The auspices were never good for the nascent big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's
The Great Gatsby by the Australian director,
Baz Luhrmann. Not least among which was the director himself- skilled at contriving ornate set-pieces and yet never truly distracting from the overwhelming vacuity of his narratives. Luhrmanns sensibility as a film-maker is so palpably shaped by the superficial excess of musical theatre, that he could always be enjoyed- modestly- as an entertainer, but fell short as a cinematic artist. The Gatsby, then, represented a massively ambitious project, and one that requires the artists sensitivity and foresight that the Australian has, thus far, lacked- regrettably he has fallen at the first hurdle with
this weeks announcement that the film is to be shot in 3D. Luhrmann has acquiesced to depart, fundamentally, from the very parameters that make film film at all. Adapted for the screen by Luhrmann and
Craig Pearce (Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!) Lurhmann will begin shooting the novel in his homeland of Sydney, Australia in August (and where he shot Australia) - shunning the novel's iconic New York setting with the talents of
Leonardo DiCaprio (as Jay Gatsby)
, Tobey Maguire (Nick Carraway) and
Carey Mulligan (Daisy Buchanan). Better film-makers than Lurhmann have been burned by the profound fires of The Great Gatsby- including Francis Ford Coppola- however, by submitting to the tawdry fad of 3D, he hasnt even allowed himself a fighting chance. I mean, what is it about Gatsby that needs to be in 3D?
The oppression of the current corporation imposed fad of 3D cinema has lulled in once great film-makers and minds of late. Though, in the case of German auteurs Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog, they had the sense to apply the fair-ground medium to topics more appropriate to its rather shallow specificities. Sadly, however, the recently completed Scorsese film, The Invention of Hugo Cabaret, is indicative of a film-maker whose judgement appears to be in decline. And after the tiresome Australia and the idea to film Gatsby in 3D, Luhrmann might be going the same way.