Luhrmann To Shoot ‘The Great Gatsby’ In Own Back Yard

Baz Luhrmann has announced that shooting of his next film, the literary giant The Great Gatsby, will take place in Australia. The film will primarily be shot at Fox Studios in Sydney, where both Australia and Moulin Rouge were shot, with further shooting throughout NSW. New York, the location of the original novel was snubbed in favour of a Sydney production base with the film also being shot in 3D.

The return to the screen of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic sees a reunion between Leonardo DiCaprio and Luhrmann, who enjoyed great success from their collaboration of another literary masterpiece, Romeo & Juliet. DiCaprio will play the lead of Jay Gatsby, with good friend Tobey Maguire to star as Nick Carraway, and Carey Mulligan has signed on to play Daisy Buchanan.
NSW Premier Kristina Keneally made the announcement earlier this week saying: “This comes at a good time for the film industry, Australia was thought to be losing international filmmaking due to the strong Aussie dollar – put simply, this is a big win.”

“The Great Gatsby will be a boon for the NSW film industry, particularly given Baz Luhrmann’s commitment to maximising use of local cast, crew and visual effects expertise. We’re determined to keep skilled NSW cast and crew working right here, and we’ll work to strengthen our leadership in the film and PDV (post digital visual effects) industry both here and overseas,” said Keneally. “What better endorsement of our State’s world-class film-making capabilities – we’ve won right to produce this iconic New York story ahead of New York itself.”

Keneally also said the production will inject $120m into the NSW economy and sustain over 800 local jobs with an estimated 275 crew employed during pre-production, more than 400 cast and crew employed during principal photography, and an estimated 150 post production and visual effects crew will also be employed.

The film has been secured under the NSW government’s enhanced film investment fund. The NSW budget included an extra $25 million for the NSW screen industry – including $20 million to attract large-scale productions such as The Great Gatsby and $5 million extra for Screen NSW’s Production Investment Fund.

Pre-production will begin in March with 17 weeks of filming beginning in August followed by 30 weeks of post-production with Warner Bros backing the Bazmark Films production.