I read The Great Gatsby in high school English class, and honestly I unfortunately don’t remember a whole lot of it. I remember that it was intriguing, but I was probably too caught up with silly highschooler things to pay too much attention to it, something that I sorely regret now that I’ve seen the trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming adaptation of it, starring the incomparable Leonardo DiCaprio.
I’m so glad I had the chance to experience this trailer in a movie theater, where the raw emotion rumbles the seats. After the first time I saw it I realized that I had been holding my breath for the entire second half of it. Honestly, I feel like the trailer is a movie in itself. It deserves a gorram award. The pain in Richard Patrick’s voice in Filter‘s gritty cover version of the Turtles’ upbeat song “Happy Together” is visceral. The menacing way it builds from almost a whisper into a full on scream, paired with the growing intensity of the images flashing on the screen, is both unnerving and stimulating.
It actually reminds me a lot of El Tango de Roxanne, my absolute favorite scene in Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge (click the image at the right to watch it). When this film first came out, I was smitten. The richness and extravagance of the images as well as the brutal reality of sickness, prostitution, and the separation of lovers come together to produce a classic tragedy. It was the first movie to ever really make me cry. So imagine my delight upon seeing that same visual luxury and raw emotion in just the two and a half minutes of the trailer for The Great Gatsby. I seriously can’t wait to see what Luhrmann does with this classic novel.
But what is most exciting about the upcoming film is the casting of Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby himself. Not only will it be interesting to see DiCaprio working with Luhrmann again now that he’s grown up, 17 years after Romeo + Juliet, but also especially in the wake of his stunningly heinous performance in Django Unchained, I can’t wait to more from him as another man of leisure with dark secrets. It’s truly astonishing how much DiCaprio has grown over the years, from a teen heartthrob to one of the most respected and talented actors in the business. This is also why it is so sad to hear of his upcoming “long, long break” from acting. Although with Django, Gatsby, and The Wolf of Wall Street all being released within a year of each other, I suppose this leading man really does deserve some time off, even if I selfishly want to see more of him.
What do you think of the trailer for The Great Gatsby? What about DiCaprio’s decision to take time off? Let me know in the comments!
Leonardo DiCaprio: I’m Taking a “Long, Long Break” From Movies
Josh Grossberg @ E!
Leonardo DiCaprio is eyeing a much-needed breather from the big screen.
The A-list actor announced to a German media outlet that he’s taking a significant sabbatical from acting to live life a little bit and focus on his environmental activism.
mewling quim 