For a while now there’s been news of Baz Luhrmann preparing The Great Gatsby for a return to the big screen, but it had all seemed like talk to me. However, Deadline has announced Carey Mulligan has been officially offered the role of Daisy Buchanan in the film and she’ll star alongside Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby.
Mulligan is said to have beat out the likes of Keira Knightley, Amanda Seyfried, Blake Lively, Abbie Cornish, Michelle Williams and Scarlett Johansson for the part and was on the reception line for The Fashion Council Awards in New York last night when she got the call from Luhrmann. Deadline’s Mike Fleming reports she burst into tears on the red carpet in front of Karl Lagerfield and Anna Wintour.
Luhrmann also sent Deadline the image from Mulligan’s audition included in this post and the following message saying:
“The results from the workshop process on The Great Gatsby have been very encouraging… There are a few elements that I feel need to be resolved before I would categorically state that this is my next film. Regarding the role of Daisy Buchanan, I was privileged to explore the character with some of the world’s most talented actresses, each one bringing their own particular interpretation, all of which were legitimate and exciting. However, specific to this particular production of The Great Gatsby, I was thrilled to pick up the phone an hour ago to the young Oscar-nominated British actress Carey Mulligan and say to her: ‘Hello, Daisy Buchanan.'”
Yeah, you caught that one part in that quote correctly, this may not be Luhrmann’s next film despite having filled the role of Jay and Daisy. While the role of Nick Carraway from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel is expected to go to Tobey Maguire there are still meaty roles such as Daisy’s husband Tom, Nick’s girlfriend Jordan Baker and George and Myrtle Wilson. Additionally, Luhrmann is also still working on his screenplay adaptation of the literary classic.
Columbia Pictures will handle distribution once Luhrmann is ready to get the film off the ground and all of his cast has a free schedule.
