The Great Gatsby (2013 film)
The Great Gatsby is a 2013 American historical romantic drama film based on the 1925 novel of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film was co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars an ensemble cast consisting of Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, Amitabh Bachchan, and Elizabeth Debicki.[4] Filming took place from September to December 2011 in Australia, with a $105 million net production budget. The film follows the life and times of millionaire Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio) and his neighbor Nick Carraway (Maguire) who recounts his interactions with Gatsby amid the riotous parties of the Jazz Age on Long Island in New York.
The Great Gatsby
- Baz Luhrmann
- Craig Pearce
- Baz Luhrmann
- Catherine Knapman
- Douglas Wick
- Lucy Fisher
- Catherine Martin
- Matt Villa
- Jason Ballantine
- Jonathan Redmond
- Village Roadshow Pictures
- A&E Television
- Bazmark Productions
- Red Wagon Entertainment
- Warner Bros. Pictures (Worldwide)
- Roadshow Films (Australia)
- May 1, 2013 (New York City)
- May 10, 2013 (United States)
- May 30, 2013 (Australia)
142 minutes[1]
- Australia
- United States
English
$353.6 million[3]
A polarizing film among critics, The Great Gatsby received both praise and criticism for its visual style, direction, screenplay, performances, soundtrack, and its interpretation of the source material. Audiences responded more positively,[5] and Fitzgerald's granddaughter praised the film, stating "Scott would have been proud."[6] As of 2023, it is Luhrmann's highest-grossing film, grossing over $353 million worldwide.[7] At the 86th Academy Awards, the film won in both of its nominated categories: Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.
Plot[edit]
In December 1929, World War I veteran Nick Carraway, undergoing treatment at a psychiatric hospital, tells his doctor about Jay Gatsby, the most hopeful man he ever met. The doctor suggests Nick tap into his passion and write down his thoughts, and Nick begins cataloging the events to his doctor.
Seven years earlier, in the summer of 1922, Nick moved from the Midwest to New York after abandoning writing. He rents a small groundskeeper's cottage in the North Shore village of West Egg, next to the mansion of Gatsby, a mysterious business magnate who often hosts extravagant parties. Nick has dinner with his beautiful cousin Daisy Buchanan and her domineering husband, Tom, at their mansion in East Egg. Daisy plays matchmaker between Nick and another guest, Jordan Baker, a famous golfer. When Nick returns home, he sees Gatsby standing by the harbor, reaching toward a green light coming from the Buchanans' dock.
Tom brings Nick to the Valley of Ashes, an industrial dumping site between West Egg and the city, and picks up his mistress Myrtle Wilson at a garage owned by her husband George. One day, Nick receives an invitation to one of Gatsby's parties. There, Nick encounters Jordan and they both meet Gatsby. Gatsby takes Nick to Manhattan for lunch, telling Nick on the way that he is an Oxford graduate and war hero from a wealthy Midwestern family. They go to a speakeasy, where Gatsby introduces Nick to his business partner Meyer Wolfsheim.
Jordan tells Nick how Gatsby, a Captain of the U.S. Army, started a relationship with Daisy in 1917 before the U.S. entered World War I, and is still in love with her; he throws parties hoping that Daisy might attend. Gatsby asks Nick to invite Daisy to tea. After an awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy begin an affair. Gatsby is dismayed when Daisy wants to run away with him, preferring that she get a proper divorce. He asks Nick and Jordan to accompany him to the Buchanan home, where he and Daisy plan to tell Tom that Daisy is leaving him. During the luncheon, Tom becomes suspicious of Gatsby and Daisy, but Daisy stops Gatsby from revealing anything to Tom and suggests they all go to the Plaza Hotel. Tom drives Nick and Jordan in Gatsby's car while Gatsby drives Daisy in Tom's car. Tom stops for gas at George's garage, where George tells him that he and Myrtle are moving and that he suspects Myrtle is unfaithful.
At the Plaza, Gatsby tells Tom of his affair with Daisy. Tom accuses Gatsby of having never attended Oxford and having made his fortune through bootlegging with mobsters. Eventually, both Gatsby and Daisy leave. After fighting with George over her infidelity, Myrtle runs into the street and is fatally struck by Gatsby's car after mistaking it for Tom's. Upon learning about Myrtle's death, Tom tells George that the car belongs to Gatsby and that he suspects Gatsby was Myrtle's lover, while Nick deduces Daisy was driving when the accident happened. Nick, overhearing Daisy accepting Tom's promise to take care of everything, tries to warn Gatsby about it, but the latter stubbornly believed that Daisy needs time to think about living with Gatsby.
Inside the mansion, Gatsby tells Nick the truth: that he was born penniless, his real name is James Gatz, and he had asked Daisy to wait for him until he had made something of himself after the war; instead, she married Tom seven months after the war ended. The next day, Nick goes back to work and Gatsby awaits a call from Daisy while swimming in his pool. The phone rings, and Gatsby's butler answers it. Believing the caller to be Daisy, Gatsby is shot and killed by a vengeful George, who then commits suicide. Nick, who was the one calling, hears the gunshots and is the only person other than reporters to attend Gatsby's funeral as Daisy, Tom, and their daughter are leaving New York. The media falsely and negatively paints Gatsby as Myrtle's lover and killer, enraging Nick. Disgusted with both the city and its inhabitants, Nick leaves after taking a final walk-through Gatsby's deserted mansion and reflecting on Gatsby's ability to hope.
In the sanatorium, Nick finishes typing his memoir and titles it The Great Gatsby.
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
Prior to the 2013 adaptation, there were four earlier film adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel of the same name, including a now-lost 1926 version, a 1949 version, a 1974 version, and a 2000 made for TV version.[12][13] In December 2008, Variety reported that Baz Luhrmann would direct this latest adaptation.[14] Luhrmann stated that he planned it to be more up-to-date due to its theme of criticizing the often irresponsible lifestyles of wealthy people.[15]
While Luhrmann was at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2011, he told The Hollywood Reporter that he had been workshopping The Great Gatsby in 3D, though he had not yet decided whether to shoot in the format.[16] In late January 2011, Luhrmann showed doubt about staying on board with the project but decided to stay.[17]
In 2010, it was reported that the film was being set up by Sony Pictures Entertainment.[18] However, by 2011, Warner Bros. was close to acquiring a deal to finance and take worldwide distribution of The Great Gatsby.[19]
Release and marketing[edit]
Originally scheduled for a December 25, 2012 release, on August 6, 2012, it was reported that the film was being moved to a summer 2013 release date.[45] In September 2012, this date was confirmed to be May 10, 2013. The film opened the 66th Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2013,[46] shortly following its wide release in RealD 3D and 2D formats.
The first trailer for The Great Gatsby was released on May 22, 2012,[47] almost a year before the film's release. Songs featured in various trailers include: "No Church in the Wild" by Jay-Z and Kanye West; a cover of U2's "Love Is Blindness" performed by Jack White; a cover of The Turtles' "Happy Together" by the band Filter; a cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" performed by André 3000 and Beyoncé; "Young and Beautiful" performed by Lana Del Rey; and two songs, "Bedroom Hymns" and "Over the Love", performed by Florence and the Machine.[48]
On April 15, 2013, Brooks Brothers premiered "The Gatsby Collection", a line of men's clothing, shoes and accessories "inspired by the costumes designed by Catherine Martin for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby". According to Fashion Weekly, "The looks weren't simply based on 1920s style: the new duds were designed based on the brand's actual archives [...] Brooks Brothers was one of the initial arbiters of Gatsby-era look. The actual costumes, designed by Catherine Martin, will be on display in select Brooks Brothers boutiques."[49][50]
On April 17, 2013, Tiffany & Co. unveiled windows at its Fifth Avenue flagship store "inspired by" Luhrmann's film and created in collaboration with Luhrmann and costumer Catherine Martin. The jewelry store also premiered "The Great Gatsby Collection" line of jewelry designed in anticipation of the film. The collection comprises 7 pieces: a brooch, a headpiece (both reportedly based on archival Tiffany designs), a necklace and four different rings, including one in platinum with a 5.25-carat diamond, priced at US$875,000.[51][52][53]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
The Great Gatsby Grossed $144.8 million in North America, and $208.8 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $353.6 million.[3] Calculating in all expenses, Deadline Hollywood estimate that the film made a profit of $58.6 million.[60]
In North America, The Great Gatsby earned US$19.4 million on its opening Friday, including US$3.25 million from Thursday night and midnight shows.[61] It went on to finish in second place, behind Iron Man 3, during its opening weekend, with US$51.1 million.[62] This was the sixth-largest opening weekend for a film that did not debut in first place,[63] the second-largest opening weekend for a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio behind Inception,[64] and Luhrmann's highest-grossing movie.[65]
Critical response[edit]
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 304 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "While certainly ambitious—and every bit as visually dazzling as one might expect—Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby emphasizes visual splendor at the expense of its source material's vibrant heart."[66] Metacritic gives the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on reviews from 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[67] Audiences polled by the market research firm CinemaScore gave an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[61]
Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal criticized the film as "a tale told idiotically, full of noise and furor, signifying next to nothing."[68] Morgenstern felt the elaborate production designs were a misfire.[68] He likened the film's flaws to the decadent era which Fitzgerald criticized in his writing and stated that what is "intractably wrong with the film is that there's no reality to heighten; it's a spectacle in search of a soul".[68] The Chicago Reader review felt "Luhrmann is exactly the wrong person to adapt such a delicately rendered story, and his 3D feature plays like a ghastly Roaring 20s blowout at a sorority house".[69] In The Atlantic, Christopher Orr observed that "the problem is that when the movie is entertaining it's not Gatsby, and when it's Gatsby it's not entertaining."[70]
The positive reviews included A. O. Scott of The New York Times, who felt the adaptation was "a lot of fun" and "less a conventional movie adaptation than a splashy, trashy opera, a wayward, lavishly theatrical celebration of the emotional and material extravagance that Fitzgerald surveyed with fascinated ambivalence".[71] Scott advised "the best way to enjoy the film is to put aside whatever literary agenda you are tempted to bring with you".[71] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe reserved special praise for DiCaprio's performance, saying "magnificent is the only word to describe this performance—the best movie Gatsby by far, superhuman in his charm and connections, the host of revels beyond imagining, and at his heart an insecure fraud whose hopes are pinned to a woman".[72]
The Scene Magazine gave the movie a "B−" rating, and praised the actors' performances, in particular saying that "the stand-out actor is Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan doing an excellent job of showing the character's gruffness, despite the one-dimensionality given to him".[73] A granddaughter of Fitzgerald, Eleanor Lanahan, praised the style and music of the film.[74]
Tobey Maguire's role as Nick received mixed reviews from critics, with Philip French of The Guardian calling him "miscast or misdirected".[75] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote that "Tobey Maguire is his usual recessive presence, barely registering as either a dynamic part of the events he describes or their watchful witness",[76] and Elizabeth Weitzman of The New York Daily News opined that, despite "the wry-observational skills needed for Nick's Midwestern decency", the character is "directed toward a wide-eyed, one-note performance".[77] Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail was more positive of Maguire's character, saying "our narrator, [is] prone to his occasionally purple rhetoric. But that imposed conceit, the image of a talented depressive writing from inside the bauble of his imagination, seems to validate his inflated prose and, better yet, lets us re-appreciate its inherent poetry".[78]
Other theatrical film adaptations of The Great Gatsby include: