Carey Mulligan To Play Daisy Buchanan In Baz Luhrmann’s THE GREAT GATSBY

Deadline.com has the big casting news exclusive on the remake of one of my favorite films, THE GREAT GATSBY.

Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann has found his Daisy Buchanan. He has officially given the starring role in The Great Gatsby to Carey Mulligan, the Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Never Let Me Go star who’ll play the manipulative heroine when Luhrmann starts production on his adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald literary classic.

Mulligan was on the reception line for The Fashion Council Awards in New York when she got the call on her cell phone from Luhrmann…this all occurred shortly after Luhrmann showed the audition footage to Sony Pictures Entertainment execs Amy Pascal and Doug Belgrad, who were impressed by Mulligan’s command of the character played in the 1974 film by Mia Farrow.

Leonardo DiCaprio will take on the role of Jay Gatsby originally played by Robert Redford in the 1974 version.

“The results from the workshop process on The Great Gatsby have been very encouraging,” he told Deadline. “There are a few elements that I feel need to be resolved before I would categorically state that this is my next film. Regarding the role of Daisy Buchanan, I was privileged to explore the character with some of the world’s most talented actresses, each one bringing their own particular interpretation, all of which were legitimate and exciting. However, specific to this particular production of The Great Gatsby, I was thrilled to pick up the phone an hour ago to the young Oscar-nominated British actress Carey Mulligan and say to her: “Hello, Daisy Buchanan.”

Now all Luhrmann needs is an actor as subtle as Sam Waterston to play Nick Carraway. Deadline is reporting that Tobey Maguire has the role. I’m not entirely convinced that a remake is necessary, but as it’s the director of MOULIN ROUGE, I’m eager to see Luhrmann’s take on the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel.

Source: Deadline com

PHOTO CREDIT: Carey Mulligan photographed auditioning for the role of Daisy Buchanan. New York City, November 2, 2010. Photo: Baz Luhrmann. Copyright: Bazmark