Both full-length trailers for Baz Luhrmann’s currently delayed The Great Gatsby have been marked by the studio’s music selections (which, we have to assume, the director himself approved). A fevered interpretation of U2’s “Love is Blindness” backed the first imagery from Luhrmann’s anticipated film, while driving beats of a dance number lent a lighter tone to the most recent clip. Now we’re learning that Luhrmann has made a bold decision for the final cut of Gatsby, and it also indicated how important the musical bed will be to his finished film.
Jay-Z and singer-songwriter Jeymes Samuel of The Bullitts have been confirmed as working on the film score for Gatsby, as reported on Twitter (and picked up by The Film Stage). “(We) have been working tirelessly on the score for the upcoming #CLASSIC The Great Gatsby,” Samuels tweeted. “It is too DOPE for words!”
Here are those two trailers (#1 and #2) to get a sense of what Luhrmann was going for in the initial Gatsby pitch, though we can expect Jay-Z to go in a completely new direction, no? He’ll also likely have to work around tracks from rival artists, if earlier reports that Lady Gaga and Prince are contributing to the soundtrack are to be believed. Is this going to ne inspired genius, or a hodgepodge of artistic influences vying for the audience’s attention?
At the very least, it sounds like Luhrmann wants to return to the ostentatious assault on the senses that worked so well for his Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet, which first teamed him with Leonardo DiCaprio. Gatsby has been pushed back until May 10, 2013. It co-stars Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Joel Edgerton.
