The Great Gatsby - Remake in the Works

[rue]

"What purpose does it serve, other than to make a movie set in the 1920s look like it was set in 2011? This will ultimately date the movie far more than sticking to the original fashions would." Mojito

Yes, that quote deserves it's own thread. There are so many period movies (especially from the 50's set in the 20's) with terrible costuming that end up looking at best terribly dated and at worst absurd.

Wonderful idea for a thread! Those 50s period movies irritate me so much I cringe. Goes to show that this isn't a new problem.

 

[rue]

Gatsby - whether consciously or not - seems to have realised that Daisy and the green light stood for something far more intangible than what she literally was:

"Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one."

I need to read the book again! Thank you for the quote.... it answers my question. She still grates on my nerves though!

 

[rue]

I told you it was a tragedy.

Since you don't like Daisy anyway let me ask you a question. Do you think she knew Myrtle was having an affair with her husband when she ran over her?

I knew it was a tragedy. Gone With The Wind is a tragedy too, but most people look at both of them as being beautiful romantic novels/movies. I would say they are both romantic tragedies.

No. She knew he was having an affair obviously, but I don't think she knew it was Myrtle and I don't think she would ever have thought that he would lower himself to having an affair with someone like her.

What do you think?

 

[Stanley Doble]

I knew it was a tragedy. Gone With The Wind is a tragedy too, but most people look at both of them as being beautiful romantic novels/movies. I would say they are both romantic tragedies.

No. She knew he was having an affair obviously, but I don't think she knew it was Myrtle and I don't think she would ever have thought that he would lower himself to having an affair with someone like her.

What do you think?

We know Daisy knew Tom was having an affair, had known for some time. This is not the first time his foot slipped. Maybe she knew his taste in women. Maybe she found out somehow. How hard would a wife try to find out something like that?

Let's look at the accident. Daisy is driving Gatsby's car back from New York. It is dark out. Gatsby is sitting beside her. She is upset from the confrontation between the two men in her life.

As they pass Wilson's Garage a woman runs out. She tries to flag down the car. Daisy runs into her. She drives on without stopping.

Daisy must have seen Myrtle silhouetted against the garage lights, then in the headlights of the car. She was not trying to commit suicide, she thought her lover was behind the wheel and wanted him to stop. I don't see how Daisy could have run into her unless she did it deliberately. She didn't even stop after the accident.

What is Gatsby to make of this? He has just seen his Daisy run over someone and drive on as if nothing happened. Now they are both in a jam

He takes her home, conceals the car somewhere and waits in the bushes for Tom to come home, to see no harm comes to her.

Then he goes home and waits.

I don't want to believe it either. I really don't.

 

[rue]

I don't think Daisy cared enough to know what his taste in women were or who he was having the affair with. She is self centered and self centered people only worry about themselves. I don't believe she had any idea that Myrtle was the one having an affair with him and even if she would have known, I don't think it would have mattered to her unless it got out and people talked. I certainly don't think she would have killed her on purpose. Why would she risk everything for some 'bug'? Most women of her station in life during that era knew that men would never leave them for a tramp. Myrtle would never have fit into their world, so it wasn't a threat.

 

[Edward]

I don't think Daisy cared enough to know what his taste in women were or who he was having the affair with. She is self centered and self centered people only worry about themselves. I don't believe she had any idea that Myrtle was the one having an affair with him and even if she would have known, I don't think it would have mattered to her unless it got out and people talked. I certainly don't think she would have killed her on purpose. Why would she risk everything for some 'bug'? Most women of her station in life during that era knew that men would never leave them for a tramp. Myrtle would never have fit into their world, so it wasn't a threat.

I agree absolutely. Seems to me Daisy was the type who prized her position and her place above a faithful husband: ignoring Tom's infidelities is the price she pays to maintain the lifestyle his money and presence provide.

 

[rue]

Thank you Edward I actually wondered what you would think about my answer since we've talked a little bit about the book before.

 

[LocktownDog]

But why in 3D???? What does it add? ACK!!!

This whole 3D "craze" is eating at the very soul of cinema.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

.

On another website, two Fedora Loungers have cracked this nut. They figured out Baz Luhrmann's modus operandi.


You see, the new version has no intention of 'channeling' the 1920s directly. It is, instead, a very deliberate homage to the 1974 film version. What you'll see on the screen is a 2011 version of the 1974 twist on the 1920s.


May I quote a Fedora Lounger's astute points? Leonardo DiCaprio's look (and hairdo!) ... "seem more suggestive of Redford's 1974 Gatsby than Fitzgerald's, [and] Carey Mulligan's costume suggests that Lurhmann is not so much going back and adapting the original Fitzgerald text for the screen as he is rehashing the Gatsby tale/evoking the aesthetics and clothing of the 1974 film."

"Case in point: Mulligan's purple look seems to evoke Farrow's lavender number in the '74 film, perhaps more than the white get-ups I recall Fitzgerald describing her wearing in his novel: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5DTV--cNLI/TFb0hMJlehI/AAAAAAAAJgU/08qi29YuC6Q/s1600/MiaFarrowPost.jpg "

"At the same time, all outfits have a modern [blatantly 'Banana Republic'] twist that suggest this film is a market vehicle in 2011..."



Oh what a clever boy that Baz Luhrmann is. So clever, it makes me want to puke.

 

[Nelda Cardenas]

The Great Gatsby remake? Can't wait to see it.

 

[Stanley Doble]

What would a modern Gatsby look like? It occurs to me that the life of Michael Jackson is a good parallel.

He had a dream of an ideal life of success and fame. It was kind of a weird dream in spots but he stuck to it. Putting forth all his considerable talent and energy he transformed himself into his ideal of the pop star even though like Gatsby his dream destroyed him in the end.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Marc if you are right, and he is trying to make a pale imitation of a pale imitation, if he succeeds it should be the most boring film ever made.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

What would a modern Gatsby look like? It occurs to me that the life of Michael Jackson is a good parallel.

It already exists ... and was made back in 2002: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005755-g/trailers/

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

first-official-images-from-the-great-gatsby-look-exactly-like-you-thought-they-would?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

first-official-images-from-the-great-gatsby-look-exactly-like-you-thought-they-would?

Well, lessee. We got Pete ("Mad Men") Campbell here -- oh wait! It's Nick Carraway. And then there's Twiggy, straight from an Avedon photo shoot. Don't she look fab in her Mary Quant threads? Oh, sorry ... that's Daisy Buchanan. And look! The Smothers Brothers are sitting in the background! Nice tuxes, Tommy and Dick! Whoops -- they're actually Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan ...

 

[MisterGrey]

Remind me not to take anyone here with me when I go to see this.

I think we need to remember that this movie was not made with the regulars of the Fedora Lounge in mind; it was made for mainstream American audiences. And while it may be nice when movie and television folks making period pieces pay a great deal of attention to period detail, a perfect 1:1 aesthetic replication is not their number one priority: It's creating something that will entertain audiences sufficiently to get them to come out and see it or tune in and watch it.

A keen critical eye towards detail is one thing, but the tone of this thread has left a seriously bad taste in my mouth. It's hyperbolic and juvenile and the self-important sarcasm has seriously turned me off of several lounge members whom I previously held in some esteem. Maybe I'm being a hypocrite for overreacting to overreacting. But at the end of the day, acting like some grand sin against mankind has been committed by a Hollywood blockbuster not being 100% faithful to a 90 year old sartorial aesthetic is far more ridiculous to me than Tom Buchanan's odd jacket looking too much like his trousers.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And while it may be nice when movie and television folks making period pieces pay a great deal of attention to period detail, a perfect 1:1 aesthetic replication is not their number one priority: It's creating something that will entertain audiences sufficiently to get them to come out and see it or tune in and watch it.

Peevish MisterGrey!


Now, go sit in the corner and watch Raul Ruiz's "Time Regained". T'will go far to cure ye



[video=youtube_share;zs2dx263wuw]http://youtu.be/zs2dx263wuw[/video]

 

[Matt Deckard]

We all know "G" will always stand the test of time when it comes to costuming.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

We all know "G" will always stand the test of time when it comes to costuming.

Yeah, well, about two Fedora Loungers have seen it, if that many.

 

[HadleyH]

I am grateful they are trying to remake The Great Gatsby, I really am, and I hate to be negative particularly at Christmas but ... is it so hard to try get the make up and hair (to say nothing of clothes) of the woman right? why can't they go that extra mile? why? the lips the eyebrows, that's not so hard to do!

This is what I mean

This is a contemporary photo of model Linda Evangelista I think it looks credible as a flapper

short bangs, dark lipstick, thinner eyebrows


This is the real thing Louise Brooks

Do the same thing in blonde with the "Gatsby" actress.... what is the problem? it won't break the bank and it will make the whole film a more pleasurable and realistic experience!