Carey Mulligan could now be Luhrmann's Daisy for THE GREAT GATSBY?

By Matt Holmes /

Around a week and a half ago I sat hear and told you that Natalie Portman was Baz Luhrmann's favourite to play his Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby adaptation he is putting together to shoot next summer, the actress leading a pack of the same old/same old actress roster who were circling the film. Curiously, and as a great example of how these 'studio wishlists' are most of the time - a waste of time - Portman is now no where to be seen and Carey Mulligan, a name that was missing from the original list of those circling last week, has now emerged favourite to grab the part. Vulture's insiders say Mulligan tested for the role in New York last week, presumably alongside the already cast Leonardo DiCaprio (who is the title character, and who Luhrmann wants to find an actress he has that certain Romeo & Juliet chemistry with) and now that Scarlett Johansson is out of the picture (as she'll be in the new Cameron Crowe picture We Bought a Zoo at Fox) - there's nothing much standing in the Brit actresses' way. Certainly not Rebecca Hall, Keira Knightley, Michelle Williams,Amanda Seyfried, Blake Lively and Abbie Cornish who were all linked last week but aren't being spoke of anymore. F. Scott€™s Fitzgerald€™s classic 20€s set, American Dream deconstruction novel has been adapted by Luhrmann with his regular co-scribe Craig Pearce (Romeo & Juliet, Moulin Rouge). The film is setup at Sony and as long as Luhrmann can cast his female role - will shoot next summer with DiCaprio (Gatsby) and Tobey Maguire (Carraway).