Green Light for Gatsby

(cover , Bantam books, 1974)

Reports are that Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt are starring in a film version of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story about an interesting predicament of the Mystery Man of Maryland.
SplendourCinemaRIN reports in What’s next…Funcat Productions is reportedly speccing screen treatments of Fitz’s “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”, his horror-fantasy (isn’t it?) that shows just what could happen in the Montana mountains before satellites and GPS were developed. Producers are considering casting input for leads John T. Unger, and the Washington clan consisting of Mr. and Mrs., as well as Percy, Kismine, and Jasmine. The Funcat studio is also apparently developing proposals to bring Fitzgerald’s frenetic “May Day” to the silver screen.
But Funcat Productions co-producer Steve B revealed their biggest scoop is a tentative development deal for another re-make of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American tragedy, “The Great Gatsby”, which “will be the definitive cinema version yet made, true to the novel as if Fitz himself was writing the screenplay, shot on location in the most authentic period sets. This will be the tangled tale of love and loss that Fitzgerald would have filmed.”
Speculation for the casting is rumoured to be underway, and insiders claim there is intense interest by talent agents, jockeying for the attention of the film’s legendary director, reclusive auteur R.K. Dursley.
The public is invited to comment on the anticipated casting of this dream team. Dursley, also the Executive Producer, and B admitted from their Strachan House Studio offices that, although “a lot of the details are still in play”, they are considering, but are in no position to be able to confirm, these ensemble possibilities:

Jay Gatsby - Brad Pitt
Nick Carraway - Matt Damon
Daisy Buchanan – Nicole Kidman
Tom Buchanan – Russell Crowe
Jordan Baker – Christina Ricci
Myrtle Wilson– Rene Zellweger
George Wilson – John Turturro
Meyer Wolfsheim – James Gandolfino
Owl Eyes – Steve Busciemi
And in homage to the 1974 filmed Gatsby, the cameo
role of Gatsby’s father, Mr. Gatz – Robert Redford

If Funcat’s dreams became reality, this hit Gatsby ensemble would certainly become a classic legend. If anyone can make it so, it would be the creative collaboration of Steve B and R.K. Dursley.

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"There was music from my neighbour's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." - Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby

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