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4 Reasons I'm Excited For a Great Gatsby Remake

Becky Kirsch — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:30:12 PDT

We first heard rumblings about a Great Gatsby remake back in 2008, but now the rumors are intensifying. The latest is that Baz Luhrmann is currently putting his adaptation through workshops with Sony. What's even more exciting is the casting buzz: Leonardo DiCaprio has read for Jay Gatsby, Tobey Maguire could play Nick Carraway, and Rebecca Hall's name is in the ring for Daisy Buchanan.

The project is still in the very early stages - not only are casting changes likely, but it also might not even get made any time soon - but I'm still excited about the possibility. The Great Gatsby was one of my favorite books from high school, and I'd love to see the classic drama brought to life on the big screen once again. Here's why:

Baz Luhrmann as writer and possible director. If you've seen Romeo + Juliet or Moulin Rouge!, you know that Luhrmann's unique eye and creative spin make for very memorable films, epic love stories, and amazing performances - all of which are key to telling a story that we've already seen before.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is just the kind of complex, conflicted character that DiCaprio can't resist, and I hope he doesn't. DiCaprio exudes charisma and charm, but he's also got the chops to portray Gatsby's insecurities while still shrouding him in mystery.
The story could use a facelift. The 1922 novel has had a few screen adaptations, but the last time The Great Gatsby hit the theater was in 1974. Don't get me wrong: there's nothing to criticize about Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, but the '70s version just feels so . . . '70s.
The '20s are so hot right now. If you've seen Boardwalk Empire, you know how much eye candy comes with the Prohibition Era. From the costumes to the cars to the hairstyles, a shiny new version of the story could do even more justice to a fascinating time period.

Brad and Angelina Lead the Inglourious Afterpartying

PopSugar — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:00:40 PDT

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie hit the red carpet at last night's LA premiere of Inglourious Basterds, and the fun-loving cast kept the good times rolling with a bash at the Mondrian Hotel afterward. Diane Kruger's main man Joshua Jackson is up in Vancouver, but she mingled with Harvey Weinstein as BJ Novak chatted with Mindy Kaling and Melanie Laurent. Eli Roth struck a pose with Angelina, who was part of the festivities after missing out on the cast's recent party in Berlin. She and Brad make time for one-on-one date nights, but they also clearly enjoying letting loose with co-workers and friends.

To see more from the party, just read more.

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Images include: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Sarah Silverman, Harvey Weinstein, Tony Hawk, Brett Ratner, Sophie Monk, Russell Simmons, BJ Novak, Bridget Fonda, Danny Elfman, Michael Fassbender, Baz Luhrmann, Mindy Kaling, Lawrence Bender, Melanie Laurent

Link Time!!!

PopSugar — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:00:00 PDT

Baz Luhrmann looks surprisingly good shirtless - JustJared
Stephen Colbert has twatted on twitter - D-Listed
Eric McCormack lands a lead in a new ABC pilot - BuzzSugar
K Fed gets his birthday party on! - Pink is the New Blog
Hugh Grant is hard at work with SJP - Lainey Gossip
Lady GaGa's wardrobe malfunction (NSFW) - Egotastic
Hilary Duff shops in leggings - Hollywood Tuna
Dita says Marilyn Manson has been apologizing to her - Hollywood Rag
Charlize Theron happy time - cityrag
Lisa Rinna is desperately seeking Melrose Place - popbytes
John C. Reilly contemplates a rap career - Jezebel

Pacific Coast News Online and Bauer-Griffin Online

Oscar Nominee: Australia For Best Costume Design

BuzzSugar — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 13:30:24 PST

As we gear up for the Oscars, I'll be featuring the nominees for Best Costume Design. It's a big year for this category as the films nominated represent several vastly different historical periods. Be it eighteenth century England or San Francisco in the '70s, these films include some gorgeous threads. Today's featured movie is Australia.

Baz Luhrmann's movies are always exceptionally detailed when it comes to the way they look. Once again, it's clear there was a specific vision when it came to the way these characters dress in this epic tale set in the late 1930s/early 1940s. Not only do the costumes look amazing on the movie's two stunning stars (although, Hugh also looks pretty great without any costume) but they also contribute to the narrative, especially in the case of Kidman's character. Eventually her lavish wardrobe gives way to more relaxed frontier wear - a visual cue to the audience that Australia has won her over.

To check out a gallery of the many beautiful costumes on the great-looking actors, just

Baz Luhrmann to Take on the Great Gatsby

BuzzSugar — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:30:11 PST

Director Baz Luhrmann (Australia, Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet) recently sat down for an interview with the Hollywood Reporter and opened up on all sorts of stuff - including the fact that he has acquired the rights to F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and feels that now is the perfect time for this "parable for economic disaster." Here's more:

Luhrmann sees the pre-Depression story as a wake-up call as the economy comes crashing down and another Gilded Age, as he sees it, comes to an end.

"If you wanted to show a mirror to people that says, 'You've been drunk on money,' they're not going to want to see it. But if you reflected that mirror on another time they'd be willing to."

He added, "People will need an explanation of where we are and where we've been, and The Great Gatsby can provide that explanation."

I'm a fan of Luhrmann's so I can't wait to see what he does with this story. It seems like he might consider Nicole Kidman for the role of Daisy Buchanan, but I wonder if there are other actresses who could do well with the part. Which actors could you see in some of the other roles, like Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, and Tom Buchanan? And do you think this classic is in good hands with Luhrmann?

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Australia: A Romantic Wardrobe, Part II

FabSugar — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:00:22 PST

Did you happen to go see Australia this weekend? If my first words with costume designer Catherine Martin didn't pique your interest maybe these will. Some specific items of clothing stood out to me in the film - notably the colors of Lady Ashley's clothes, her belts, and her red Chinosierie dress. Here's what Martin had to say about those standouts.

I noticed she wears a lot of blues and browns. The film is so visually arresting how did you factor in the color of the clothes with the beauty of the movie?

"I had another collaborator, Mandy Walker, who is the Director or Photography. Baz, Mandy and I looked at a lot of color photography from that period and we started talking about exploring a palette out of the photography. We had a broad palette that encompassed all the colors from the film. What’s interesting about the color photography from the period, it meant a lot of mixed tones that got really close together, you have a monochromatic base. From that we developed our own color theory.

For the arrival suit, it wasn’t the ideal color choice, we made her blue and white because it was the most unlikely, it clashed with the environment. She was a totally different alien person to this place. And as the movie progresses her colors are references to Australia and become much stronger, she becomes part of her environment."

To read the rest,

read more I noticed throughout her transition in the movie, she has a fondness for belts. Everyone wore belts. Was that more fashion or function? "It’s a combination. The style was wearing two belts, a belt to hold your pants up, and a hobble belt, which helped you capture horses, tying their legs together so they can’t run away during the night, which some of the stockmen wore. Looking over the beautiful leather accessories and sportswear of the 1930s, there were some beautiful belts, notably made by Hermes and various other designers of the period. I think they’re a fantastic accessory; I love how it defines the waistline, pulls the outfit together. I really was a fan of the belt in this film." I love how it also defined Nicole’s tiny, perfect waist. Even at the end of the film, she still looked put together. "Yeah, it’s sort of a no nonsense thing. You feel definite in some way." Tell me about the red Chinosierie dress. And the pink one. What a unique choice. "Those two dresses. Basically, Lady Ashley loses all her clothes at one point. Baz said the challenge was: What is she going to wear when she gets to town, all her clothes have been trashed. We were looking in the contemporary newspapers of the day. And in the Northern a lot of Chinese tailors would advertise their manufacturing skills and that fact that they could make clothes in a very short space of time. Darwin is closer to Indonesia than any other city. You had a very big Asian influence at the time, and a very important Chinatown. We made a back-story in our minds that Sing Song, who was the Chinese cook, would have had a coven who comes from Shanghai to Darwin and he would have a tailoring business. And Sarah would go to that business and get her clothes made. There was a big fashion amongst Asian people, which was a problem with the Nationalists of the time. In reality, she would have gone to a Chinese tailor." The red dress was the standout dress of the movie, of the party. I love how it gets rained on, but she doesn’t care. "Yes. The one good thing about silk organza is it responds to the wet."

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Box Office: Four Christmases Wins the Holiday Weekend

BuzzSugar — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:30:35 PST

I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying Four Christmases starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn, and maybe some of the early buzz from others who also liked it helped the holiday comedy win the Thanksgiving weekend box office this year with an estimated $46.7 million since opening Wednesday.

Meanwhile the highly anticipated Baz Luhrmann epic Australia opened at No. 5 after Quantum of Solace in fourth place, Twilight (which passed the $100 million mark this weekend) in third, and Bolt in second place. Gus Van Sant's biopic Milk also did very well for a limited release, coming in at No. 10 over the weekend.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Australia: A Romantic Wardrobe, Part I

FabSugar — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:00:22 PST

Today, the highly anticipated romantic adventure Australia, directed by Baz Luhrmann, releases. I had the opportunity to preview the film, in all its romantic glory, as well as to speak with the costume designer, Catherine Martin. We also had a fun fete at the San Francisco Ferragamo store, in honor of Lady Ashley's shoes in the movie - all designed by the Italian fashion house. Two styles of limited-edition shoes were reproduced from the movie and are being sold at Ferragamo stores; 950 were made, and the San Francisco store is selling 120 of them.

There's so much to share, but I was really excited to see this film and speak with Martin. I am a huge Baz fan - I own both Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet - and as you may or may not know, Martin and Baz are married. Call it a cinematic match made in fashion heaven. No wonder the stories Luhrmann tells resonate so well: They are visually and emotionally epic. To hear what Martin had to say about Lady Ashley's wardrobe transformation, her kooky spyglasses (loved these), and the Ferragamo shoes, and to see lots of Australia eye candy,

read more. Can you talk about the transition of Lady Ashley’s wardrobe throughout the movie? "Baz really focused on Lady Sarah Ashley’s wardrobe and the revealing to the audience of her change. Eighteen months before we starting rolling film we went to Nashville and met with Nicole. Under Baz’s instructions, I had designed and brought a whole bunch of costumes that polarized her before and after. We could explore what worked and what didn’t work. I brought a version of the riding suit, and the arrival costume, to try and find the dynamic of before and after." So you had to really plan ahead? "Yes, Baz is very detailed and demands a lot of research and back stories you need to discover and work on. And it takes months; we had a preproduction of about eight months and we were working with 2,000 costumes. That’s how long it takes." Those kooky glasses Lady Ashley wore cracked me up. Where did you find those? And the mosquito net? "In the script it said she wears spyglasses. And I said, “What are spy glasses?” There were travel logs written in the period about a woman wearing spyglasses. They were these glasses people wore to protect themselves from flies, which is also why she’s wearing the net. This is a classic design from the period. We made one slight alteration. Originally we thought they would be dark glasses but it was such a shame to not be able to see Nicole’s eyes. We swapped the glass for clear so you could see her reactions, which are so colorful and charming. The first pair were original period glasses we bought off the Internet, they were actually vintage and we had thickened them in our model workshop." We had an event at the San Francisco Ferragamo store and I know Ferragamo designed the shoes for Nicole's character. How did all that come about? "Footwear is always very difficult. To me a shoe really makes an outfit. But you have to think about practicality, too. They need to be comfortable. It’s preferable for them to be made to measure. Ferragamo seemed like an obvious partner; they have made shoes for aristocracy, royalty, and movie stars. And they had an enormous archive of shoes. They were groundbreakers and I thought what a great collaboration. It was fantastic - I was able to work with the designers, look back at the archives. And we could make changes and were eventually able to come up with a fantastic wardrobe of shoes for Lady Sarah Ashley." What about Hugh's rugged shoes? "Hugh’s were made by R.M. Williams, a traditional Australian bush outfitter. They made all the footwear for the stockmen and Hugh." We couldn’t actually see the shoes she was wearing with the Chinoiserie red dress. I must know: What shoes was she wearing underneath there? "Panne velvet sandals, they were a beautiful green gray. We used chagrine, which is stingray leather, which was very fashionable in the 1930s. Ferragamo has done a version of the shoe, in both black and red, as a limited edition. They are absolutely beautiful. From their inception, Ferragamo has always used exotic and textured shoes. There’s also a beautiful pair of Mary Jane’s, we used a wonderful raffia macramé, which was another one of Ferragamo’s signature looks.

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Australia: A Magical, Epic Tale For the Ages

BuzzSugar — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:45:29 PST

Every once in a while, a movie comes around that reminds us what going to the movies is all about. It's a spectacle and an adventure and a love story. It’s full of magic, passion, music and breathtaking aerial shots. Australia is like the restoration of a long-lost cinematic art. It's pure entertainment with a human element to it that’s just emotional enough. With Australia, director Baz Luhrmann has brought us the most sweeping, grandiose, and visually stunning epic film of the year.

And in keeping with all the larger-than-life aspects of this production, Hugh Jackman of course embodies the manliest character ever. Playing a drover (a person who moves livestock, like cattle, over long distances) who's only ever referred to as "Drover," he's like a Greek god and John Wayne mixed together - but with an Australian accent. Under Luhrmann's watchful eye, Jackman's beautiful physique and macho charm help create something like an old-fashioned Western. The sunset softly lighting a wide landscape view, the pounding of galloping horses kicking dust up into the air, and a rugged man on horseback all make for a fine-looking movie indeed.

So that's most of what I like about the film - Luhrmann's lovely direction and Hugh Jackman - but there are other things, so

read more. There are essentially two parts to the narrative in this movie. The first has to do with the very prim and very British Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), who gains sudden control of a cattle station in Australia called Faraway Downs, having to get a huge number of cattle onto a ship. She relies on a rather motley crew to help her with this task, including the sexy, no-nonsense Drover and a mixed-race Aboriginal child (sometimes referred to as "creamy"), Nullah. Young Nullah narrates throughout the film, referring to Lady Sarah Ashley as "Mrs. Boss," which adds a sort of innocence and truthfulness to it all. The second part of the story deals with protecting Faraway Downs from shady folks, and suffering an air strike as World War II rages on. Amidst all this, there is the ever-present danger of having Nullah forcibly taken away by the state in order to integrate him into white society (and to "breed the black out" of him as one character disgustingly puts it). In Australia, the mixed-race children who endured such removals were known as the Stolen Generations, and at some point Lady Sarah Ashley becomes determined to prevent Nullah from this terrible fate. In addition to all this, there are the general story arcs for the individual characters, most notably how the chilly "Mrs. Boss" learns how to passionately love three things: Nullah, Drover, and Australia. The film is lengthy and there are a few moments when I thought it was over, only to find that there was much more in store for us, and for the first time at a super-long movie I actually hoped it wouldn't end. There are moments of cheesiness (like the frequent metaphoric reference to the movie The Wizard of Oz and its tune "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"), but it's not nearly as campy as Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge nor as over-the-top crazy as Romeo and Juliet. In comparison to those two films, Australia is really just a straightforward tale of romance and adventure in the Outback. Sure it’s incredibly long, but if you have the time and inclination, this movie is well worth the time and money - especially when viewed in all its dramatic splendor on a great, big screen. Photos courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

Another Movie Date Change! Quantum of Solace: Nov. 14

BuzzSugar — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:41:24 PDT

Following all these changes to the Fall movie releases is like a chess game because it has thrown the entire calender into a bit of a tizzy. First Twilight shifted its date based on the Harry Potter news, and now Quantum of Solace, the next installment of the James Bond franchise starring Daniel Craig, will follow suit.

Originally, Quantum of Solace was going to open Nov. 7 and is now being bumped to Nov. 14. Sony chair of worldwide marketing and distribution Jeff Blake states:

We believe Nov. 14 is a great date that allows us to play straight through Thanksgiving and right into Christmas. We believe this decision will give the public a wider opportunity to see the film over the holiday.

In this new slot the James Bond flick will now open the same weekend as Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia. Looks like despite the Harry Potter move to Summer of '09, this Fall is still shaping up to be pretty eventful.

So, let's see here, what does this mean for us? An additional week to ponder the meaning of Quantum of Solace, perhaps? Sure, why not.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures