The Great Gatsby

[skizzerflake]

The trailer is out for The Great Gatsby, due out around Christmas. I don't get this. As a Fitzgerald fan, this thing looks unbelievably overblown, full of FX, huge budget, and if all that were not enough, it's going to be a 3D show. When I first heard, months ago, that DiCaprio would play Jay Gatsby and Toby McGuire would be Nick Carraway, I thought that should be good, but once I saw this mess, I got dismayed. Gatsby is a great book based on the characters, the writing, and being one of the first ever books on the "live fast and die young" theme, but it would make a great low budget movie with no FX except for the yellow car and one big house. I really have to wonder about "Hollywood" or whoever is doing this...are they so bankrupt for a movie title that they do something like this? This is like F Scott Fitzgerald doing Thor. I guess Baz Lurhmann's next flick will be a version of On The Road in which Dean Moriarty drives a light speed hovercraft.

THE GREAT GATSBY - Official Trailer (2012) [HD] - YouTube

 

[afterlife2]

Got the original film on DVD from the library. Maybe I'll see it this weekend.

 

[DS-21]

I liked Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet at the time (though, like most men of my generation, I did have the hots for Claire Danes, and my view of movies tends to correlate with my enjoyment at watching the female lead), though I haven't seen it since it was a first-run movie.

Maybe his Gatsby will be a similarly eccentric but ultimately worthy take on the story. I'll probably go see it, and I don't go out for many movies.

 

[racquetman]

...are they so bankrupt for a movie title that they do something like this?

Well, look on the bright side - according to Wikipedia:

"According to the then Premier of New South Wales Kristina Keneally, the movie will earn the NSW economy AUD$120 million (US$118 million), with the shoot expected to last seventeen weeks and another thirty weeks to be spent on post-production. A reported 275-person crew will be employed during the pre-production stage with more than 400 cast and crew being employed during principal photography. Another estimated 150 post-production and visual effects crew will also be employed. Filming began on September 5, 2011 at Fox Studios in Sydney."

Remember that big movies also put a lot of people to work and can be great for local economies. Not a big deal in Hollywood (there are plenty of movies to go around), but elsewhere it can mean something.

Also, if you are going to have DiCaprio in your film, you cannot make a nice little Indie film (unless he is willing to work for peanuts). He is one of the top paid actors in Hollywood at the moment. It's go big or go bankrupt when you have a huge star on board. Now they could have gone with an unknown, but would you want to see the film if some unknown was playing such an iconic character?

Finally, you have to appeal to the masses if you want to make big money and that isn't going to happen without over-the-top sets and special effects. Young folks have no idea who The Great Gatsby is, so you have to slap them in the face with it.

You probably already knew all of this, but thought I'd throw it out there anyway. I know it sucks when something you like/love is stomped on by Hollywood.

I have a feeling this is going to flop to some extent. The Hobbit will probably still be doing big numbers when this comes out for one thing (unless somehow every theater has been upgraded to 48 fps and everyone hates it). Also, if people want to see the life of excess they can tune into about 10 different reality shows at any given time and see the real thing. It will probably be nominated for tons of awards, though (set design, costume, and similar).

 

[skizzerflake]

Well, look on the bright side - according to Wikipedia:

"According to the then Premier of New South Wales Kristina Keneally, the movie will earn the NSW economy AUD$120 million (US$118 million), with the shoot expected to last seventeen weeks and another thirty weeks to be spent on post-production. A reported 275-person crew will be employed during the pre-production stage with more than 400 cast and crew being employed during principal photography. Another estimated 150 post-production and visual effects crew will also be employed. Filming began on September 5, 2011 at Fox Studios in Sydney."

Remember that big movies also put a lot of people to work and can be great for local economies. Not a big deal in Hollywood (there are plenty of movies to go around), but elsewhere it can mean something.

I know that ultimately, mainstream movies are money-making enterprises, so it helps to be cynical and it's always about the teat of the golden calf. What surprises me about this one, is that it isn't about a popular theme. I don't know just how many superhero movies the market will bear, and it's possible that this will be like Moulin Rouge, a similarly anachronistic subject from the same director that ended up doing quite well.

Also, if you are going to have DiCaprio in your film, you cannot make a nice little Indie film (unless he is willing to work for peanuts). He is one of the top paid actors in Hollywood at the moment. It's go big or go bankrupt when you have a huge star on board. Now they could have gone with an unknown, but would you want to see the film if some unknown was playing such an iconic character?

You never know... sometimes big actors like to do projects that are outside the mass market. It makes them feel like they are real actors rather than props and revenue generators.

Finally, you have to appeal to the masses if you want to make big money and that isn't going to happen without over-the-top sets and special effects. Young folks have no idea who The Great Gatsby is, so you have to slap them in the face with it.

You probably already knew all of this, but thought I'd throw it out there anyway. I know it sucks when something you like/love is stomped on by Hollywood.

I have a feeling this is going to flop to some extent. The Hobbit will probably still be doing big numbers when this comes out for one thing (unless somehow every theater has been upgraded to 48 fps and everyone hates it). Also, if people want to see the life of excess they can tune into about 10 different reality shows at any given time and see the real thing. It will probably be nominated for tons of awards, though (set design, costume, and similar).

Ultimately that's what makes this weird to me. I would guess that, even among the not-so-young, you could barely find one movie goer in 10 that isn't an English major and ever heard of Gatsby, so it's not like it's a story that has a lot of pent-up demand for a movie version, like an unexploited superhero. I also know I am pi*sing in the wind on this, but what I like least is when a story like this gets hijacked and then, the movie version becomes the "real version". It's been like this ever since the first time a book was filmed, but nevertheless, I issue my objection. I will probably end up seeing it too, mainly because I liked Moulin Rouge as a visual spectacle.

 

[DS-21]

Ultimately that's what makes this weird to me. I would guess that, even among the not-so-young, you could barely find one movie goer in 10 that isn't an English major and ever heard of Gatsby,

You two are kidding, right?

(Speaking of the US at least below.)

Doesn't every high school worth a damn still teach that book?

Doesn't every high school student worth a damn read books they're assigned?

I mean, my alma mater high school, while it prepared me personally quite well for future success, isn't exactly exceptional on a national level (public, and ranked in the low 300's in US News' high school rankings*), certainly taught Gatsby. Even to the lower-level English classes, not just the honors/AP tracked kids.

*Yes, one should consider what we know about the reliability of US News' rankings. It beggars belief to think that the methodological problems in their law school rankings don't transfer to their other rankings.

 

[skizzerflake]

Both of my kids, who were in good schools, got through HS w/o reading Gatsby. They read lots of other good books, so I can't exactly fault the school, but reading was weighted to somewhat newer and more "uplifting" material. It's surprising since FSF spent a couple years living across the street from the school and even wrote Tender is the Night right here and they did read some Poe (another local favorite who still lives in a cemetery here). I think Fitzgerald has run afoul of some PC guidelines (too much alcohol, sex and bad behavior in his books) to escape the filter of the people who need to purge all sin from schools.

 

[zhimbo]

It's Baz Luhrmann. Of course it's huge and overblown. That's what he does. Sometimes it works great, sometimes it doesn't, and not everyone agrees on when it does and when it doesn't. I freakin' love "Moulin Rouge", but I can certainly understand why many wouldn't.

It just might work really well - and I think it might work well for Gatsby. There is plenty of glitz and glamour among the rich and powerful in Gatsby's world.