So, coming out in December is another film version of The Great Gatsby. For the record I've read all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's books (I guess I'm like "Mr. Jones" of the Dylan song), and I like Gatsby though it isn't my favorite book by FSF (I prefer "This Side of Paradise" and "The Beautiful and Damned" - in that order, with Gatsby in third). I am definitely planning on seeing the film - but with a certain amount of trepidation. I like some of what the trailer reveals - with an attempt to portray the opulence of the era. One reservation I have, however, is with Leonardo D playing the lead role. I'm concerned this casting decision will prompt the film to get swallowed up in comparisons with "The Titanic" - especially since it's close to the same time-period and the endings of both plots have some similarities to one another (though Gatsby is admittedly much more complex). My main worry, however, has to do with the usage of modern music in the trailer. I'm a U2/Jack White fan, and the version of "Love is Blindness" sounds great, but I hope this isn't part of the sound track of the actual film. Perhaps it's just for the credits at the end? As for the rest of the music in the trailer - forget it. There really should be period music playing if they want the film to have any amount of authenticity. This was the "Jazz Age" (as coined by FSF himself), so why include modern "pop/rock" in the film's music tracks? I guess we'll see how it's all pieced together when the film comes out. I'll try to remain optimistic.
A link to the trailer can be found right here.
PS
personally I think Leonardo could be good in this. The music choices do seem weird.
ReplyDeleteSteve
Ok, so I am not concerned quite as much with Leonardo playing Gatsby. -I do see what you mean about the potential comparison with his role in Titanic, with the time period being so similar, buuut I think Leonardo has the potential to make up for this with his acting skills. He's played so many interesting roles over the years and I think he could pull off Gatsby pretty well.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I totally agree about the music. Why even have the girls dressed like real "flappers" and purposefully have it take place in the 20's if they aren't going to play music from that era? That will be hard to overlook.
Another thing that had me a little surprised just from the trailer is that it seems like the movie is almost taking the "roaring 20's" a little bit too far. Yes, the 20's were crazy, but especially in comparison to the past several decades. Fitzgerald writes about how controversial kissing was for girls to do in "This Side of Paradise" and kissing almost seems to be thought of as promiscuously as sleeping around would be now. It's hard to say, since I haven't seen the movie yet, but it seems like they almost tried to add too much "entertainment value" instead of being true to the decade itself. We will see... :P :)
-Claire
Some excellent thoughts, Claire. Yeah, I do think L. D. has potential for the role. If Celine starts singing at the end, though, I'm going to be walking out an unhappy man.
ReplyDeleteGood point about the overstatements. Some of the scenes seem to suggest the era is being comparitively exagerrated.
PS