The Great Gatsby (2012)

[David Morris]

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2012/05/the-great-gatsby-trailer-baz-luhrmann-leonardo-dicaprio-carey-mulligan-backlash

The first preview of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby has surfaced—two
and a half minutes that look just as you may expect if you’re familiar
with the often flashy Aussie filmmaker’s work on Romeo + Juliet and
Moulin Rouge, but that have somehow managed to shock the
trailer-watching public in seemingly equal amounts of pleasure and
dismay. The frenetic, high-drama preview promises sweeping shots of
Jay Gatsby’s West Egg soirées, immaculate set design, and
period-perfect costumes—but also what appears to be a hyper-stylized,
extended-music-video treatment of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s American
classic. The trailer opens to the Kanye West/Jay-Z collaboration “No
Church in the Wild” against images of Jazz Age excess that could fit
into any rap video: wealthy men and women clinking cocktails in
speeding convertibles, free-flowing liquor, women swaying from
chandeliers over pulsating party crowds, and ample sexual tension. (So
maybe Luhrmann nailed the “excess” aspect in one way or another.)

Praised as “gonzo,” “dazzling,” and visually “spectacular” by preview
reviewers, it’s also set off a swift rebuttal in comments sections and
on Twitter. (“UGH Baz Lurhmann stop touching things that I like!”
Time-magazine columnist James Poniewozik added on the latter.) Ahead,
the most outraged (or funniest) responses to Luhrmann’s latest
spectacle, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher,
and Tobey Maguire. The full-length feature can be seen in all its
glory in 3-D when it’s released in theaters on Christmas.