Jay-Z, 3-D and Jay Gatsby

By Rachel Dodes

enterview adapted

 

Baz Luhrmann's sumptuous 3-D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," released May 10, cost about $100 million to make. It's full of the dazzling visuals of the 1920s—Art Deco jewelry by Tiffany & Co., flapper dresses designed by Prada, custom suits by Brooks Brothers, speak-easies, and a yellow Duesenberg—with the musical trappings of 2013.

At New York's Plaza Hotel, the setting of the book's violent climax, the 50-year-old Australian director ("Moulin Rouge") talked about his latest project. Edited from an interview:

 

This is a controversial, not a conventional, version of the novel.

Well, blame me. But "The Great Gatsby" isn't exactly a quiet little book. The telling of the story by Nick Carraway [the narrator, played by Tobey Maguire in the film] may be quiet, inside his mind, but he evokes the Roaring Twenties. It's not called the Quiet Twenties, you know?

 

Why the 3-D?

Fitzgerald was a modernist. He was fascinated with cinema. And he put modern cinematic techniques in his books. So 3-D is around. Jim Cameron was showing me it. I got someone to pull the film, in 3-D, out of the Warner Bros. vaults. And to see actors move in a room, to see Grace Kelly moving in space without the camera moving, that it has potential for immersion in terms of drama, to draw you in, rather than things coming out.

 

Could you talk about the decision to feature rap music?

The music I am sure will be divisive, but Fitzgerald put African-American street music in his text, in the foreground. I grew up around jazz. I love jazz. But if you were reading that novel in 1925, what did it feel like to read jazz songs in there? It felt immediate. It felt now. It was kind of dangerous. Fitzgerald coined the phrase the "Jazz Age," and now we're living in the Hip-Hop Age. I made the connection that maybe there would be another Jay who would be good to collaborate with.

 

You're talking about Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, who became an executive producer.

Craig Pearce [co-screenwriter] and I, we were talking about blending traditional jazz and contemporary music, because otherwise it's nostalgic. Early on, when we were writing, the Charleston starts up [at Gatsby's party] and we think it's a song like will.i.am's "I Gotta Feeling"—intoxicating all of New York City with jazz and decadence and Champagne. Gatsby was trying to draw everybody into his Venus flytrap, but he was only doing it because he was trying to catch one particular butterfly, which you find out later. But he was definitely getting people to surrender their inhibitions. So, of course there's a version you can do where you put on the Charleston, [singing]—la, dah, da da da dah—and then people start swinging their beads, and kicking their heels up.

 

Jay-Z is probably as much of a modern-day Gatsby as you can find.

Yes, he can relate to that. I had already told them it was going to be embarrassing and hideous because it was a rough cut and Jay turns to me and goes, "It's an aspirational film. You know, the thing about this story is that it's not a question of how Gatsby made his money, it's is he a good person or not? Is there meaning in his life? And all these other characters, do they have a moral compass?" And he pretty much nailed it. I said, "Yes, that's the movie I am trying to make."

 

Most of the songs were written specifically for the film?

Some were covers but, also so much new music. The xx [an English indie pop band] specifically wrote that song [called "Together"] after seeing sections of the movie. In "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody" by Fergie, [producer] GoonRock started thinking we wanted to have a bit of Charleston rhythm but we needed a great hook. It had to say something like, "It's the greatest party of your life. Give in. Surrender. Be seduced. Put your hands in the air and let yourself go." Because that's what Gatsby is trying to get them to do. We were working with this wonderful woman, [songwriter] Andrea Martin—she said "No problem. How about, 'a little party never killed nobody, right here right now is all we got', " and we said, "We'll take that."

 

What about the costumes?

One thing I didn't want to see was a headband with a feather in it. Two feathers minimum. Because what happens with these periods is that these signs and symbols become so encrusted with absolutisms. In the '60s not everybody was wearing flowers in their hair and flowing caftans. When you first see Daisy and Jordan [Baker], Fitzgerald describes them as "floating in the air" and I had to find some pictorial poetic way of doing that. We [he and costume designer Catherine Martin, his wife] went back and forth. Should it be a shift [dress]? And then she said, "What about robe de style [a full-skirted dress also popular during the '20s]?" So Nick is having an out-of-body experience in the book, because he thinks he's in heaven. Then he realizes heaven is corrupt.

 

You had planned to shoot this in New York. But Australia offered you better terms, right?

That was still a stretch, to convince Warner Bros. to create Long Island in Australia. We don't have a lot of deciduous trees. There are not a lot of Long Island mansions. Gatsby's Long Island mansion is in fact my old school.

 

1. Who is the director of this movie?

2. Is the movie controversial, in relation to the book, according to the director?

3. Explain the movie’s costumes choice.

4. Why is the movie in 3-D, according to the director?

5. What kind of music replaces Jazz in the movie and why?

6. According to Jay-Z, what is the movie about?

7. How much did the movie cost?