Ashleigh Hill-Buxton
The hotly-anticipated modern adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel “The Great Gatsby” is set to open the Cannes Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film will screen out of competition to open the 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 15th.
Set in Prohibition-era New York, the film tells the story of mysterious business magnate Jay Gatsby (Leonardo di Caprio) from the eyes of onlooker Nick Carraway (Tobey McGuire).
Desperate to attract the attention of former love Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), Gatsby hosts fabulous parties and displays incredible wealth; wealth that is suggested he has earned through the bootlegging of illegal liquor. Daisy’s husband Tom is played by Joel Edgerton, with Australian newcomer Elizabeth Debicki will feature as Nick’s love interest Jordan Baker.
Baz Luhrmann has directed the film, which looks to be a stunning riot of colour, sound and emotion set against the intriguing backdrop of the Roaring 20’s. The film was adapted by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce.
“It is a great honour for all those who have worked on “The Great Gatsby” to open the Cannes Film Festival,” Luhrmann said in a statement.
“We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts, not only because my first film, “Strictly Ballroom” was screened there 21 years ago, but also because F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside St. Raphael.”
“The Great Gatsby” will be the second of Luhrmann’s films to open the Cannes Film Festival, following “Moulin Rouge!” in 2001. The screening of “Gatsby” will also be the second time in the festival’s history that the opening film will be screened in 2-D, after “Up” was screened in 2009.
“Gatsby” will open in the US on May 10 and in France on the same day it screens at the festival; both 2-D and 3-D releases of the film will be distributed by both Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures.
