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and he and Nick were part of a secret society. The research the team did at Bazmark led them to the Skull and Bones, which is probably the most secret of those societies. So, as a detail on the costumes, CM lined my suits with a skull and crossbones print. She didn’t need to do that, and you’ll probably never see it, but I knew it was there.” “That’s the job of a costume—the actor is the transformer. The actor with the script and the director really make the story, and the costume is there to support the process,” Martin says. Some traditional styles were slightly modernized, in particular for some of the more dazzling party costumes. “Baz is always interested at looking at the past through very modern eyes,” explains Martin. “So, it’s a process of making a very erudite study of costume history and of the details of manufacture that were interesting in the past, and reapplying them in a very modern, very interesting way to the clothing.” One way contemporary style was incorporated was by collaborating with Italian designer Miuccia Prada on some of the female costumes. “Miuccia designed 40 of the background dresses for the party scenes. So, 20 for the ‘glamorous party’ and 20 for the ‘sad and tawdry party,’ which is what we called it,” says Martin with a smile. In addition to the party dresses, Prada also made the “chandelier” dress and the fur that Daisy wears for her first and only appearance at one of Gatsby’s parties—a pinnacle moment in the film. To complete the look, Daisy wears a pearl and diamond headband from Tiffany’s, as well as the stunning engagement ring she wears throughout the film. “I’ve never worked on a film that’s had such scale but also such intricate detail in the design of it—in every costume I wear and on every set that I walk into,” says Mulligan. “Every time I put on a pair of Daisy’s shoes or I wear some Tiffany jewelry… For example, the engagement ring that Daisy has is just this enormous diamond, and every time I put it on, I feel so different, so…Daisy.” DOING UP THE TOWN, DOWN UNDER “New York in 1922. The tempo of the city had changed. The buildings were higher, the parties were bigger, the morals were looser and the liquor was cheaper. The restlessness approached…hysteria.” —Nick Carraway 18
From 1920s costumes to New York in the 1920s, for the filmmakers, topography was equally integral to the story: the hot, gritty, bustling streets of New York City; the lusciousness of the playground of the rich, Long Island; and The Valley Of Ashes, the dusty wasteland in between. “The book is really set in Manhattan and East and West Egg on Long Island,” explains Pearce. “We had to understand the geography. We studied maps but then we went there and it was a very hot summer, and we purposely stayed in the garment district, which is sort of one of the few parts of Manhattan that isn’t terribly gentrified. It was a bit like New York would’ve been in Fitzgerald’s time. And that really informed us.” Although much of the research and writing process took place in New York— including numerous field trips to Long Island to visit the stately homes—most of the film was shot at Sydney’s Fox Studios. “If you say to a New Yorker that the film was shot in Australia, they sort of laugh. ‘Are you kidding me? You made the film in Australia?’” says producer Catherine Knapman. “Of course, Baz would have loved to make the movie in New York, but the opportunity to make most of the film here came up as being the most efficient. Building sets is really what Catherine Martin does best with her team. Filming in Australia brought a lot of advantages, including generous incentives from the Australian and New South Wales governments. There are a lot of talented people in Australia. We had an enormous crew, in excess of a thousand people, and a background cast of 960. We had close to 300 extras on set on the ‘party days.’” So, 1920s New York was brought to Sydney, carefully recreated in great detail, from the most lavish sets to the smallest props. “What was amazing to me was the storytelling in the sets. I would notice certain elements that were incorporated into the set, and everything felt so authentic, it made it easy to believe it was real,” Maguire remarks. Perhaps the most paramount sets to be built were the magnificent homes of Gatsby and the Buchanans, as these showcase the important differences between the neighborhoods, and residents, of East and West Egg. “East Egg and West Egg were completely different,” says Luhrmann. “East Egg was a community of the highborn, of the truly moneyed, of those who would inherit the earth, and it’s being attacked by these West Eggers who are all these kind 19
Page 1 and 2: “I want to write something new, s
Page 3 and 4: ABOUT THE PRODUCTION “Is all this
Page 5 and 6: New York City, “the racy, adventu
Page 7 and 8: We had to make some decisions early
Page 9 and 10: saw footage of Leonardo as Gatsby,
Page 11 and 12: the beginning, a totally destroyed
Page 13 and 14: “Leonardo was a constant partner
Page 15 and 16: “She’s sort of terrifying,” a
Page 17: Fitzgerald’s prose in The Great G
Page 21 and 22: If Gatsby’s wild castle is the ul
Page 23 and 24: “The Valley of Ashes was a real p
Page 25 and 26: Luhrmann, as he did with “Romeo +
Page 27 and 28: “A good example is Lana Del Rey
Page 29 and 30: Born in Hollywood, California, DiCa
Page 31 and 32: Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way an
Page 33 and 34: Snyder, and the Academy Award ® -n
Page 35 and 36: crime. He more recently starred in
Page 37 and 38: DiCaprio; and an Academy Award ® n
Page 39 and 40: two National Board of Review Awards
Page 41 and 42: Wick also garnered a bevy of Academ
Page 43 and 44: Achievement Award. She has also bee
Page 45 and 46: BRUCE BERMAN (Executive Producer) i
Page 47 and 48: JASON BALLANTINE (Editor) was the w
Page 49: Armstrong more recently created the

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