heartbreaking, valiant, and/or pathetic about the various characters Whishaw portrays. If only he wasn't so slight and fragile-looking....
Ben from "Brideshead Revisited", center. And he looks so dapper in 20's garb, too.....sigh.....
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