Are you curious about film adaptations of The Great Gatsby?
Want some juicy details about Carey Mulligan's preparation for her role in Baz Luhrmann's
version of Fitzgerald's novel, which is coming out on May 10th?
Need some good ideas to start an essay on film versions of The Great Gatsby?
If so, stay tuned.
Hey there it's Dr. Bernstein.
I'm getting pretty excited about the upcoming release of Luhrmann's version of The Great
Gatsby, and honestly that's sort of surprising to me because I'm not usually a big fan of
film adaptations of novels. . .and I never quite connected with the 1974 version starring
Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, who are excellent actors.
In the May 2013 edition of Vogue magazine Tom Stone, the author of the cover story on
the film, mentions this: "The Great Gatsby has been filmed five times, and the fact that
that may come as news should tell you something."
Luhrmann himself, the man behind this new version--who's known for his work on movies
like Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom--admits that he even wondered if "Fitzgerald's novel
might be as unfilmable as people say."
I thought that line and that point about the novel becoming "unfilmable" is interesting
because when I read Gatsby and scenes of the parties--these fabulously sumptuous, decadent,
over-the-top images come to my mind--they're almost beyond anything that could actually
manifest in a film. . .and I think that's part why I never really connected with the
1974 version.
It fell flat for me.
But Luhrmann's track record makes me think that he's the one who's going to be able to
pull it off--visually and in many other ways.
Another really interesting part of Testino's article in Vogue is how he takes us behind
the scenes in Carey Mulligan's preparation for her role as Daisy.
The article opens with Mulligan opening up a biography of Zelda Fitzgerald--Fitzgerald's
real-life wife--and quoting this line: She--as in Zelda--"She had no more worries than a
puppy would have, or a kitten.
. ." Mulligan says, "That's Zelda.
That's Daisy."
So when she was preparing for this role Mulligan immersed herself not only in the novel and
Daisy's characterization there--but in the details associated with the women in Fitzgerald's
life.
There was Zelda, his wife, but also Ginevra King, who Testino (the author of the article)
points out--was a "16-year-old debutante with whom Fitzgerald first fell in love and who
gave him the outline for so many of the women in his fiction."
So there's a certain cross-over between Fitzgerald's own life and the characters in his works.
Princeton University photocopied all of the letters Ginevra wrote to Fitzgerald and Mulligan--who
read them all--in order to "soak up her view of the world," and "the way she
spoke"--describes how all of this research went into what she calls her "Daisy cocktail."
So if you're thinking about writing a paper about film adaptations of The Great Gatsby,
you might want consider how Mulligan plays Daisy and how her presentation of Gatsby great
love compares to Mia Farrow's
in the 1974 version.
Or you want to step up your level of analysis--you might even want to take that quote about Zelda
having "no more worries than a puppy" and compare it to Daisy's depiction in the book
and in the movie.
Is that a true statement about her?
Why?
Why not?
Why would an actress go beyond the confines of the novel to find out about other women
in Fitzgerald's life?
Is this going to help her portray Daisy more accurately?
To really get into the heart and soul of her character do you somehow have to move beyond
the text itself?
Why?
Why not?
So these are just few things to keep in mind when watching Luhrmann's production of The
Great Gatsby and possibly even writing about it.
If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of the May 2013
edition of Vogue, which features Testino's article
on the movie and some gorgeous photographs of Mulligan as Daisy.
As always, if you like this video, I'd love it if you liked it and subscribed to my channel.
Also, make sure you check out the whole Great Gatsby playlist I've created on my channel,
which has even more videos about the novel.
That's it for now.
Take care!