Leonardo, what is your personal relationship with Fitzgerald and his works? Leonardo DiCaprio: In t

The 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival could not open the film with a more glittering and charming version of The Great Gatsby Baz Luhrmann. The Australian the great de filmmaker with a passion for the decorative excesses, as the years go by, more and more mature style bombastic and brazen. This time, the magnificence of locations, sets, music and costumes (they are the Roaring '20s, the great de baby), we add the use of 3D, a first for the opening of Cannes where he usually breathes luxury and tradition. The Great Gatsby, a new adaptation of the classic Fitzgerald, the great de America has already arrived in theaters by dividing the critical failures and getting famous. Now he waits for the comparison with the European public, on paper more refined and unconventional, but also less easy enthusiasm for the spectacular end in itself. Just before the Italian release (the film will be distributed in hall tomorrow from Warner Bros.), Luhrmann will enjoy the honor and splendor of the inauguration of the festival alongside his cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan English, which plays an amazing Daisy, and Tobey Maguire, the narrator of the story. With their Isla Fisher and Joel Edgerton, countrymen Luhrmann.
Baz, this is not your first experience at Cannes, but maybe it's a bit 'special. How do you feel about opening the festival? Baz Luhrmann: My first film, Ballroom - Dance Contest was presented right here in Cannes thanks to a successful proposal despite the producers had failed. Then when it was said that the musical did not work Cannes said yes again and this time I wanted with The Great Gatsby. Among other things, Fitzgerald wrote his novel a few miles from here. Is not it amazing?
Leonardo the great de And you, how do you feel to be here? Leonardo DiCaprio: When I arrived it seemed the great de to me that the helicopter would make me fall in the sweet life. This is an amazing place in which to present their films and this time I must say that the work in which I play is pretty risky, but director the great de Baz is a very courageous.
Gatsby the great de resembles you in some way? Leonardo DiCaprio: Gatsby is not only a character, but immortal icon. Many people identify the great de with him as a symbol of the dreamer irreducible. Gatsby tries to shape their own existence in an eternal youth. When I read the novel for the first time in school I had a different view from what Baz has provided me now that I'm an adult. The tragedy, the obsession of the character I was really moved. This idea of a man who desperately tries to create an image of himself that eventually proves to be false is deeply sad because his life and the woman he loves are only mirages. In my interpretation I tried to reproduce this complexity.
Baz, Leonardo was the obvious choice for the role of Gatsby? Baz Luhrmann: For me there were no other players in contention. When we started, the great de I Leonardo and Tobey were three friends who were able to rely on each other, not just three employees. It 'been the great de a staff team to create the project, a number of individuals.
The character of Gatsby you have built together? Leonardo DiCaprio: Absolutely. We talked about it for months and months and we also reflected on earlier versions. The most interesting thing about Fitzgerald's novel is that the public the great de has made their own, extrapolating the aspects he feels closer to him so it was hard to take it on the screen. We had to build each character in a specific way. Baz Luhrmann: I believe that Gatsby is the 'Hamlet American and Leonardo spent his nights trying to get in tune with all the weaknesses of the character, the great de making it the ideal Gatsby for his time.
What prompted the great de you to ripoporre a classic for a contemporary reinterpretation of the past? You felt an affinity with this? Baz Luhrmann: I was struck by the book ten years ago and it was then that I decided to make a movie. I did not know very well the novel before, but when I realized it was a mirror capable of reflecting our intimacy I felt the need to give my own version. It 'was then that started the journey.
Leonardo, what is your personal relationship with Fitzgerald and his works? Leonardo DiCaprio: In the U.S., The Great Gatsby is a seminal book. All study it in school, but I fully understood only after having analyzed together with Baz. At that point between the great de me and my character was born a love story. Baz Luhrmann: In my youth I read a lot about Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. I was fascinated by this crazy bohemian muse, and my spirit was attracted by its unconventionality. When I started to work seriously to the film I did a lot of research and was impressed by the exceptional technical writing Fitzgerald, a beautiful and complicated, and this has definitely affected my mo