GatsbyWire

The Great Luhrmann: In news that will horrify all of America's tenth-graders, Aussie Baz Luhrmann has acquired the rights to The Great Gatsby. Luhrmann's next project will be an adaptation of the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of glamour of the Jazz Age. There's not yet a script or a studio attached, but according to Variety, Luhrmann plans to focus on it after Australia's award run. Which, considering Australia's complete lack of Oscar viability, we're guessing means now. [Variety via Vulture]

Which begs the question: who should play Gatsby?? So far, we have nominated Jon Hamm. I suppose Hugh Jackman could work as well, especially given that Baz is at the helm. Hugh has the look, but perhaps not the gravitas to play a character as deep and dark as Gatsby. I don't know that Daisy ignoring Hugh's Gatsby would be that believable.

Brad Pitt has been nominated twice so far, but I think he is too pretty and doesn't have enough depth. While he is often compared to Robert Redford, Pitt does not have the gravity and inner life that Redford does. As David Edelstein writes in this week's New York, "Pitt's resemblance to Robert Redford - pouchy cheeks, quizzical half-open mouth - tends to underscore what's absent. Redford in his prime was alert and prickly, perpetually dissatisfied, whereas Pitt exudes complacency" (December 22-29, 2008; p.90). Complacency does not a Jay Gatsby make.