THE NAKED CITY with Coffin Ed, Miss Death & Jay Katz

THE GREAT GROSBY – WOOF!

Despite constant pessimism about the state of the Australian film industry there was much hoo-ha about the announcement that NSW would host Baz Luhrmann’s remake of the The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Secured through the State’s enhanced film investment fund, the Premier  Kristina Kenneally was quick to point out that the $120 million production would generate millions for the NSW economy.

She could be right! For starters just think of the restaurant bills Leonardo will rack up at some of the city’s best eateries like Otto and Rockpool not to mention the cost of creating a full size replica of the Oheka Castle somewhere that looks vaguely like Great Neck Long Island, if the production is to be true to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original novel.

It’s no secret that this is not the first adaptation of the classic American novel. In 1926 there was a silent version and in 1976 the acclaimed Academy Award winning version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Add to this another 1949 film version, a made for TV production in 2000 and even a Korean version in 2007 which surely must have lost something in translation.

So what’s so special about the proposed Antipodean version and what can we expect from Australian director Baz Lurhmann whose last big production, the much vaunted  Australia, now languishes in the $1 a week bargain bin of many a suburban video store. 3D – that’s what will propel the all new improved Great Gatsby above all its predecessors and bring millions of bar tabs and red carpet rentals flooding into the much needy NSW coffers.

Here at the Naked City we just love 3D and our only wish is that Baz, renowned for his great sense of theatricality, is allowed full license when it comes to exploiting the medium even if it means rewriting the original novel to allow for a plethora of special effects. Come on now, there’s no fun sitting in a darkened theatre for a couple of hours, squinting through a pair of cheap plastic glasses when you don’t get to dodge all manner of missiles exploding through the screen – just like the golden age of 60s and 70s 3D.

The original characters include Jordan Baker, a professional golfer, so expect a massive shower of golf balls at any time during the movie. When Myrtle Wilson is run over by Gatsby’s roadster, we would love to see Baz choreograph an onslaught of body parts with audiences ducking and weaving to avoid a missile like leg or decapitated head. And as for Leonardo’s portrayal of the aggressively self-made Jay Gatsby – he could surely throw a Frisbee or two, pitch a bit of ball and launch the odd boomerang to stamp this as a truly Australian production. Now that’s what we call entertainment!