Radio National: 'The Great Gatsby' and Baz's blockbuster

MICHAEL CATHCART

I suppose we should go on and talk about the film. So, Jason, some have suggested that The Great Gatsby is unfilmable, like adapting a poem to the screen. How do you reckon the book lends itself to being made into a film?

JASON DI ROSO

Well, I think if they're claiming it's a poetic piece of literature, I think poetry is great for film. Film is poetry, so, in a way, I think that the book is very adaptable, and also I think it's adaptable, A — because it's lean, in a way. The events, at least on the surface, there aren't many and there's a leanness to the way that the story plays out. But I also think that the book is full of great descriptive passages and descriptive passages that are describing people's gaze. So, Nick Carraway, especially, looking upon Daisy and reading her in a certain way, looking upon Gatsby, of course. So, there are a lot of passages that just leap out at you as a film lover, and I imagine as a film director, because they just seem so filmic. You can imagine, in Nick Carraway's point of view, the camera lens, in fact. So, look, I think it lends itself very well to being adapted for screen.

MICHAEL CATHCART

Let's just hear a little bit of what Baz Luhrmann has to say about what he was trying to do. This is him talking to RN's Fran Kelly.

BAZ LUHRMANN

I think that what the book is, is it starts with all that razzle-dazzle which I hope our film does like Gatsby. I hope it seduces you, and you think about the dancing, and the music, and champagne and the fashions.

FRAN KELLY

Is that what attracted you to the novel in the first place?

BAZ LUHRMANN

No. What attracted me is a naive young guy from the country, like myself, is drawn to that and drawn to this fabuloso character. And you think he's somehow corrupt, but what he finds out by the end of it is that, actually, all those aristocrats who are supposed to have a moral centre and really be the good people, and the guy who was supposed to be corrupt and the not-so-good person actually had a cause and a centre to his life. And so that young man, Nick Carraway, goes on into life reborn, ready to look for a purpose for his life. And I think that's the inspiration of the book.

MICHAEL CATHCART

That's Baz Luhrmann talking to Fran Kelly on RN Breakfast just a little while ago. Scott, now, you've seen the film and I gather you think that Luhrmann's lost sight of some of what Fitzgerald was trying to get at.

SCOTT DONALDSON

Oh, not at all. I think a lot of what Jason said is quite right — that there are things in the book that are wonderfully adaptable to film. There are other things that are not. I think the language is very hard to translate, the sheer romantic energy is hard to translate. At the same time, I thought the film was wonderful in some of the early scenes particularly. I remember the first time we see the Buchanan's house and that long lawn leading up to it that we enter with, this room where the people are floating and they're on couches, and the windows are open and it's a kind of diaphanous film. This is a magical place, the Buchanan's house.

MICHAEL CATHCART

What about the inner life of the characters? Do you think it captures that?

SCOTT DONALDSON

Um… yeah, in some cases. I think it's interesting to be going through the characters as we have been now, talking about Tom, who's not much talked about, and about Jordan who's not much talked about. And I think both of those characters are extremely well done. And I think, also, that Leonardo DiCaprio was wonderful and Carey Mulligan, most of the time, wonderful. I enjoyed the film, but I don't think it's the book. It's a take on the book and I don't think great books ever make great films.

MICHAEL CATHCART

Mmm. Jason, we said earlier that the book is melancholy. I haven't seen the film yet, I'm looking forward to seeing it this weekend. But Luhrmann doesn't do melancholy.

JASON DI ROSO

No, I don't think he does. I think that for a film adaptation it's reasonably loyal to the book, to the source material, which is why I was a little bit disappointed with the end. Because I think he's got the mix of elements there, but I think towards the end, when Nick Carraway… And this isn't really a spoiler, but Tobey Maguire's Nick Carraway says that the thing he admired in Gatsby most of all was hope. Gatsby somehow emerges from the film as a kind of figure of hope, and that's as if Luhrmann is sort of saying, 'Dreamers make the world go around and to dream is itself a noble thing.' And I don't think that that's really what the book's about. I think, in fact, the book does take apart the notion of dreaming and unbridled American optimism, and in fact critiques that. I think what the book finds worthy in Gatsby is, I think, that core of emotional authenticity that he has, that does drive this complete folly of his life, but it is something to be respected.

MICHAEL CATHCART

We're just winding up, we've got about three minutes to go. Kirk?

KIRK CURNUTT

Well, that's an excellent point, and I think… When I went and saw it, I went trying to imagine myself as part of the mass audience experiencing it. And I think what I appreciated most was the fact that it made it so vivid and so… a movie that even young people can get into. I've enjoyed watching the social networking sites and the people's response to it. I think that deeper Gatsby is still there for people to discover later on, but a big, splashy, loud, sometimes obnoxious blockbuster I think helps people get into it. And let me just say, as a teacher, it's a wonderful experience not to hear that The Great Gatsby is boring.