MovieChat Forums > The Great Gatsby (2001) Discussion > Impossible book to film

Impossible book to film

posted 11 years ago by alg11297
2 replies | jump to latest

I've read Gatsby a few times. You have to wait a few years between readings. I don't believe it was meant as a story but more as a excercise for Fitzgerald to show off his language skills. The people in the book neither act like people, nor talk like people I've ever met.
Very bad choice for the actor who played Gatsby....a character that is impossible to play since nothing is told about him.
Why did they leave out that wonderful scene where Gatsby showers Daisy with his wonderful shirts. Why was the accident car changed from yellow to white.
It's a tough book to read...but it's impossible to film. And I don't like Leonard Decaprio is going to have much luck.

[–] digitaldiva 11 years ago

Hi alg11297,

My problem with 2000 version is that it was marred by pedestrian direction and lack of budget. Toby Stephens who played Gatsby is a marvelous actor, Dame Maggie Smith's son and can master any type of American accent. Both he and Rudd should have attempted a mid-Atlantic accent which would have softened the formal dialogue and prose. I also wish the producers had kept Stephens' natural golden boy coloring rather than darkening his hair and making him wear contacts.

I've seen four versions, the 1949 Alan Ladd, the 1974, this one and the most current with Leo DiCaprio. DiCaprio is the one actor who fully inhabits the role and brings Jay Gatsby to life.

[–] SenorDD 11 years ago

All of your complaints noted here are fixed in the 2013 version and DiCaprio is a wonderful Gatsby—A GREAT Gatsby! ^_^. Although, the creative license the director chooses to do with some of the other stuff, is a turn for the worse.

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