Althouse: New "Gatsby" trailer.

April 5, 2013

New "Gatsby" trailer.

Now, with even more anachronistic pop music, including Beyonce singing Amy Winehouse.

45 comments:

Known Unknown said...: I like Baz Luhrmann. Or maybe I like the potential of Baz Luhrmann.; 4/5/13, 12:39 PM
mccullough said...: We need a pop-up video version with the best comments from this blog inserted into cartoon bubbles during scenes.; 4/5/13, 12:40 PM
mccullough said...: DiCaprio strikes me as a better Gatsby than Redford. But I thought Mia Farrow was a very good Daisy.

Bruce Dern as Tom was awful casting.; 4/5/13, 12:41 PM
Known Unknown said...: Luhrmann is probably the best director for Gatsby. He has the right lavish and textured sensibilities to put into the project. I think the music choices have been great as they capture the sentiment of the 20s but lend the story a modern veneer.; 4/5/13, 12:53 PM
Michael said...: I was all set to hate this but I think it could hit all the right notes as it were that Fitzgerald would want to have hit: the carelessness, the longing the debauch.; 4/5/13, 12:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Fitzgerald never describes Gatsby physically, but I always imagined him on the slim, handsome side.

I don't know what to make of the new thick DiCaprio. He looks like he is maturing into Edward G. Robinson with a somewhat more pleasant facial expression.; 4/5/13, 1:02 PM
Anonymous said...: A promising trailer. I get the impression that Luhrmann won't be bogged down with an overly reverential, hence leaden, treatment of Gatsby, which seemed to be the problem with the seventies version.

I don't know how you would bring Fitzgerald to the screen. I would love to see a film version of "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" with CGI effects.; 4/5/13, 1:12 PM
Dave in Tucson said...: For me, the oddest thing about this trailer is it makes the movie look like a CGI-heavy action flick.

Massive CGI, swooping cameras, impossible angles, hyper quick-cut editing... I get the distinct impression they're desperately trying to hide the fact that there's not an interesting movie here.; 4/5/13, 1:13 PM
Patrick said...: I liked the trailer. As for the anachronistic music, none of it is what I would typically listen to. Seeing the names of the performers, I figured it's just a way to gin up some interest among the kids. Hearing it with the trailer, it sounded oddly appropriate, and I kind of liked it, actually.; 4/5/13, 1:13 PM
Amartel said...: I like the idea of DeCaprio as Gatsby. Not a big Baz fan, though.; 4/5/13, 1:15 PM
Paco Wové said...: "[the trailer] makes the movie look like a CGI-heavy action flick... Massive CGI, swooping cameras, impossible angles, hyper quick-cut editing..."

I thought all modern movie trailers were like that, regardless of movie.; 4/5/13, 1:32 PM
mccullough said...: Maybe the filmakers are looking for a tie-in with a fast-food restaurant chain.; 4/5/13, 1:44 PM
CWJ said...: OK, we have now made the full transition from the first trailer (spectacle Luhrman surreal) to third trailer (love triangle relationship conflict). Completely conventional with an emphasis on the one element that the most people will recognize - the green light.

It remains to be seen which movie actually appears on the screen. But we now have a date (5/10) and I'm looking forward to it.; 4/5/13, 1:49 PM
chickelit said...: I see lots of West Eggs in one basket.; 4/5/13, 2:02 PM
Known Unknown said...: I don't know what to make of the new thick DiCaprio.

He's never been a slim guy, and never quite so vain as to be a workout freak.

Even his bottom teeth are still crooked. I was struck dumb by that fact. (as are Will Ferrell's, who uses a mediocre body for comedic effect.); 4/5/13, 2:09 PM
edutcher said...: No, no, no...

It should be Mrs Meade, in her most seductive schoolmarm cadences, whispering random sentences from the book into Shouting Thomas' ear; 4/5/13, 2:11 PM
suestew said...: The Great Gatsby is a book that must be READ, as Althouse's Gatsby Project so clearly manifests. The story is just one part of the book. The writing - the other. And when I read Gatsby, it is for the writing, not the story. Of course he had to pick a topic, and a wealthy nobody falling in love with a married woman/socialite had $$$ written all over it. I think I would throw up watching the movie. I almost threw up watching the trailer.; 4/5/13, 2:13 PM
Kevin said...: I dunno, Moulin Rouge + Sally Sparrow = Take My Money.; 4/5/13, 2:16 PM
tiger said...: Geeze I saw a trailer for 'TGG' re-make almost a year ago.

It's got to be bad if it's taking this long to release it.

Beside Leonardo DeCaprio is a not very good at acting.; 4/5/13, 2:20 PM
Chuck said...: Nothing says, "F. Scott Fitzgerald" quite like the music of Beyonce.; 4/5/13, 2:23 PM
ricpic said...: Whoever that actress is playing Daisy she has none of Daisy's out of reach goddess quality.; 4/5/13, 2:27 PM
tiger said...: Anyone else notice how many of today's male actors look like boys/teens rather than adult men?

Leo and Toby McGuire are prime examples. The guys in 'Star Trek' too.; 4/5/13, 2:29 PM
David said...: DeCaprio will be "The Good Gatsby."

The Great Gatsby would have been Johnny Depp.; 4/5/13, 2:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Of course he had to pick a topic, and a wealthy nobody falling in love with a married woman/socialite had $$$ written all over it.

It's largely forgotten that Fitzgerald made most of his money from writing short stories for slick, commercial magazines, not literary quarterlies.

Of course, these days who reads Fitzgerald? God love CWJ for saying "the one element that the most people will recognize - the green light," but most people haven't read Gatsby and of those who have, most will have forgotten the green light unless they wrote a college paper on it.

You certainly wouldn't know about the green light from reading Althouse's bizarre meditations/verbal flights in her Gatsby Project, which steadfastly refuse to consider Gatsby as a meaningful text.; 4/5/13, 2:30 PM
CWJ said...: Tiger,

You may be right about the film being a did. But one thing to keep in mind is that Baz Luhrman's post-production has often been mind numbingly long. He's made no more than a half dozen movies including this one. That we've gone through three trailers and three quarters of a year by itself is not necessarily indicative of a dud. We'll see on May 10.; 4/5/13, 2:31 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: Why Beyonce? Was Amy Winehouse unqualified to sing her own damn song?; 4/5/13, 2:40 PM
SteveR said...: @ Chuck, my thought exactly; 4/5/13, 2:42 PM
CWJ said...: Yes creeley23. To remember the green light you would have had to read the book or a commentary on it. I didn't say most people would remember it. I said it was the element that the most people would remember. In this case, as you point out, most may not be all that many.

OTOH, don't underestimate the extent to which Gatsby is still assigned reading in American education.; 4/5/13, 2:52 PM
chickelit said...: CEO-MMP said...
Why Beyonce? Was Amy Winehouse unqualified to sing her own damn song?

Did you mean that post hum(or)ously?; 4/5/13, 2:53 PM
Nonapod said...: chickelit, a zombie Amy Winehouse would be superior to Beyonce.; 4/5/13, 3:02 PM
Ruth Anne Adams said...: I think Leo DiCaprio belongs in a different time. Titanic--1912, Catch Me if You Can--1960s, This Boy's Life--50s, The Aviator--1920-30s.; 4/5/13, 3:02 PM
chickelit said...: Anyone else notice how many of today's male actors look like boys/teens rather than adult men?

Part of a larger and partially invisible trend.; 4/5/13, 3:07 PM
chickelit said...: Anyone else notice how many of today's male actors look like boys/teens rather than adult men?

I mean, it's easy to picture any modern American actor wearing shorts. The old school ones? not so much.; 4/5/13, 3:10 PM
hombre said...: Beyonce screams Winehouse.; 4/5/13, 3:14 PM
Anonymous said...: OTOH, don't underestimate the extent to which Gatsby is still assigned reading in American education.

CWJ: I'm prepared to be wrong, but from what I understand neither Fitzgerald, Hemingway nor Faulkner are taught much anymore. They're too dead, white, male, sexist, and racist for today's tender sensibilities.

I'm sure the new movie will spur some interest in TGG for a while.; 4/5/13, 3:16 PM
Lydia said...: I think DiCaprio does best as a tough-guy type, maybe because he has a sort of James Cagney face. Which really isn't the kind of face Gatsby would have had.

And that clip shows him doing a very rough-around-the edges Gatsby. Wasn't Gatsby supposed to be a smooth guy?

Maybe more a Christian Bale role.; 4/5/13, 3:37 PM
the traveler said...: Speaking of anachronistic: the costumes and hair. The Redford/Farrow version was bad. This one is too painful to watch. The only thing missing is iphones and Red Bull.; 4/5/13, 3:55 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: As a visitor, I would campaign against her singing at the local VFW hall.

She is not fit to stand in as backup to lead the junior soccer practice moment of silence.

A 99 year old grandmother can sing better than Beyoncé. Are you kidding me?; 4/5/13, 4:06 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: chickelit said...

CEO-MMP said...
Why Beyonce? Was Amy Winehouse unqualified to sing her own damn song?

Did you mean that post hum(or)ously?

She recorded at least a couple of versions of the song. And given the technology of the day, I bet they could change the background music and keep her vocals if they wanted the music to be different.

And Amy Winehouse years mouldering in the grave is more talented than Beyonce.; 4/5/13, 4:16 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: Please: never mention Cagney--a brilliant actor--and Dicaprio--a world class putz and scenery chewer--in the same sentence again, thank you.; 4/5/13, 4:18 PM
tiger said...: @CWJ:

Yeah I'm familiar with how long Baz can take in post.

I still having a feeling this movie is going to be so over-the-top - ala 'Moulin Rouge' (although I liked the first ten minutes) that it's not something I would see.

Then again I'm probably not his target audience either.; 4/5/13, 7:47 PM
CWJ said...: And being over the top ala Moulin Rouge is a box office problem because?; 4/5/13, 8:43 PM
Clyde said...: I don't like anachronistic music in movies. No rap music in a movie about Jackie Robinson, no pop-rock in a movie set in the 1920s. That's just laziness. Get it right, Hollywood!; 4/5/13, 8:53 PM
Anthony said...: A Fitzgerald movie I would love to see made is The Beautiful and Damned. I think you could make it modern and turn it into a commentary on empty celebrity.; 4/6/13, 3:22 AM
William said...: Gatsby should be more of an aspirational scumbag. I think someone like Joe Pesci would be ideal for the part. You would see why there was no bridge between Daisy's world and his and how utterly futile his quest was.; 4/6/13, 12:36 PM